The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1907-04-19
OF RAILROADS
THEY HANDLE TRAFFIC BUT DO
NOT CREATE 1T.
Their Sole Function is TO Transport
the Products Of Prosperity, and
When Prosperity Wanes the Rail-
roada Suffer In Proportion.

erS, Mr.. IL. H.. Hartman, Is quoted IN
a recent interview as saying that he
favors a tariff revision, including the
removal of duties on works OF art;
that steel rails are not works of art,
but he wishes they were. From
which it Is plainly to be inferred that
Mr.. Hartman would like to see steel
rails placed on the free list so that he
could buy them cheaper.
Mr.. Hartman Is among the fore
most opponents Of federal and state
interference with railroads. He OBJ
jects to governmental regulation OF
rates, to laws prohibiting the pay
ment of rebates to favored shippers,
to statutory restrictions such as
would forbid the buying of a railroad
and the immediate imitation Of Its
securities by the issue of stock and
bonds three times the amount OF the
purchase price. To hinder oil forbid
transactions of this character is, in
the opinion Of Mr.. Hartman, a harsh,
Revolutionary and destructive policy.
But he would welcome government
al Interference when 1t took the shape
of free trade in steel rails. II con-
gress would step in and help the rail-
roads to beat down the price Of Amer
lean labor products, and also the
price Of American labor, Mr.. Harri-
man would be greatly pleased.
We do not know the length Of Mr..
Harriman's nose, but should suppose
1t to be not a cry long one. The end
Of his nose seems to be the limit of
his vision regarding economic ques-
tons, and the shortness of his vision
implies an exceedingly short nose. It
Is evident that genius for mergers Is
his long suit, and that the ability to
perceive the real source of prosperity
and profit making in practical rail-
reading Is not among his accomplish
ments. Obviously he does not under
stand that the sole function of a rail-
road is to transport the products of
prosperity, and that when these prod
ucts shrink there must be an equiva-
lent shrinkage in railroad earnings.
Free trade in steel rails would
carry with it free trade in a very
large number of other articles. For1
eign prices, plus cost Of t~ransportaI
ton (about one per cent. as a general,
average), would determine prices in
this country. Either we should have
the great bulk Of our wants supplied
by foreigners, or we should be COM
PEELED to. reduce wages so as to hold
the American market against the
competition Of cheap foreign pay
rolls. One or the other of the two
horns of the dilemma must impale US.
There is no escape.
With foreigners supplying the bulk
of our requirements American wage
paying, wage earning and wage spend,
ing must largely disappear. Would
that be good for Mr.. Harriman's rail-
roads? Would they then carry as
much freight and as many passengers
as they now carry? If Mr.. Hartman
thinks they would, he had best look
back to the low tariff period of 1893.
1897 and count the railroad properties
that went into the hands of receivers.
If, as the other alternative, Ameri'
can wages should be reduced 30, 40
or so per cent. from their present
IlSu ASNSl III u thaI liz
, might continue to do the work OF
Americans. would the American
freight bill be as large and the Amer
lean passenger traffic as great? I'm
qu~estionably not. Railroads do moi
create traffic. They only carry II
when industrialism has created goods
= to be carried, when wage earning
and wage spending have created
market for those goods. Any reduc
!, tion in the purchasing power o
American wage Farmers would be in
stantly felt by American railroads
Take away any part of the tire
mendous volume of business fur
q nished through meeting the consum
0 ing demands of American wage earn
ers and there would be weeping ant
8 wailing and crashing of teeth amons
railroad systems. James ]. Hill woult
not then be saying that $1,000, 000, 00'
is needed right now with which tt
provide additional trackage and othe
facilities for handling the enormous
traffic that o%verwhelms the roads
The present pressure would quickl,
abate, and present facilities would b
more than ample.
Mr.. Hartman would then be mere
ing bankrupt railroads, IL he merge,
anything at all. This gentleman an
Q the general body of m~anipulatin
magnates will do well to devote a.
tention to their favorite pastime G
finding a market for inflated. secur
ties so long as the law will III then
They shine in this branch of the blu.
mess. But they should let custom
t. tariffs alone, Least Of all should the
q banker for free trade in steel rails G
any other product of American labo
and industry. That way bankruptc
lies. II the governing brains
" American railroads could grasp I
. tho full tho frun relation IF thair oW