The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1914-12-19

IulS IlCu dI JISSSHl prices IL d. lilS
may seem to people living IN the cities
who do not understand the cost attached
to present-day farming. To go back to
the old prices he used to receive would
bankrupt, in little while, every farm
in the country-and the tendency of the
future viii be for the prices of farm
products to go still higher rather thar
lower Agriculture is the nation s
greatest fundamental industry and So
ciety must make the farm game suffic-
iently profitable to justify the man who
is on the farm today and the farmer
boys of the future to stay by the pillow.
Much has been said recently about the
fact that the farmer does not receive
enough for what he produces that
there is too big waste in the channels
through which his products pass before
they reach the consumer, and that he
has some cause for complaint in this
respect is undoubtedly true However,
the railroads can face this inquiry with
a clear conscience-for an exhaustive
investigation conducted by the Lehigh
Valley Railroad some time ago shows
that the farmer gets 501s cents out of
the average dollars worth Of products
he sells; the packers, local shippers,
distributors and retailers get AZ cents
between them; while the railroads re-
ceive only cents, or one-twentieth of
the dollar, for the transportation ser
vices they render.
So, too, there has been steady ad-
vance in practically the entire realm of
merchandise and manufactured pro
ducts, whatever their nature, and the
ever increasing toll in the cost of labor,
steel products, lumber, cars, locomo-
tives, and other supplies has levied a
tribute of untold millions upon the rail-
roads, which have not only been for
hidden to increase their rates, but, on
the contrary, in many instances COM
PEELED to lower them.
BIG INCREASED COST OF LABOR.
To give the reader an exact idea of
how the cost of labor has advanced in
the operation of railroads we quote the
following increases in the daily wage
from 1900 to 1914-a period of only four
teen years: In the case of engineers it
increased from S3.68 per day to S5.75,
or an increase of Sc per cent; conduct
ors from 1871 to 4.83, or 45 per cent;
station agents from 81. SO to $2.16, or 9
per cent; other station men from S1.62
to 81. go, or II per cent; ordinary train
men from 81 81 to 1886, or 20 per cent;
machinists from S2.72 to So 81, or % per
cent; carpenters from S2:.31 to 81. SO, or
II per cent; other shopmen from S1.93
to 1920, or Ia per cent; section foremen
from S1.51 to S1.83, or 81 per cent; 9TH
er trackmen from S1.15 to S1.52, or %
per cent; Telegraph operators and dis
patchers from S2.25 to 2.65, or II per
cent. This means a general average
increase in wages of 1929 per cent
and all other classes of railroad opera
tives and employees in a more or less
similar degree While these advances
have proven great boon to nearly two
million men employed in the railway
service and increased their capacity to
have exacted many millions annually
from the railroads themselves of
which made the general public richer,
but the roads poorer. In 1900 the rail
roads paid 81 "A per ton for coal. Now
they pay 81. 81. Then they paid 38c
for ties. Now they pay 52c.)
OTHER INCREASED COSTS.
But there are many other items
which have enormously increased the
cost of railroad operation which we
cannot go into because of lack of space.
The public is constantly demanding a
more efficient and safer service, and
hence the railroads have had to spend
vast sums in installing block signals,
steel passenger cars, doing away with
grade crossings, Strengthening lines,
heavier locomotives, better roadbeds,
and supplying many other precautions
both their operatives and the
Dublic-all things very necessary, yet
very costly.
Now, while labor, farm products,
and manufactures and sup
plies of all kinds have steadily increas-
ed in price, the railroads, as stated be-
fore, have been compelled to reduce
their rates in the face of this avalanche
Of ever-advancing cost of operation
and that all but the most powerful
ines find themselves in an exceedingly
critical condition is not to be wondered
at. The farmer, the merchant. the
and the laborer justly in
sist that they would not be able to get
along on the prices they received ten or
fifteen years ago. How, then, can the
which are the largest employ
ers of labor and buyers of material IN
the United States, be expected to
exist on less than they received ten or
fifteen years ago? In view of these
facts, it is no wonder that President
Wilson and other patriotic and careful
students of the situation are speaking
words of kindly admonition to the
American public, to the end that the
railroads, through whose giant arteries
n II