Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1897-06-04
The Middle Ground Of Fact.

The Middle Ground Of Fact.
The st. Paul Globe discussing the
above question as it pertains to rail
roads, earnings and dividends, after
showing the rate OF carrying wheat
to New York in 1878, and the present
rate, Gays:
In 1873 the dividends paid by the
roads were on an average $1,120 9
mile, and in 1896 they were 1854 6
mile, q depreciation of nearly 60 pei
cent, and but 40 per cent of What
they were in 1878. Sixty-eight road.
paid no dividend in 1896, and the av
erage for the whole was 1857 per cent
Meanwhile taxation, since 1888, hal
increased from $25, 200. 900 to $39, 600,
600, or "a per cent. Again there il
that other section Of the money pow.
er that had invested in the mortgage
bonds of the railways which carried
s, 6 or per cent. The receiverships.
that have multiplied SO in recent
years, indicate how many of these in.
vestments have failed to make any
return, while recent arrangements,
heretofore noted in these columns,
have cut down the rate of interest to
3! per cent and less, shrinkage
thereof from 40 to so per cent. The
economic laws are impartial in their
operation and force down to normal
levels all values, those Of the railway
as we'll as those of the farm and the
factory.
1t is pertinent to note that the de.
cline in the earnings of railroads be.
gan with the fateful year 1873, when,
by the decentralization of silver one
half the money metal of the world
was made unavailable for money. by
being denied miuting privileges. 1t
is also we'll to note another pertinent
and important fact that with scarcely
an exception the managers of the
railroads have approved the measure,
and that during the recent campaign
they nearly furnished gratuitous
transportation to Canton, Ohio, in
behalf of the perpetuation of the act
demonetizing silver and contracting
the Worlds money, and thus pro-
ducing the very evils that now aff1ict
them.
The owners Of the stocks and bonds
of the roads, of states and municipal
tiles with complacency viewed tho
decline in prices of labor and Of all
its products, because such decline in
the price Of what they had to buy
made their stocks and bonds the
more valuable. The dear dollars
which were created for their benefit
compe lied the producer whether
farmer, mechanic or manufacturer
to give more of their goods or labor,
for one of these dollars, and thereby
enhanced the worth of the dollar, to
him who had dollars to sell. The con-
sequence has been that profits have
fallen away or been entirely wiped
out causing fall in wages, which,
often disappear entirely in the gulf
of enforced idleness, or unsold pro-
ducts. And this has reacted upon
the creditor classes by defaults
in interest and dividends and to some
extent sacrifice Of the principal in
vested. Money, If worth a given rate
of interest, fixes the value of farms,
bonds and securities upon that basis.
From this arbitrary rule there is no
escape, and losses are inevitable, be-
cause if producers, whether farmers
or manufacturers, cannot earn inter.
est on borrowed capital, they cannot
go on forever paying 1t. Money in
vested in bonds and stocks of trans
portation companies, for their pay.
ment, are dependant on freights and
transportation Of passengers. If pro.
duction becomes unremunerative, OF
if mines and factories curtail Their
output the demand upon railroads
for transportation is correspondingly
diminished, not only for freights but
also for passengers, because the move.
ment of freights leads to the move.
ment of passengers. This decline in
freight and passenger traffic must be
followed by decreased earnings and
inability to pay interest on dividendl
on one series of securities or another
eventually ending in a receivershir
for the railroad or the foreclosure Of
the mortgage upon the farm, and the
ultimate loss Of the property. These
are facts that the Globe and Other
advocates of the gold standard will
do well to ponder, they are as impor
tant to the railroads as to the farm
ers.