The Nevada County picayune., 1914-06-05
(From Better Farming.)

VT ACbA DCSACA | eNt AAAAAAt9'V
 On a recent cross-cOuntry journey 1 attended the daily sessions ot the school of political science, which IS held in the mems end of the sleeping car. This smoking room now vies wtn the country store as the repository tor cracker-box philosophy and political wisdom. If there Is anything wrong with the country, or the universe in general, you will learn 1t here. You will learn it's cause and learn it's cure. Twenty years ago, yes, even ten, ii you listened to the conversation at the cracker-box, or in Pullman com partments, you learned that the Ana conda grip, which was strangling the very life out of American commerce, was that of the great American Rail- road Trust. This monster in popular imagination appeared also to be the sire of that brood of monopolistic evils which have multiplied and flourished in the last decade.
 But the cracker-box philosophy did not prevail. A sounder wisdom dis cerned that the mother of trusts was a Tariff System which enabled big business to fortify itself against world competition and levy its tribute on every consumer. The sire of this sys- tenn was Uncle Samuel himself. In the November elections of 1912 he was given orders to amend his ways, which meant to amend his tariff. He did so, and as proof of penitence he has given us the currency bill be- sides, which still further emancipates us from commercial bondage. Now, according to the common verdict, from cracker-box and counting room and street corner conversation, there Is but one thing needed to accomplish complete restoration of good old times. And this is what l heard on my transcontinental journey.
 Give the railroads the required revenue to put themselves in condition to carry the countrys traffic and we will have a period of business pros perity such as the world has never seen."
 wondered if that was true. For 30 days l have been thinking and study ing and collecting facts and figures which might confirm or disprove this assertion. l am going to give the facts and figures here and let the reader make his own conclusion. There is nobody more interested in this subject than the American farm CT. He is not only interested as good citizen in the country's we'll being, but interested the more since the country's well-being measures it's ability to consume his produce at prof itable prices. The farmer, besides, comes into more intimate contact with the railroads than any other business man. They traverse his land, they carry his freight to market and they carry back his machinery, his cloth ing, his furniture and much of what he consumes. They get him coming and going. Are they his natural enc my, as soap-box orators have de- scribed them, or are they his good allies?
 In the first place, let us put our selves in the position of mind to ren- der fair verdict without prejudice. You are the jury, the railroad is the supposed culprit, and l am summariz- ing the evidence, which you can easily digest.
 The railroads of the United States extend over about 250,000 miles of main line. They represent an invest ment of approximately $20,000,000, ,O00. They are owned by approximately 500,000 shareholders They employ approximately 1,72S,OOO people, and pay directly to these employees approx imately $1,30O,00 000 year in wages. This, of course, does not include em- ployes in collateral lines of industry like steel mills, car shops, etc, which supply the railroads with equipment.
 There are three facts which the jury will note in this brief statement. First, that the railroad industry is by far the biggest industry we have. Sec ond, that it belongs to a lot of people. Third, that it pays more wages to more people than does any other busi- ness in the world. But these features a...-N a.