Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1912-10-02
nd must remain stagnant until


and must remain stagnant until Z
solution is reached.
A political leader strong enough
to formulate a combination construc-
tive and regulative policy will event
.ually take hold of this most impor-
tant question and promulgate it.
fully expect to see a resumption OF
the building of railroads, establish
ing new cities, the opening up Of un-
titled lands, the patient people wait
ing for railroads to develop Their
lands coaxing thousands Of producer
every year into the rich new countr!
in which such work will be carried
on. That means that a solution O.
the present difficulty which amount
to a deadlock will be found before j
ONE to the era of a setback.
Here is need of real constructive
craftsmanship. This is a problem o
pure craftsmanship. 1t is not a matte
of political jobbery Of academic the
DRY of experimental haphazard pro-
cedure. 1t is not a matter that car
be settled and laid aside by )oliti
cal chicanery by the sexpounding o.
academic ideas by the piling up o.
bureau upon bureau at Washington
and commissission upon commission
throughout the land. What is needed
now and what we must have if We arc
to go forward is the direction of III
building. We have been told in :
thousand ways what we must not df
and dare not do. The administration
of the future must tell US what w
can do and show us how to do It,"
How very vital railroad prosper
ity is to the whole country Mr.. Yoa
KUN makes plain:
THE railroad business is the big
gest industry in the United States
1t disburses lore than a billion dol
lars a year to its LOO, 600 employees
According to the census Of 1910, thu
largest other industry in the countr'
was lumber. In 1909 manufacturing
lumber gave employment to $4,000
men and paid them in wages three
hundred million dollars. The rail
roads are aso the largest consumer
of manufactured products in thu
country. Out of the IS million tons o
iron and steel produced in 1907, thu
railroads bought more than n half;
and out of every cut in the mills OF
the country, the railroads consume
one thousand feet.
Apart from the railroads direct
p%ay-rol's they support indirectly an
other army of men larger than their
own forces"
In 1909 the foundry machine shops,
and locomotive works, according to
Mr.. YOakum's figures paid 321 900
900 to 531, oil men doing work for
the railroads. In other trades tha
number of men and the amount of
money brings the total to 1,523,432
men who receive sS3S,SS4,OOO.
Talking about what it costs to live
| have chosen the railroads as
an illustration, because their pros
perity or the reverse meal the pros
perity or depression Of the whole
country; and because 80 per cent. OF
the cost Of all material bought by
the railroads goes TO labor and the adj
vance in the cost Of doing business
in this giant industry may become
a menace for the future of the whole
country. We find it the main issue
in every wage conference between
officers and men. We find it is the
basis Of every strike, every spasm OF
discomfort. We meet it year by yeaI
in our coal bills. We struggle with
it every time we have to pass on
deeds and specifications for new cars
new engines, or new supplies. We tao
kle it again whenever We come tC
figure on building a new line tt
meet the needs and demands Of the
people in undeveloped sections, await
ing transportation that development