The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-07-10
THE NEED" OF HIGHER RATES.

For some time past various people
have been urging in newspapers, in
pamphlets, and by word of mouth the
point that the railroads are obliged to
increase their rates, and that it is nee
eSsary for them to increase their rates,
because of the prevailing high prices
of labor and material 1t is evident,
however. that il the railroads increase
their rates, they Will thus exert an i'm
| portant influence in again stimulating Il
raise in commodity prices, in labor, and
in all sorts of supplies.
If the railroads increase rates be-
cause of the prevailing high prices, that
IN itself will add largely to tho already
swollen prices of which complaint is
made. Then, again. the laborers will
require higher wages in order to en-
able them to live. The manufacturers
having to pay higher wages also, and
more for their raw material, will he
obliged to increase their prices for sup.
plies, material, and all their manufac,
lures. The miners of the ore from which
the iron and steel are made, will need
higher wages because they will have
to pay more for the necessities of life,
The ore will, therefore, cost the man
ufacturers more and they will make
another boost in their prices. Then,
again, the railroad laborcrs will want
more pay, and the railroads will again
have to raise their rates. 1t Will be
never-endipg round of raise, raise,
raise on every hand, and in every de-
partment of industry and activity, re-
pcated over and over again.
II must be evident to any rejecting
mind that the proposed raise in rates
by the railroads Will accentuato the
difficulty rather than relieve it. 1t will
incite further raises; in fact, it will
compel raises at different points on the
round of the industrial CIRCLE one raise
inevitably leads to another, and by the
time the round is completed IL will all
have to begin over again. 1t is an invi-
tation to enter upon an unceaslng round
of increases when the railroads say that
they are going to advance their rates
because of the increase In prices of Ia
Dor and supplies. Ii is a plain case that
such increase will not effect the purpose,
and it is curious that the great lights
of the railroad world are not able TO
see any further beyond their noses than
the immediate curve of the circle which
leads upwards, apparently for their
benefit but eventually for their utter
destruction. The railroad managers
should take some other tack than this
to relieve them from their difficulties
They should study ont some plan that
will help to lower the prices rather than
to undertake to put into effect a plan
which will inevitably raise prices all
along the line.
We are reminded of this illogical ten
dency towards railroad action in push
ing upwards, by an editorial in 'The
Railway Record'' of July 2nd, headed
''Some Things That Make Higher Rates
Necessary" But the very things that
appear to make higher rates necessary
now, Will, when these higher rates have
gone into effect, make still higher rates
necessary, and then higher rates again,
and so on indefinitely. 1t is a process
that ought to be reversed. In place of
making for higher prices, all of the
great industries should study and work
for lower prices, and for results that
will afford real and not mere fictitious
relief