Duncan Arizonian., 1913-01-01


RAILROAD MEN,
STOP! LOOK! LISTENi
LEST YOU FORGET
$71, S79.
Big sum of money isn't it?
Nevertheless it's exactly that much
more paid to the railroad EMPLOYEES
of the United States under the admin
istration of President Taft in 1910 than
was paid in 1907 the year before Mr.
Taft became president
This is sample of the old time Re-
publican habit of claiming credit for
all natural progress-credit even for
good crops.
1t is true that in 1910 the wages of
railroad employees amounted to some
$71,000,000 more than in 1907.
But that represented three years
progress.
In 1905 the amount paid to railroad
employees was $900,8O1, ,653. In 1907
it was $1,072, ,386,427 This was an in
crease of $171, 1,584,774 in a single year
preceding the Taft administration,
amounting to more than double the in
crease during three years of the Taft
administration.
Isn't it obvious that they are pre-
suming you won't have the statistics
at hand to inform yourself and that
therefore they will fool you into be-
lieving that the Taft administration
made railroad mems prosperity?
Then stop, look, listen again
Tn fO1Ir uparc nro0o6ipO
ninistration 1,193 miles of railroad
we're sold under foreclosure. The
stocks and bonds of these roads
amounted to $47,O31 900
Under three years of the Taft ad-
ministration 5,115 miles were foreclos-
ed, involving $3S4,434,5 ,562.
The Tariff Humbug Again.
A still more palpable presumption
by Republicans that railroad men are
fools is the following statement in
their circular:
The total number of railway en-
ployes in 1895 was 1856 034
The total number of railway en-
ployees in 1911 was 1899, ,S09
Under Republican administration the
number of railway employees has in
creased from 7S5, 5,034during Demo-
cratic administration-to 81, 699, S09 an
increase of 944,775, nearly 10000 900 men.
Do you want a Democratic president
and return to conditions and number
of employees of 1895?
The Taft people take 1895 because
the last Democratic low tariff bill,
known as the Wilson bill, went into
force in 1894, and they would like to
have railroad men believe that Dem
ocratic tariff revision made the hard
times.
What the FACTS Prove.
Now, what are the facts?
The hard times" began back in
1890, right after the Republican high
tariff, known as the Mckinley tariff,
went into effect. Grover Cleveland,
the last Democratic president, was
elected in 1892. The panic came on in
1898, not as a result of Cleveland 8
election, but as a result of conditions
that had been growing steadily worse
under Republican rule. The panic was
over before the Democratic tariff bill
was passed in 1894, and after that
prosperity began to return.
Now let us make fair comparison
of these railroad figures.
In 1898, under the Republican high
were S73,602 railroad men employed.
or 515 per 100 miles.
In 1894, part high tariff and part
low tariff, the number fell to ITO 608,
or 444 for 100 miles-decrease II per
10G miles
From this year on, so long as the
Democratic administration was in pow
or, conditions improved steadily
In 1895 the total number of railroad
men at work was increased to 755,03t
In 1895 it was 826, 620
In 1897 Mckinley came into the
presidency, and the Republicans set
about to redeem the country with
high tariff AND IN 1897 THE To
tai NUMBER OF RAILROAD EN-
PLOYES FELL OFF TO S22, rs.
Republican Panic Of 1907
Then in the fall Of 1907 there was
another panic under the Roosevelt ad-
nlinistration and under a Republican
high tariff. Were the railroad men
protected from loss of jobs? Scarce
ly! The next year, 1908, the number
of railroad employees fell off by
235,799 a decrease of 112 per 100
miles against II per 100 miles in 1894,
the year when the results of the panic
of 1898 were felt most severely.
So what is the use of trying to
make fools of railroad men or OF any
other Americans by distorting figures?
The truth is that these fluctuations
we're not due to high tariff or low
tariff.