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

| by certain members OF the General Assem-
| bly, that we were here as servants of the
company and at the "bidding Of our mas
tiers" | want to state that tht statement is en-
| tirely without foundation; that there is no
| truth whatever in ii. While we have great
respect for our officers, yet in matters of
| of this kind we never consult them; that is,
we do not allow them to dictate to us what
we shall do except in the line of duty, and
| therefore we are not here at their bidding.
| ! came here In response to a telegram from
| the chairman Of our executive committee.
We have what is known as the Legislative
Board in this State, and that board elects
| an executive committee, of which | happen
| to be member. i am here in response to
a telegram from the chairman of that com
| mittee, as heretofore stated. | came here
to represent the engineers, and was select
| ed as one of the speakers on their behalf,
| TO protest against this proposed sweeping
reduction of the passenger reduction of the
| passenger rates known as the two cent fare
| bill. We are opposed as an organization to
| the passage of the law, and we think, also,
that any material reduction in the freight
rates would be ruinous to us, and not only
to us, but to other organizations of laboring
| men as well.
We know from the experiences of the past
| that whenever a reduction of rates has taken
| place, so as to materially affect the earnings
of the roads, that reduction of wages has
followed. A reduction of the force has fol-
! lowed and extra work been imposed upon
us and that il materially affects the commu-
nifty in which we live. | stated to the SEN
ate committee, the other night, that the en-
! ployes on the line of the road, of all the diff
| faTent organizations and classes, are up in
arms against this proposed legislation, and
| that the best interests of Waterloo, where l
| live, were opposed to it, and that this COM
ing week petitions would pour in upon Mem
to prove my assertions which is true. Now
| the best interests of Waterloo are entirely
opposed to it, because they are, to great
extent, entirely dependent upon the earn
mgs of the employees, at least from the reve-
| nue. they derive from the business. | also
talked with gentleman last night coming
down on the train from Waterloo, who lives
at Vinton-a very intelligent man. l didn't
| ask him what his business was. | asked
him i'll regard to this railroad matter and
asked him how his people felt down there.
He said: 1--WE are all opposed to it, We
believe, in Vinton, that it would hurt our
town and that it is uncalled for" And l
think so myself.
j was talking with one of the members of
the General Assembly few days ago, or a
day or two since, on this point, and he said
| 10 llt. W HIT pOllllCdl party YOU Db-
| long top | said, 81 am Republican"
"Now," said he, ''why didn't you men come
down here last summer, when this platform
was made by the party you belong to, and
| protest against certain plankS in that plat
foTm?' l said to him that it was the first
| time in the history of Iowa that | know Of,
| when set of demagOgues came to Des
Moincs and made platform, and then the
representative of an intelligent constituency
was expected TO walk on that platform and
| keep close to the line. In other words, he
conveyed the idea that, because a certain
platform had been made contrary to the die
tates Of his own conscience or Judgment or
because he had agreed to do a certain thing
in order to comply with a plat
| form TO catch votes, he must
Cypress one class of people and not benefit
another And, when | say that, say that
the farmers of this county would not be
benefited by it-that is what | mean. l do
not believe any intelligent class of farmers
| would not be afraid to go before a commit
tee of intelligent farmers to-day and discuss
this question with them, whether or not they
would be benefited with the sweeping re-
ductiOn of the passenger tariff at least to
two cents per mile, nor by the sweeping re-
duction in the freight tariff. Now it looks
TO me like beginning at the wrong end of the
|
| any extent that ii will 50 depreclte or cut
| OFF the revenue from railroad companies, |
would rather urge that they be allowed a
fair revenue so as TO enable them to keep
| their roads and put them in better condition.
| That would be my idea OF that. Give the
| people better service make the travel safer !;
enable them to fence the roads, and put the
rolling stock in better condition, and all
those kind of things.
/ know the passenger travel on the line of
| road on which | run, take it the year around
is very light-very light indeed. l have
pulled passenger tTains-I call it pulling the
trains because l run the engine that pulls
the train-l have run over that road when |
was actually ashamed to see the light travel
there was on that road. Three or four pas
sengers ON train of four or five ears run
ming the entire length of the line, or the Sec
ton on which ran. Now to me, the prop
ostion to adopt law that will cut down the
rates, will cause companies to retaliate And
how are they going to do it? They will
take off certain number of trains, which
will throw a certain number of men out of
employment. They did it before, and are
going to do il again. Then on the other
hand they will go to work to curtail ex-
penses by reducing the wages of shop-men,
trackmen, switchmen, brakemen, conductors
and engineers wherever they can, and in
any way,they can to make up the deficiency.
They are bound to do it. They have to live
and make revenue somewhere. That has
been the experience of the past and that will
be the result of the future, if this law goes
into effect.
MR. ZIEGENFUs.
Mr.. Chairman and Gentlemen: appear
before you as a representative of the engi-
npprS of the State of Iowa The lOcOmOtiyn
engineers of the State of Iowa are organized
into subdivisions, of which there are twenty
one in this State, located at the different
railway centers. One delegate from each of
these subdivisions met in this city last De-
cember and organized what is known as the
Legislative Board for the purpose of watch
ing this honorable bCdy-watching their
actions-and having foreseen the probable
action, from the planks of both political par
ties, and thinking perhaps that some radical
measures might be adopted that would be
against our interests, whereby our earnings
would be reduced so that we could not re-
ceve our present compensation, we organ
lied this Board. An Executive Committee
was formed, Of which had the honor to be
made chairman. | am seeking now to re-
flute the charge that has been made openly
in the press of this city, and not only this
city, but almost the entire anti-ralrOad
press of the State, which is that we are
here at the command of our masters. Now,
we, as railroad men, and as an organ
i2atiOn, acknowledge no man our master
over our private actions. We are here at
our own mOnition. On the I'd of the month,
as chairman of this committee | thought
that matters were coming to a crisis, and
issued a call, of which | have Ons of the
original kilograms in my pocket now, con