Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1888-03-01

| good citizen OF our State, cannot possibly
! endorse any legislation, / do not care of
what character If it fails to bear the test of
| facts for its foundation. / do not believe
simply because political parties in this have
| put in their platforms planks which demand
a reduction III railway rates, the legislators
| should adopt measures which would be inju-
| rious and is manlfestly injurious TO the
| railway interests of our State L don't
| care what platforms say If the facts
do not warrant the adopting of such
| legislation, | say it is unworthy of the legis-
| latiye body of this State-and it is unworthy
| of any statesman who is citizen of State
that ranks as Iowa does in the matter of ed
ucaton. i do not believe that because there
| area great many farmers in Iowa protesting
| against the grievances which they claim to
| suffer that we should induce men to come
| here and enact laws or have measures car
| ried out to the extent of the proposed bill
now pending in the Legislature. The good
| judgment of the farmers will certainly for
| bid representative in giving his vote and
| voice in advocating measure which will in
| jure the business of the entire Stale. Ispeak
| as a laboring man. l have been citizen of
Iowa for thirteen years. love the State
| and her history. AS citizen | must raise
my voice against any legislation, don't care
what the character is, that will materially
| iniure her best interests.
| 1t is said by an eminent man that this is
an agricultural State; but simply because
we are an agricultural people, does it follow
that there are no other interests to be looked
after than that of agriculture? / claim that
| this legislation would have a tendency to
| throttle the investment of capital in this
| State from the East-and would very seri-
Ously and injuriously affect our State; and
| why should it be forced upon the people?
| We are not here to protest against judicious
legislation. We think that there is some
legislation, possibly, demanded in the prem
| ises but should it be of such radical char
acter, or should it be of such character as
would force upon great many of its citizens
such injuries as are protested against, simply
because there is public cry against rail-
| way corporations? l say, no. We come
upon broader platform than as employees
or servants TO railway corporation. We
come here protesting as citizens and intelli-
| gent men, representing thirty thousand
voters, and one hundred and twenty
five TO one hundred and forty thou
sand citizens counting the entire fam
| lies Haven't we right to
be heard? Certainly we have. Should not
our protest to you receive as much consider
alton at your hands as that of any other
class of men? Isn't it true that upon the
floor of these legislative halls there are men
| in the interests of other occupations; for
instance, the farmers? We do not wish to
separate our interests from the farmers, and
| the man who wants to separate ii is q con-
| summate demagogue, unworthy of trust, UNI
worthy of the confidence of any intelligent
man. We want to stand by the farmers, be-
cause we are all citizens. We buy their
produce, and we spend our earnings in this
State. We are here for the purpose of OBJ
| foi mi n haf lint Il or
want this hearing to be the means of injur-
ing the great interests of the State. We say
that judiciOus legislation is ever, and should
be, the first thought of the legislative body.
| But we claim that the two cent reduction
upon passenger tariff-and, if you please,
| thirty-three per cent reduction upon freight
tariif-would be a reduction unwarranted
by any public demand, and such laws should
not be enacted and put into practical opera
| ton.
1t is said by some that the railway COM
panies won't reduce the pay of employees. /
| want to say TO you that one of the first con-
sderations of stockholders of railways is
this, that when they have to cut expenses of
any character they as a rule go to the labor
department. The stockholders of railway
corporations will not go down into their
pockets and take out dollar until they have
| exhausted other sources of expenditure first
| That is human nature, and no reasoning of
mankind will change the matter. If there
is a reduction in the pay of the employees of
the State of Iowa will not submit to it, aud
the result will be, that skilled labor will be
forced from the ranks, and men who are un-
worthy of confidence and inefficient, will
have to take their places. Skilled labor is
always driven away by cheap prices. |
claim that when cheap labor is brought into
this State by your legislation, you will en-
danger the welfare of railway corporations /;
you will endanger ii by getting men who are
not sufficiently provided with practical
knowledge of the railway train SER
vice, and in any department of the service,
who will endanger your lives when travel
ing upon the roads They endanger goods
of the shipper and the property of the com
pany by not being capable of taking care of
it. The railways of Iowa to-day, believe
have better class of men in the railway
train service department than any State in
the Union. | do not think that any State
has or can boast of a better class of railway
employees. They are men who understand
their business If you will look over the
passenger service of this State and note the
number of accidents and deaths, you will
find that we rank first as compared with the
train service in other States; that speaks
well for efficient railroad service. You don't
want cheap men. If you reduce the pay
you put into the ranks cheap men,
and you cannot afford to sanction any such
move. Let us look at it from an
other standpoint. Suppose you reduce the
pay and the men do submit to it, don't you
realize that there are many thousands of
men in Iowa, to-day, paying for homes
which they could not do even If their eXpen-
dituIes were ever so economical. Won't
you throttle their capacity to pay for homes
by such extreme legislation should you go
that far? Certainly you do. Don't we pay
taxes into the treasury for school purposes?
Don't we pay our money into the treasury
for public improvements? Certainly we do.
You must know that by this proposed legis-
lation, that you will lessen considerably the
amount paid into the public treasury for i'm
proyements of this kind, and every employe
is tax payer to some extent.
The railway employees are not paid any
large sums of money The average wages
Of the brakemen in the State of Iowais about
foTty-fiye dollars per month. Take into con-
sideTation the risk that man assumes. Is
that extreme pay for man, in his place,
who works from fifteen to twenty-four hours
of the day? Railroad men in the freight
service have to go whenever the company
calls them. This Is necessary, because the
business is of that nature. 1t is very dis
agreeable work, and is worth more than
forty-fve dollars a month, but that is the
best the companies can pay, and when, by
legislation, you lessen the earning power OF
the company and prevent them from paying
higher wages and making needed improve
ments. There is demand on the part OF
the public, i'm this State, and is recommended
| by your Railroad Commissioners, that we