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

! and another.
In other words, after the railroads
got through paying for their labor,
steel, lumber, coal, interest and other
necessary expenses, the above little
more than s153, 900, goo was all the sur
plus they had left for themselves out of
an income of three billion dollars-and
this, too, upon properties worth the gi-
/ gantlc sum of twenty billion dollars, or
less than per cent on the total invest
ment. Thus it can be seen that on the
basis of the present rates the railroads
pay back to the public in one way and
another practically every dollar they
receive for service
BURNING CANDLE AT BOTH ENDS.
As matter of fact, if every railroad
in the country had charged off a proper
percentage for depreciation, instead OF
having had surplus of S153, COO, 900 left
in 1913 they would have had an actual
deficit running into the millions. Some
| of the larger systems have fixed year
ly depreciation charge scores of
the weaker liners, in their frantic en-
deavor to pay the interest on their debts
and maintain the standing of their Sc
! curities, use every dollar of their in
come to this end, and hence one of the
most alarming phases of the present
! railroad situation is that process of
burning the candle at both ends
means a deterioration of rolling stock
and roadbeds which viii render the con-
tinuance of adequate and safe service
for the public impossible In a recent
article, James J. Hill, the great EN-
! pire Builder of the North" points out
: that American railroads should spend at
| least $500, 200, 900 annually in improve
ments and betterments and it is there
fore no exaggeration to say that rapidly
deteriorating equipment is one of the
ghosts which haunts hundreds of rail-
road managers throughout the country
at the present hour.
As was stated in last weeks article.
the operating income of the railroads
for the fiscal year ending June 80, 1914,
was S120, 000, 900 less than for 1913,
while expenses and taxes were 76, 0O0,-
600 greater. 1t can therefore be seen
that unless the railroads are given some
increase in rates in the very near future
the time when many of them will go
upon the rocks of financial ruin is not
far of-and yet the slight increase
necessary to save them is so small that
the average citizen would not be con-
scious of it after it had gone into effect.
In future article this question will be
more fully discussed.
a BAROMETER OF PROSPERITY.
1t is an old saying that when the rail
roads are prosperous everybody is pros
porous, and the manner in which their
income is disbursed, as above explained,
tells the reason why. In short, for
years they have been regarded as the
great business barometer of the nation
No other industry in the country en-
ploys so many men as do the railroads,
and, furthermore, it is high grade of
labor employed upon as lucrative a basis
as obtains in any other large industry,
When times are good nearly two million
people, first and last, are employed by
the railroads, and when the vast army
is working full time and is contented
the millions they pay out for merchan-
disc and for the living necessities pro-
duced on the farm cannot help but have
a tremendous effect upon the com
merce and agriculture of the country.
But this is only half the story. Aside |
from the nearly two million operatives |
directly employed by the railroads in |
normal times, the hundreds of thous- |
ands of men who work in the great |
steel mills, the coal mines, the lumber |
industry and in the big car and locomo-
tive shops are equally vitality affected, |
for when the railroads are making ex-
tensive Improvements and buying heav-
lily of these supplies it means that these |
great industries are running full shift, |
while when the railroads are subsisting
only upon the absolute necessities it |
means that many of them are only |
working half shift.
FARMER VITALITY CONCERNED.
That the farmer has a very vital and |
personal interest in this situation should |
be apparent at a glance. When the
millions of laboring men in the United |
States are proftably employed and
when all our great industrial enter
prises are running full shift it means
that he viii have larger demand and
receive higher price for the things he
produces on his farm-for his corn,
wheat, pork, beef, mutton, cotton,
wool and other farm products. In 9TH
er words, so independent have we be-
come, and so closely allied are the in
terests of the farmer, the merchant, |
the manufacturer, the labor and every
other great national industry, that the