Kansas City daily journal., 1896-10-30
Railro.der. Are for Mckinicy.

From the Chicago Times-Herald.
Railways and railway employees have
much at stake in the results Of the pend
ing struggle against free trade and free
coinage.
That railway men are practically united
for Mckinley and protection follows as a
natural sequence after the era Of unpre-
cedented depression through which the
transportation interests of the country
have passed, and which is directly trace
able to the abandonment of the. policy
which in 1892 enabled the railways to
reach the high water mark of their pros
perity.
face this year to the labor leaders, who
seek to persuade them that the only way
to get employment at good wages is to
vote against the interest Of the railway
corporations and to do everything in their
power to cripple the earning capacity of
railway properties.
The railway business is more dependent
upon the manufacturing and agricultural
industries of the country than any other
business. The profits of the railways come
from hauling the products of the shops
and the farm. The farmer is dependent
upon the shops for his best market II
the shops are not running the farmers
| market is destroyed and the railways have
little to do but haul passengers, which is
an unprOntaDle business.
In 1S92-1S93, under the Mckinley tariff
law, work was given to 125,OOO more rail-
way men than in 1880. The report of the
interstate commerce commission shows
that 100000 railway men were dropped
from the pay rolls during the first two
years of the Wilson-Gorman law. 1t is
estimated that the total loss of wages to
idle men was at least $2O,OOOO00. while the
| loss to those who had employment in re-
duction of wages amounted to S7,369.OoO.
| In 1892 the total number of passengers
carried was 56o,9s5,2l1; in 1895 it was 507,-
42l, ,562. showing a net loss of 635S6,6i9. The
number Of tons of freight carried in 1892
| was 7O6. 555, al; in 1895 the number was $685.
| 76l, Ill, showing net loss of 9.794, 300 tons
| under law which was built on the theory
| that Europe and Asia should do our man.
! ufacturing for us. The net income per
! mile in 1892 was s714: in 1895. under the
| Wilson-Gorman law, it was $3l6, decrease
| of over so per cent.
| In its report on the condition Of the
| railways in 1894 the interstate commerce
| commission said:
This office has never before been called
| upon to report a decrease in the number
| of railroad employees but it appears from
| the above figures that on June 90 1894,
there were in the employ of railways 49,
| COS persons, as against S73, ,602 persons in
! 1893. This shows a decrease of 1894. 1t
is necessary to go back to the year 1890
when the number of railway employees was
| 7494o1, to find pay roll as limited as that
| of 1894. This reduction is, Of course, one
of the results of business depression and
| of the consequent necessity of economy
on the part of the railways"
| This business depression" which de-
| prived nearly 100000 railway men of their
| jobs in one year was caused by the un-
American, shop-destroying. deficit-creat.
| ing Wilson-Gorman tariff law which Mr.
| Bryan loudly championed and for which
! he voted in the Fifty-third congress.
How can the railway men be expected
| to vote for Mr.. Bryan?