The true northerner., 1877-08-10

win the Rsirtosd sssnAssrs Rsnembe~
the Lssssn that Has Bssn Tnught Them?
nf AZ From the New York Tin,es.l ..as I'D
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 ID sheer wantonness.
Most OF them are more or less embar-
rassed. We have Mr.. Vanderbilt's adj
mission that the trunk lines tributary to
the Atlantic cities are in excess of the
Legitimate wants of trade. ID In other
words, the railroad business even in the
Older States. has been overdone. Their
exigencies have prompted managers to
compete in way that entails loss upon
all concerned. Evidently, then, the
companies, considered only with refer
ence to their inevitable expenses and
their actual receipts, are in a condition
that calls for rigid economy. Bring ev-
erything 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 under
stood, as their concurrence in reductions
shows. The great misfortune OF the
railroads is not that business is dull and
comparatively uproftable, but that they
are required to face hard times burdened
with the consequences of former errors
OF management. They are organized on
a basis which presupposes a continuance
of the era OF imitation. They added
enormously to their bonded debts, en-
failing fixed charges from which there
is no escape save through bankruptcy.
They entered into leases and guarantees
which are now so many mlllstones about
their necks. To crown all, they capital
lied 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 conditionso of
good credit, company spares no effort
to enable itself to pay them. Hence the
exigency frc m which direct and indirect
reductions of wages proceed. There is
an obvious danger that the road itself
will be neglected and that desirable i'm
provements will be postponed. On this
point an outsider cannot pretend to have
positive knowledge. I:ut the fact is un-
deniable that to pay interest on their
bonded debts, to fulfill specific contracts,
and to check the depreciation of their
stocks, the companies are obliged to re-
duce their pay-lists to the lowest pos
sible limit. The effect upon the con-
dition of the workmen is ignored by the
companies in their natural anxiety for
their own solvency. fo
If the whole matter ended as it now is,
we might accept the cessation of the
strike, however broughtabout, as posi-
tive deliverance from danger. This we
cannot do. For, while tbs certain that
the lowest practicable point of wage
reduction has been reached, it is not at
all certain that, with business in its
present condition, the companies can
congratulate themselves upon the COM
pleteness of their escape from peril.
Their managers, if prudent, will there
fore 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 unwel-
come, but it cannot be much longer post
poned. 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 operate equit-
ably the world will hold them justified.
When the time arrives for another appli-
cation of the screw, their wisest course
will be to revalue their properties, and
to reconstruct their balance-sheets in the
light of the amended valuation.