The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-05-27


best strength OF their lives to the I'm.
doing Of the old evils and the creation
of new working ideals.
These men are working to straighe
en- out the tangles of the old days.
They are making the railroads more
efficient. They have accomplished
wonders There is the safety first ;
movement, the divisional organization
OF the Southern Pacific, the rehabili-
tation of the station agent on the
Frisco, the abolition of Christmas
presents from supply men to railway
officials, and many another reform
which is radical and real, though the
public hears little of it. On the physi.
cal side, there have been tremendous
economies through the improvement
of terminals-as witness the Katy"
freight station in North St. Louis and
the Dupo hump yard near East ST.
Louis-the increase in the haulins
power of engines through superheated
steam and larger locomotives, the
perfecting of signaling systems, the
adoption of steel cars. BY an exer-
else of inventive and administrative
ability unmatched in transportation
history the American railroad man 81
today is doing his best In the face Of
dearer supplies, higher wages ano
stationary or lowered rates
There is no doubt of the facts. For
the railroad no more keeps its own
books in its own sweet way. The
government, through the interstate
commerce commission, has decreed
one uniform system of railway &C
counts, from Seattle to Boston ana
from San Antonio to Duluth.
We used to look at railway stats
tics and then wonder what the facts
| We're. Today we know.
4 Now the railroads Of the country
I might, perhaps, have taken care of
! themselves in spite of high prices
! burdensome legislation and lowered
rates. But when the weather joined
I its forces against them they were
compelled to cry for mercy.
hS NlutcI OIS winter
which brought the Citizens Emers
ency Relief Association into being tt
warm and feed thousands OF cold ano
hungry ones in ST. Louis-was the
most severe since 1882, and the most
expensive for railway operation
throughout the northern part OF the
country. This winter was followed By
a spring whose floods paralyzed rail
way transportation in the lower Mis-
sissippi valley, destroyed crops which
would have furnished a large ton
mage and made much track reconstruc
j, ton necessary. And then, this sprini
the floods have desolated region!
hitherto considered immune from dan
4 ger, parafyzed transportation through
out the Mississippi valley as a whole
and made extensive reconstruction
4 imperative In many states Mean
while ties cost more than ever; stes
) rails have been breaking and must be
so manufactured as to cost more
state legislatures are requiring cleo
trio headlights, automatic signals and
larger crews; and every labor dispute
results-as it should-in higher wages
for railroad men.
These facts are all notorious. The
old days. of coneealment are gone
The cards lie face UP on the table
The railroads cannot stand everythine
else, and food and storm. too.
These physical disasters put the
agonizing twist on the railways neeo
In view of them they ought to have
the per cent advance in rates they
request The Republic believes that
4 the good sense of the American peo