Constructing our railroads and operating them has been a work of magnificent and challenging proportions. Railroads presented our first great administrative task in business, and the task came upon us with a rapidity that in many respects overwhelmed us. It was pressed upon us by needs and opportunities on the side both of service and of profits.
It might well be asked whether any other country in the world, unless it be Russia since 1918, has had such a big administrative task in the field of the economic thrust upon it with so little preparation.