“The most effective contribution to the controversy that has yet been made from the Railway Managers’ point of view, is a work on ‘Railway Rates, English and Foreign,’ by Mr. James Grierson, the General Manager of the Great Western Railway, recently issued by Mr. Stanford. Mr. Grierson, it is needless to say, is a skilled exponent of official views, and he has fortified himself with an immense mass of information drawn from Germany, France, Belgium and Holland, which he marshals in the most effective manner possible, with a view to rebutting the arguments of those who hold up the continental systems as models for England to copy, or who contrast continental railway rates with British rates to show under how much more favourable conditions continental manufacturers work than their competitors in England. It may be frankly confessed that Mr. Grierson shows that no close comparison can with justice be made between the charges upon railway systems that have been brought into existence, and are worked under conditions differing widely in every respect from those that have prevailed in England.... Mr. Grierson’s comments and criticisms are weighty and practical, and in the matter of differential rates and terminal charges, those who dissent from his opinions will not find his arguments easy to meet.”—Liverpool Daily Post, 8th January, 1887.
“This is a very fine work by Mr. J. Grierson, General Manager of the Great Western Railway. It is essentially a merchant’s and shipowner’s book, and a copy of it should be in every counting house. If such works were studied by merchants and merchants’ clerks a little more, a good deal of ignorance which prevails on the subject of British and Foreign Railway rates would be cleared away.... We cannot too highly commend this work to the mercantile community.”—Hull Times, 8th January, 1887.
“Now the public have the opportunity of hearing the Railway Companies’ counsel. Mr. Grierson’s position enables him to back his arguments with a copious array of facts.... On the audi alteram partem principle all the assailants of the present rates and working should make it a point of duty to read what Mr. Grierson has to say, for those who undertake to judge a righteous judgment it is absolutely essential to be acquainted with his facts and references, and even for those who prejudge, it is convenient to know what is the line of defence.”—Birmingham Daily Post, 7th January, 1887.
“Quite worthy of the position and traditions of the line he manages is Mr. Grierson’s recent book on ‘Railway Rates, English and Foreign,’ which from its admirable arrangement, lucid language and courteous if vigorous tone of controversy, deserves to become a commercial classic.”— Birmingham Daily Gazette, 10th January, 1887.
“To an economic question which yields to few in its pressing importance a valuable contribution has just been made by Mr. Grierson, General Manager of the Great Western Railway, entitled ‘Railway Rates, English and Foreign.’”—Wednesbury Herald, 18th December, 1886.
“Mr. Grierson now comes forward in a new character, the literary champion of British Railway Companies in reply to the severe criticisms on our own Railway Rates, in comparison with those prevailing on the Continent.... He has said much and said it well; and indeed he has shewn himself an able advocate for the great interest he represents. The volume is a complete storehouse of facts and figures.... He has clearly defined the lines of the controversy, he has told with admirable effect what the Companies have to say.”—Weekly Bulletin, 25th December, 1886.
“Mr. Grierson’s contribution to the controversy respecting Railway Rates is of a valuable character, stating the case on behalf of the Companies plainly and clearly, and adducing very strong arguments and a vast array of facts and figures in support of the position they have taken up.... The subject of differential rates is treated most exhaustively.... The question of Terminal Charges is exhaustively discussed by Mr. Grierson.”—Bristol Mercury, 8th January, 1887.
Mr. J. Grierson has written a most interesting defence of the present system of Railway Management.... It is seldom that so readable a work is issued on a subject so apparently dry.... There are many other interesting features in this work, and none more so than the comparisons of the workings of English and Foreign Railways.”— Bristol Times and Mirror, 6th January, 1887.
“I should advise all who can to obtain this little work and read it. It is quite a text book of railway management, and I must say that while I sat down to read it with a strong prejudice against the railways, I found it had gone long before I had finished it. It gives, in very fair style, that ‘other side’ which Englishmen always like to hear.”—“H. F. M. Farmer’s Column,” Bristol Times and Mirror, 15th January, 1887.
“Mr. Grierson has done excellent service to the railway interest as well as to the public, by the preparation of this very useful and complete work.... The opinions expressed as to the principle upon which railway rates should be based are indisputably sound.... For more complete information and facts upon other matters of great importance to the railway companies and the public generally, we commend to our readers—notably to those who profess to be dissatisfied with the present state of affairs—a careful study of this work. Some chapters on the comparison of the working of English and Continental railways are specially deserving of attention, and the facts given are well calculated to remove much misapprehension which appears to exist on the subject.”— Railway Record, 15th December, 1886.