The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1912-11-23
ton which considers ali alike.


Many Regulations Futile
In the period Of adjustment Of the
last few years the experience of every
railway manager has been that many
of the measures of regulation of rail-
ways have been futile and merely
wasteful OF money soreIy needed for
Improvement of facilities which have
in consequence been postponed. Many
OF these measures have originated in
mere opportunism Of the politician, who,
seeking to commend himself to his con
stituents by adroit insistence upon min
or wrongs. secures the enactment of a
general law prescribing an invariable
and expensive practice for the opera
ton of all railroads. the suggestion for
which had its origin in the failure of
a particular railroad in respect of its
handling OF a particular shipment; but
there are those also, and they are not
few. which have been the direct conse-
quence of the conflict of labor
and capital The managements of
the railways have not been es-
teemed by legislatures in recent
years for historical reasons which are
not oredftable to either of them, and
IL has been as easy for organized labor
as for the ambitious politician TO secure
the passage Of a law to make rail-
road vince.
Want Them Well Paid.
But more serious than this is the eff
feet upon the railroads of the steady
demands Of labor for fixed and fnvari-
able increases of wages. There is no
railway manager today. I venture to
assert. who does not want all his en-
ployes to be well paid to share in
prosperity when prosperity exists and
to be rewarded by promotion for efhti-
ent and loyal services. If he is not
able to give this feeling expression in
all deserving cases it Is because his
constant cost for the numerically most
important classes of labor has IN
creased in greater proportion than the
increases of revenue out OF which that
cost must come. The margin neces-
sary for the successful administration
Of any industry has been thereby pro-
excessively narrowed, until the point
of danger to credit even of the most
prosperous roads is row distinctly visi-
BILE. any one can testify who has
railroad securities for sale which he
bought ten years ago. This is a situa-
ton which would be difficult in an in
I dustry which could stand still, but in
an industry Of which the life is growth
/ II discourages those who are invited
! to risk the new capital necessary to
make even the improvements which. by
! Increasing efficiency. Will reduce ex-
/ penses and so widn tn margin again
much less will the funds be forthcom-
| ing for the Improvements demanded BY
the public for comfort and convent
/ ence. In the end the tendency teopards
- , fol
Investors Shv mt stocks.
Another consequence of the confic
in its effect upon capital is perhap.
1 irrevocably accomplished already It i.
the change which uncertainty of incom,
has had upon the point of vie~v of in
vestment. not only because they prom
ised substantial profit by increment o
value, but because they spelled stabiI
ity of income. Today railroad stock.
are not IN favor. and whenever none,
Is now invested in railroads Except il
extraordinary cases, each of which ha,
its historical explanation. the form o
investment Is the bond. In other words
the investor is no longer a partner il
the business or, to use the good Ok
Elizabethan word, an ADVENTURE; bu
has become a money lender He prefer
uncertain chance Of a profit secured b,
good management and efficient opera
ton. The capital already invested il
the original construction of railwa,
suffers the consequence of this chang
OF investing opinoin. for it must nov
stand the margin of the new in
vestor and must risk being wiped on
for his benefit and security Whenever
as has happened In recent years. a rail
road Is faced by unconcerned and un
yielding demands OF labor at a tim
when il IS unable both to respond t
them and to maintain its credit, thi
risk is imminent 1t is a consequence
of war.
No Less Dangerous.
AS it concerns labor, the conflict /
not less dangerous in its consequence,
We hear much today of the increase
cost OF living It is urged as a groun
for advancing wages. even when the in
: ability Of the industry to do so and con
tinue to prosper is apparent The ar
gument is that those who produce wha
the industry markets are entitled to tn
first consideration in the provision c
the necessaries OF life, and where tina
argument is supported by facts it
: most persuasive. 1t Is not however, a
sound an argument in the railway ir
dustry today It was some years ag,
f., While the cost of certain necessarfes {
life has individually increased, the seal
OF living of the railway employee ha
increased in greater ratio. and not til
least factor in this has been the II
| creases in railway wages This is II
! vicious circle of prosperity. ] read II
q other day an old book, Robert wallace
Dissertation on the Numbers of Mar
n kind" published in 1853, before II
days of political economy, and thel
: came upon a suggestive comment c
t this subject:
n "operose manufactures OF linen,
: wool and silk, toys and curiosities
Of wood metals or earth. elegant
$ furniture, paintings statues, and
$ all the refnements of an opulent
= trading nation. tend" he says, TO
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