Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1912-09-26
REPLY TO A FARMER
Boise, Sept. 20, 1912.

hope "a Farmer will not think
l am "peeyed," because am not
but how is it possible to make fit
ting reply to a man who says 81
presume the cost of railroad service
has not gone up since them" mean
ing more than twelve years ago,
without seeming "peeved." 1t is
hard to believe that a man who
writes as intelligently as "a Farm
er" doesn't know that the cost of
everything bought by a railroad,
from the labor of section hand to
locomotive has increased from ten
to seventy-five per cent during the
last twelve years. And it is hard
for me to believe that ga Farmer"
doesn't also know that the tenden-
cy of railroad rates has been steadi-
ly downward during the period nam
ed.
Nobody knows better than "a Farm
err that the cost of every item en-
tering into the budget of the average
family, except the item of freight
rates, has increased materially dur
ing the last twelve years; and no
body xknows betteg-thstn--n that the.
f&rfher -nRs rrofited more than any
other class By this Increase. 80
HeaYen knows do not begrudge to
the farmer the fruits of his labor. If
anybody on earth is entitled to fair
aud decent treatment it is the farm
er, for he is the foundation of all
My own people were
fsremrs and l would resent any at
tack upon their employment as quick
" as wsuld ga Farmer"
But l remember when my own peo-
pie. were glad to receive three and
four, cents pound, live weight, for
their hogs and cattle twenty cents
a Bushel for their corn, dollars a
barrel for their apples with prices
IF other products of the soil pro |
low. .And when l COM
bare those prices with the prices of
.oday it does seem to me that the
noderp farmer has mighty little real
'eason for complaint.
"a Farmer, speaks of bonds and
took of the Oregon Short Line be-
ng greatly in excess of "the actual
ost of the road" am not pre-
jared to say..Yhether or not this
tatement is true but l am willing
o admit, for the sake of the argu
lent that it is. The real point is:
What is the value of the oregon
hort Line today? And should it
OF be permitted to earn dividends
n it's present value?
Is it not a fact that every farm
ouched by the Oregon Short Line
Immensely more valuable than it
Tas before the RAILROAD came? Does
OF "A Farmer believe his own pee
lie should be allowed to earn divi-
sfds on the value created for them
y the railroad? VIII he Use 'in1 {
is place and say that the farms of |
laho are worth today only what t
ley cost the original owners, the t
en- who first cleared the sagebrush t
Id planted crops in the soil? l S
lrdIy think so: g
1t is quite true that every human c
ing worthy of the name contributes n
greater or less degree to the fl
osperity of the railroads, when Z
ey are prosperous But it is also Y
ne that every human being con- "
butes to the prosperity of the
rmer. There is no escape. from q
her. But the railroad contributes e!
SO to the general prosperity There 81
2 millions of wage earners in the CT
ilroad business and in it's allied tr
iustries. From every one of OF
I'm the farmer takes toll. te
"A Farmer" seems to assume that ~
cry cent paid for freight, rates i'm 10
diately finds itself in the Golfers III
the idle rich. A very little thought pc
,uld convince him that this is far III
m true. Forty-three cents out of III
Try dollar taken from the general =
,lic by the railroads is paid out we
in to their own wage earners. All u
a very small proportion of the ili'
Rder is expended for supplies OIL
ItiRds, directly and indirect
He earners in ether me
In,diYidends al us
70 av vic
: the Go