R. R. Ownership

The Chicago Tribune, potent newspaper, knowing that the best scheme to maintain prestige is to fight for principle, last week invented another for which it will (editorially) battle: Purchase of Western Railroads by Western Investors.* Thus, while President Ralph Budd of the Great Northern and Harry Byram of the reorganized Milwaukee (old name: St. Paul) stump the west concerning the merger of the northwestern railroads, the Tribune argued: "What this [west] section does require from its railroads and what it is not receiving in proper measure, is prompt response to public demands for service. Translated for the railroad stockholder that means prompt response to the opportunity for profit. The fault, we suspect, is largely one of absentee ownership."

*Other principles : Build a Nine-Foot Waterway to New Orleans: A Highway System Adequate at All Points to the De of Traffic.