THE HOOSIER LINE

despite the fact that its tracks live wholly within the borders of a single state Indiana the Monon as George Aid used to say runs catty-corner to all of Indiana and in so doing intersects every east and west route above the Ohio River thus it is not only the lifeline of Indiana it is one of the real crossroads of America since the Monon is a Hoosier it takes great pride in presenting an Indiana musical organization whose fame has reached far beyond the borders of its native state the Purdue University glee club under the direction of Albert P Stewart for its first number the glee club is assisted by Virginia's speaker soloist [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] wanna shout wanna dance wanna sing there's something bout the India and the sunshine yes sir there is that something that really suits me of course I'm a Hoosier as you might guess some folks think that Hoosiers do an awful lot of bragging about Indiana and we do it all right to be proud of the place you come from being proud of a place keep it the way it is or even make it a little better this whole country of ours has been built up by people caring about the things that are there's always wanting to make them just a little bit better working planning dreaming [Music] [Music] go make my home by the river shore gonna settle down for evermore gonna make my home where the Wabash River the girl I left behind me she'll be so rebind by but she'll come [Music] [Music] always singing that song then let's do it more let's do it right off let's go out there all across the mouth find us a place where we can get some land always dreaming just like your fall other people are doing it why can't we you can find the place it's all build a house it belongs to us wouldn't you like that law wouldn't you like to have things I got a lot to be thankful for now Danny a boy who's just like he's tall always wanting to get on we're gonna get on well we're gonna get on right now if you'll say the word we'll go west where the Wabash flows and the primrose and the violet grows make my home where the Wabash [Music] that was a spirit folks head when they opened up the land folks hankering to be somebody have things they could call their own and be proud of feeling that way they cleared the land and planted it to crops the women folk helped in the field spun toil they got on lean tools gave way to log cabin log cabins to houses of brick and stone the wilderness disappeared all the good things we see around us today our products of that pioneer spirit that house your power bill where you were born little businesses that have grown into big words towns and cities that are good to live in we've kept right on gorging ahead this country has because it's a place where one man any man can do things on his own I've got a personal pride in one little chapter of our American story and not such a little chapter that when you come to think about it all my life I've worked for the railroad and railroads believe you me grew up the American Way wasn't much in this part of the country to make anybody want to build a railroad when some get up and go Hoosiers started this way weren't enough people in this whole territory then to fill up a fair sized County today land was mostly the way nature made it a whole lot of this United States was like that back in 1846 and there abouts fact is it was only beginning to look like the United States as we know it today less than 50 years had gone by since the original thirteen states started to spread out Texas was just getting into the Union and the Oregon country here in this middle part of the land Congress had set up what they called Northwest Territory then as settlers began to parts of it they cut it up into separate territories in states Ohio Michigan Illinois Wisconsin Indiana it was down here in southern Indiana along the Ohio River that the folks I spoke about began to build the railroad there wasn't any very good way to haul things once you got away from the river that's what kept the country from developing faster depending on riverboats a few roads and canals these weren't enough and some farsighted folks knew they weren't folks like James Brooks of New Albany Indiana there isn't any reason in the world for doubting the success of the project gentlemen railroads are being built in the east and not by dreamers either they're being built by sound businessmen because they have seen that the iron rail and the steam locomotive are the real answers to long-distance hauling I'd rather stick to canal we know what they'll do oh you can't build a canal over the knobs there's too much rough country between you and the White River the state's already poured a lot of money into macadam roads let's finish them wagons even on the best of roads will never haul a pittance of the stuff we could fall on Rails I say let's take over some of this right-of-way that's been grated and the new laws made it possible to and let's put rails on the right way railroads gentlemen are the answer men like James Brooks carried their point railroads were built and the people took to them they ship their goods over them they wanted to ride the trains whenever they could all right for the key ours oh he's fun they're all riding and riding and riding [Music] no journey would ever see mom [Music] yes sir folks took to the railroad and a lot of them were built but it was a big job take this line that James Brooks and his friends began in Indiana for example it tackled only 30 miles or so of it at first but began down here in the New Albany and went on up to Salem matter of fact they called it the New Albany in Salem but they had bigger ideas than that they got themselves a charter which allowed in the period of Orlean not very far you might say but it was hard going then some other folks took a hand at Crawfordsville they decided to build a railroad to hook up with a Wabash and Erie Canal and Lafayette well the New Albany in Salem folks soon bought this out and made plans to tie it in with their line down here to the south after I on going north of Lafayette to on up to Michigan City Indiana only Lake Michigan port main trouble they had with the whole thing was money it didn't grow on bushes in those days or on Washington cherry trees either by the time the railroad got to Lafayette it was all the money and that's where whose your ingenuity took over and that's where this roving charter came in mighty handy they loaned out the Charter did John Murray Forbes of Boston who couldn't get a charter from the Indiana legislature and who was set on pushing his Michigan Central Railroad on into Chicago here ahead of its rival the lakeshore well a half million dollars in stock subscriptions the New Albany and salem got from that transaction enough money to finish the railroad from lafayette to the lake you couldn't beat men like that they were building Indiana they were building the nation [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] roll along that's what we've been doing every wave that's what we've been doing for a lot of years I don't claim much from my part in it but gosh when you think of all our American efforts together I've gone and talked till it's time for the Hoosier to come in I've got to go now say how about you taking a ride up and down the mall now see for yourself how she's still helping her part of America to roll along I can't go with you but the boys on the train will take good care of you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] all up and down the line you can see how the railroad has helped to create American prosperity farms producing great quantities of food which could never be fully marketed without modern mass transportation factories which assemble their raw materials from a lot of far-flung points and send their finished products everywhere towns and cities in which people have grown use to buying things which are brought from all over the world our way of life which is literally a product of railroads at work take these factories which make prefabricated houses their lumber comes from as far away as the deep south and the Pacific Northwest their Steel begins as iron ore from the Minnesota range or which is converted in some of the world's largest mills located in northern Indiana countless other items have to be shipped into a factory such as this from hundreds of different places in order that one complete house can roll off the assembly line all up and down the railroads of America this miracle is repeated and repeated railroads are not the only transportation used of course but because of their tremendous capacity their unfailing reliability and their basic economy they are the backbone of American industry and American agriculture [Music] [Music] railroads like the Monon help out the territories they serve in other ways too these great steel highways not only link the communities together thus helping to create wealth they distribute much of their income in the communities they serve every time a train like this moves from one milepost to another the railroad will spend ten dollars and two cents on the labor and materials to operate the Train maintain the tracks pay taxes and other costs each mile represents an investment of nearly 100 thousand dollars and costs nearly six thousand dollars per year to maintain this length of steel rail costs the railroad over $70 when laid each one of these new ties will cost more than four dollars when placed in the track even the lowly spike carries a price tag of nearly five cents the moanin has to haul a ton of Freight three miles in order to earn five cents work like this creates big payrolls payrolls which are spent largely in the towns and cities along the line taxes take a large part of every railroad dollar to tax is consumed more than half of the revenue which is left after other expenses have been paid every mile of track which this train traverses pays an average annual tax to the county state and federal governments of two thousand one hundred and sixty three dollars tax is paid by the railroads go to maintain the public schools and to provide other essential services in the community in many counties more than half of all the local taxes are paid by the railroads and on a national basis the railroads pay out four times as much in taxes as they do in dividends to their stockholders no other form of transportation makes any such contribution to the area it serves this Indiana which the Monon has helped a bill is quite a place it's a place that's fabled in story and in song many are the ones lovely to be for all nature does her handiwork right one my father one spot my fondest memories [Music] well the sweetest flowers I long again to [Music] like that [Music] [Music] I'm fine forget my [Music] [Music] [Music] take a look at the shades and at world-renowned Brown County French Lick Spring Mill the dunes they're all part of the great picture which the good Lord painted in Indiana and which Hoosiers have tried to preserve and throw open for the enjoyment of everybody take a look at the towns and cities in Indiana to their alert progressive forward moving full of good sound Enterprise and their homey and friendly who's your town with all that that folksy term implies even the big industrialized places like Indianapolis the capital our Hoosier right down to the roots all of its factories it's varied business enterprises haven't robbed Indianapolis of that friendly atmosphere which prompted a famous Hoosier poet to call the city high heaven soul and only understudy Monument Circle which is the city's most distinguishing landmark typifies this survival of the neighborly spirit which is so apparent throughout the Hoosier State Indianapolis too is the scene of one of the world's great annual sports events the 500-mile Memorial Day race each year since 1909 America's most daring drivers have piloted their mechanical steeds around this great proving ground for the automotive industry and in these grueling contests have tested nearly all of the new developments in automobile engineering for years the moanin has helped to bring in the countless thousands who descended on Indianapolis for this event transported them in an atmosphere of real Hoosier hospitality on its famous Chicago Indianapolis train the Hoosier [Music] [Music] who's your town's American town towns where industry and print and independent initiative are admired and rewarded good towns in which to locate factories the whole state of Indiana has an enviable record of friendly relations between management and labor and government state and local taxes are extremely favorable to business transportation facilities and power resources are unexcelled that Hoosier air is helping for business the present management of the Monon has been extremely progressive in its efforts to provide its online communities with the finest in transportation service and equipment the moanin with the first class 1 railroad to become completely Diesel eyes centralized servicing facilities with every modern device for maintaining equipment and expediting repairs ensure dependable scheduled diesel power in all switching operations means smooth handling of cars minimum breakage or damage to shipments along the railroad vast improvements have been made miles of new track have been laid Lions have been shortened and straightened bridges have been strengthened some have been completely rebuilt signal systems are being continually improved new enter lockers installed to increase speed of train movement [Music] all points on the moanin are now connected by dependable overnight freight service to expedite interline movements schedules are arranged so that they integrate efficiently with the schedules of connecting lines this is especially important when it is recall how many major railroads intersect the Monon and how strategically located the railroad is as a bridge line between its great terminals of Chicago Indianapolis and Louisville [Music] although moanin strategies primarily in Indiana and it is known as the Hoosier line the railroad is intimately connected with the commercial and industrial life of its great terminal cities in Kentucky and in Illinois Louisville the fall city key spot in the early winning of the West hub of a great business area you've been in Louisville at Derby time no doubt or you're planning to go sometime come see Louisville see the Derby and all the other great attractions which this city has to offer [Music] [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] you [Music] yes Louisville the Monon town and Chicago railroad center of the nation the moans northern terminus Chicago brief history does the story of civilization goes but world capital of many things [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Chicago Indianapolis Louisville the moanin links together these three great cities serves a host of fine communities in between moanin intersects all the important east-west arteries in its part of the land and serves as a great railway bridge between Lake Michigan and the Ohio River the Monon is proud of its place on the railroad map proud that it has helped the heart of America to grow and to prosper proud that it has kept pace with the increasing transportation demands of its area proud that it's the Hoosier line because it's whose your soil the Monon is grounded in the Hoosier Commonwealth it has helped to build have a nice trip up and down the bone on all of us on the railroad hope you did we hope you like this moanin country as much as we do we hope too that you saw how the Monon means something to you whether you live in Indiana or some faraway part of the country we think that the moanin means something to you we think it means better handling of your transportation problems better travel when you come into or go through Indiana faster service for your shipments through this crossroads of America one thing were sure you will agree with us on this America of ours is the greatest place on earth and the one thing above all else that makes it great is the fact that so many individuals had a hand in building it up that's the American Secret in a nutshell individual ishutin that's why every one of us can be so proud of his own corner of America that's why I'm so proud of the Monon and of Indiana that's why I agree with those boys down and Perdue when they sing [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]