The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1914-11-12

the general public is inclined to view al
increase of railroad rates with exag
gerated alarm. An increase of 10 PEI
cent, for instance, over rates in effec
now on distances of between 500 ane
1000 miles would amount to between
mills and and one cent on the average
: suit of clothes, 8 to 4inilis On pair 81
shoes, less than one mill per pound or
meats, less than two mills per dozen or
eggs, 1919 cents on two-horse pillow
and 93la cents on a farm wagon-anc
for hauls of less than from 500 to l. 00(
miles the increase would be proportion.
ately less. Is there, therefore, any
thing about this problem which should
alarm or inspire the antagonism of the
average citizen?
For every postage stamp Missouri
railroad uses it must haul ton of coal
five miles, and many similar examples
could be shown. To give them adequate
rates for the services they they render
means they can 60 ahead with COM
prehensive program of statewide i'm
provement. that they will be able to
put millions of dollars into betterments
and new extensions, put many addition
al men at work in every railroad shop
in the state, increase section gangs,
improve their road beds. install block
signals, buy new engines and cars and
otherwise inaugurate an era of pro-
gress which will enable US to make the
most of our agriculture. manufactures.
mines, lumber and other interests
AS matters stand, numerous railroads
in Missouri are paying out more money
in the state than than they collect on
Missouri freight and passenger traffic.
A notable example of this is the Mis-
souri, Pacific which, during the last fis-
cal year.. paid into the state SLIPS, l26
in excess of its total receipts on Mis-
souri, traffic and which, but for its In
ter-State business, would have been
forced into the hands of a receiver long
ago. When the people of agreat state
are actually receiving hundreds of thou
sands of dollars more from numerous
railroads than they pay to them for
service, should they not be willing to
meet them half way in fair and equit-
able rate Adjustment Or, taking the
state as whole, if the railroads are
now returning practically every dollar
they receive for service to the public
in one way or another. should not the
people be willing to give them dollar
and ten cents where they now receive
a dollar, if the additional ten cents will
save them from disaster and prove a
powerful added stimulus for every in
dustry in the state?
The charge that the railroads are
merely pleading for relief against the
abnormal conditions produced by the
European war is not true. While the
foreign crisis has greatly intensified
their difficulties, the fact remains that
the present rates have been unremun-
erative for number Of years and re-
adjustment would have had to come
anyway.
Missouri Should Stand for Progress
Before the wonderful resources of
Missouri can be fully developed we must
not only bring our present railroads up
to high point of efficiency but we must
also build many new lines and extern
sions into those sections of the state
where farmers on local commerce and
industry are still inadequately provided
with transportation facilities. The chief
reason why the farm lands of Iowa and
Illinois are valued so much higher than
lands of fully as good quality in Mis-
souri, is because those states have about
double the railroad mileage found in
Missouri at the present time. But in
vestors will not put their money into
new Missouri lines if we continue to
advertise to the outer world that capt.
tai cannot get square deal within our
midst. In an address delivered before
the Commercial Club at jefferson City
several months ago, W. B. Mckinley,
the big traction builder of Illinois, gave
this as his reason for not having built
inter-urban lines in Missouri up to this
time-and until we prove to the invest
ing public that this is not the true atti-
tude of Missouri people we will continue
to suffer the penalty.
In many respects the American rail-
road problem presents queer and para
doxical phases. Whatever abuses may
have characterized their management
in some instances in the past and the
frequent charge that they are highly
"watered," the fact remains. as was
shown in psevious article, that they
not only furnish the cheapest service
in the world. but that they are capital
lied for many thousands of dollars less