A preliminary conference was held at the White House today with the railway presidents, mostly of the eastern territory, at which were present:
The railway presidents were unanimous in their determination to cooperate in the maintenance of employment and business progress. It was stated that the railways which they represented would proceed with full programs of construction and betterments without any reference to recent stock exchange fluctuations; that they would canvass the situation as to further possibilities of expansion, and that amongst these particular railways it appeared that the total volume of such construction work already indicated an increase during the next six months over the similar period of last year.
It was agreed that the whole question should be taken up at the meeting of the railway executives convening in Chicago next Friday, with a view to securing the cooperation of all railways in the United States in such a program. At that time steps will be taken to canvass the railways to determine the exact amount of construction and betterments which can be undertaken over the forthcoming year and during the next six months.
The railway executives felt that it was desirable that similar conferences should be called in other industrial groups, and that some method of coordination of their different activities should be developed.