End of an Era

Some day some student of economics will surround himself with charts, books and newspaper files and bravely undertake to write a complete account of what will then be remembered as The Depression of the Thirties. Some of his chapter headings may be guessed now: "The 1929 Market Decline," "Tariff Walls," "The Soviet Government as a Factor in World Trade." "Germany's Breakdown," "France's Smart Jockeying," "England to the Wall" and "Artificial Relief Measures Attempted in the U. S." An important subsection will be on U. S. railroads. Whether or not it will be headed "The Collapse of the Railroads" or "How the Railroads Met a Crisis" depends upon many factors still indeterminable: the attitude of Labor, the outcome of the rate question, the duration of Depression, the condition of the securities markets when a half-billion dollars' worth of railroad securities mature during the next few years.

If any individual is the most gravely concerned with these questions it is probably not some hard-pressed railroad president or his worried banker but the man who is reputed to own more railroad securities than anyone else: bush-bearded Arthur Curtiss James. Last week, however, Investor James cast worry from his mind, entered the festive spirit that surrounds an oldtime tradition--the driving- of-the-golden-spike.* With a few blows he drove the spike into a specially-prepared tie. linked his pet road, the Western Pacific, to the Great Northern system.

Railroad men realized that Mr. James's hammer blows brought an end to an epoch that was slow in closing--the Building Period. Next year when trains run over Great Northern-Western Pacific's new 200-mi. link, no other important construction will be underway. Some 249.000 mi. of track serve the LJ. S. well, perhaps too well. Future changes will be in the construction of systems rather than lines --construction through financial liaisons; links completed with the signing of checks and the endorsement of stock certificates rather than the pounding of spikes.

The two periods--Building and Consolidating--have of course overlapped each other by years. The present trunk lines represent such consolidations; the Van Sweringen Brothers were the best example of super-consolidators. Lately a new catalyzer has appeared in the railroad crucible. While Arthur Curtiss James was experiencing the novel sensation of swinging a sledge hammer, a new figure (once a day laborer) was experiencing the novel sensation of being a railroad president in his own right--President Patrick H. Joyce of Chicago Great Western.

When Mr. Joyce became interested in Great Western it had a terrific accumulation of unpaid dividends on its preferred. Mr. Joyce obtained the support of big shippers, saw that more & more freight was routed -via Great Western. He became chairman of the road, handling its financial policies. President Victor Vincent Boatner continued in charge of operations.

This year the road has made a bright streak in the black railroad picture by earning more money than in 1930. Although a recent report that it had resumed .common dividends was erroneous, it has paid $2.00 on the cumulative preferred-- first payments since 1919. A large part of its success has been due to the new shippers, but another part has been due to Mr. Joyce's feeling that "the trouble is too damn many men wearing the seats of their pants shiny." When last July President Boatner had to resign because of ill health (he went on a round-the-world cruise with his sister) it was natural that energetic Mr. Joyce should become acting president. Railroadmen noted with interest last week that he had assumed the position permanently, will be operating head as well as financial guide.

Another change in Great Western last week was the election of Arthur W. Cutten, famed grain and stock speculator, to the executive committee. The meeting at which the election took place was in Omaha, western terminus of the road. Formerly, Great Western's directors always met in Manhattan, but one of Mr. Joyce's new policies has been that the meetings should be held at various places along the right-of-way, developing new contacts and goodwill. Under his regime the road has junked much old equipment, bought new. It has rebuilt 40 bridges, strengthened six others, laid heavier rails and installed additional ties. It has concentrated five operating divisions into two.

A few weeks ago a possible big revision in the railroad map was forecast when Great Western bought a 2OC/C interest in Kansas City Southern, thereby forming the nucleus of what could be welded into a new Chicago-Gulf route (TIME. Oct. 26). Although the deal came as a surprise, nobody thought it inconsistent with Presi dent Joyce's nature. He is aggressive from head to foot, fist to jaw. Chicago-born ("back of the yards") 52 years ago, he began work when he left grammar school, pushing a wheelbarrow in a brickyard. He rose until he was president of the Mellon-controlled Standard Steel Car Co., now a part of Pullman. He plays golf only as a concession to friends, does not like the theatre, hates formal entertaining. But he never misses a good prizefight. At stag parties his songs start early, are famed & frequent. Just as many a tycoon seeks relaxation in reading, playing a violin, constructing ship models or painting. Mr. Joyce has his escape mechanism. When he wants to be alone he buys a couple of apples, rides for an hour or so on the back platform of a streetcar. His handshake has a vertical range of three feet. Nobody dares guess the range of his plans for Great Western.

*A notable exception occurred in 1885 when the builders of the Canadian Pacific decided that a golden spike would be absurd after the vyay they had worked to save money, that a good iron spike for the last would do as well as one did for the first.

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