Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-08-08
THE DRAWN BATTLE.
VIII the Railroad Managers Remember
the Lesson That Has Been Taught
Them?
New York Times.

NEW L Ork Times,
No one pretends that these reductions,
trying as they have been. and these sup
Elementary regulations, cruel as they
confessedly are, have been resorted to
by the companies in sheer wantonness.
Most of them are more or less embar-
rassed We have Mr.. Vanderbilts adj
mission that the trunk lines tributary to
the Atlantic cities are in excess of the
legitimate wants of the trade. In other
words, the railroad business, even in
the older states, has been Overdone.
Their exigencies have prompted man.
ayers to compete III a way that entails
loss upon all concerned. Evidently,
then, the companies, considered only
with reference to their inevitable ex-
penses and their actual receipts are in
a condition that calls for rigid economy.
Bring everything down to " hard pan"
and their position IN these times would
call for extreme thrift and care. So
much the workmen seem generally to
have understood, as their concurrence
in reductions shows. The great misfor-
tune of the railroads is not that busi-
ness is dull and comparatively unprofit-
able, but that they are required to face
hard times burtened with the conse-
quences of former errors of manage
ment. They are organized on basis
which presupposes a continuation of
the era of imitation They added enor-
mously to their bonded debts, entailing
fixed charges from which there is no es-
cape except through bankruptcy. They
entered into leases and guarantees,
which are now so many mlllstOneS
about their necks. To crown all, they
capitalized their stock according to the
then inflated values and the exceptional
amount of their earnings. The stock
thus largely watered naturally Graves
dividends; and as one of the conditions
of good credit, a company spares no eff
fort to enable itself to pay them. Here
the exigency from which direct and in
direct reductions of wages proceed.
There is an obvious danger that the road
itself will be neglected, and that desir-
able improvements will be postponed
On this point an outsider cannot pre-
tend to have positive knowledge. But
the fact is undeniable that to pay inter-
est on their bonded debts, to fulfill spe-
cific contracts, and to check the depre-
citation of their stocks, the companies
are obliged to reduce their pay-lists to
the lowest possible limit The effect
upon the condition of the workmen is
ignored by the companies in their nat
ural anxiety for their own solvency.
If the whole matter ended as it now
is, we might accept the cessation of the
strike. however brought about, as pos
tive deHverence from danger. This we
cannot do. For while it is certain that
the lowest practicable point of wages re-
duction has been reached, it is not at all
certain that, with business in its present
condition, the companies can congratu-
late themselves upon the completeness
of their escape from peril. Their man
ayers, if prudent, will therefore direct
their attention to other modes of relief
from financial embarrassment than that
which is gained at the expense of their
workmen The duty is unwelcome, but
it cannot be much longer postponed.
Every other great interest has in one
way or another adapted itself to the
altered condition of affairs. All are
compelled to recast their accounts with
reference to the shrinkage that has oc-
CURED. The turn of the railroad COM
panies is come They have cut down
wages, and if the reduction operates
equitably the world will hold them justi-
fed When the time arrives for another
application of the screw, their wisest
course will be to revalue their proper
ties and to reconstruct their balance
sheets In the light of the amended val
uatiOn.