Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1914-09-24

these railway patriots. Fear of a
panic before the election, and in spite
of the flowing promise of the admin
istration's reserve bank scheme, is
the key to this relenting. Let any
man of money come to Washington
today and knock at the White House
door with threat of jolting the
business world, and he may count on
most attentive hearing.
ut might have disturbed business"
is the, epitaph of the tombstone above
the Rayburn securities bill, which
was dropped SO hastily by the Demo-
cratic caucus in the Senate recently.
The men who rule the money of this
nation gave the word to the admins
tration leaders that the bill must be
abandoned. They said that otherwise
the money rulers would be unable to
finance railroad improvements. Sc
curities to the total of hundreds Of
millions of dollars would be unsafe
able if the bill were enacted. There
would be no time to comply with its
requirements before the bonds and
stocks should be marketed. Railroads
would be paralyzed as to improve
ments. And so forth. The
Rayburn bill died so quickly that it
is actually listed as one of the meas
ures passed and signed under the
Democratic administration, in cam
paign circular just issued by the
Democratic National Committee from
its Washington headquarters.
This railroad problem, like the
mine strike problem, Is getting to be
more and more a plague to the party
in power. Government ownership is
the only alternative to higher rates or
lower wages, and with occasional
frightened glances over their shout
ders at the spectre of public owner
hip the Democrats are forced to
back away from the other horn of
the dilema--the refusal of the public
to pay higher rates and the increas-
ing demand of railroad labor for a.
living wage.
Stubborn Prejudice.
How stubborn is their prejudice
against public ownership, which
would show up the robbery that is
called private ownership is to be
again illustrated in the case of the
Kaibab National Forest railroad pro-
ject, proposed in bill in the House
by Rep. Bryan, of Washington. This
is the same Bryan who introduced an
Alaska railroad bill guaranteeing to
the labor employed in building and
operating the road decent living
standard and share in the net pro-
fits of operation. He was elected as
a Progressive. ~,
Government Ownership.
This Kaibab project calls for the
construction and operation, by the
government, of a railroad from the
national forest in northern Arizano to
connect with the Denver & Rio
Grande line at Marysville, Utah. It
will cost 100000 to build the road,
and government experts have report
ed that the existence of such an out
let will Immediately add at least $4,-
100000 to the value of the two billion
feet of good timber now ripe for cut
ting within the forest limits.
The government has been trying to
sell this timber. Commercial bodies
and private promoters have assured
the Forest Service that only the
granting of large tracts of public land
will induce" private capital to build
timber out. These promoters and
their Chambers of Commerce do not
want the public to build the road for
itself That would permit the gov
eminent to get the benefit of opening
up vast areas of agricultural, grazing,
timber and mineral lands along the
route. And of course that would not ,
do!
Rep. Bryan figures that his bill has
a chance of about one to one million
Of getting anywhere in the Democratic
Congress-. He is too optimistic.
------C---