Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-04-10
CASE OF THE RAILROADS


name: "Starve the railroads and we
starve ourselves"
How true this is we of Harrisburg
are beginning to understand in very
disagreeable way. Thousands of our
people are idle or are working on half
time, and the outlook is not bright
Not only are the local railroads suffer
ing, but the great new freight station
and yards planned for Harrisburg
by the Pennsylvania will not be
constructed this year. because decreas-
ing profits and increasing expenses
leave the company without funds for
the work.
The situation, as summed up by Mr..
Munsey. is this:
If the Government would get
back of the railroads and give them
a lift, the railroads would get back
Of business from one end of this
country to the other and give 1T a
lift-would get its great broad
shoulder under business and heave
that our railroads have back of
them the great American people,
the good feeling and spirit of CO.
operation of the American people,
strong, helpful hand of the Govern
ment, untold money would flow into
this country from abroad and vast
sums of sleepy money tucked away
in odd places here at home would
straightway come out of its hiding
and go into railway securities
And what wouldn't this money
mean to us-all this vast aggre-
gate of new money. in the Golfers
of the railroads to be spent for
labor, for betterment, and for new
undertakings? The railroads must
gines, new ties. new bridges, new
stations. better roadbeds and a
thousand other things. They must
add to their ,sidings,, double their
into. new territory. All this means
work for idle men and full enve-
lopes Sa on Saturday nights.
gin buying on SO tremendous
scale that our steel mills and other
concerns having to do directly and
indirectly with railroad supplies
and beyond their capacity. And the
high pressure activity in these lines
would electrify the whole country
and set every spindle spinning and
every wheel of industry bounding
into action. And there would be no .
idle men, no idle cars, no shuttered
factories no depression, no blues;
acbievemenf eyty ana %ou,d enterprise teiI and
try from ocean to ocean and from .
the Gulf to the northern border.
This is a practical view of the
freight rate controversy. The govern
ment has forced the railroads to spend
millions on safety devices and the i'm
provement of traffic handling facilities
very properly so. Its arbitration
boards have decided that wages must
be fncreased-again very properly, for
this is country of high wages for
workmen. It's legislatures have en-.
acted all manner of restrictive legis-
lation and so-called full crew" laws
which the courts have sustained. In
other words, the government has
forced up to the extent of millions OF
dollars the expenses of the railroads
of the country. Now come the rail-
roads seeking the privilege of increas-
ing their revenues to meet the growth
of government-imposed expenses. It
would seem, therefore, that there is
some reason in their request.
All attempts of Wilson spokesmep
and newspapers to relieve the Presi-
dent of suspicion of favoritism to
England in the matter of the Panama
Canal tolls are futile. This country
is not going to be the tail for any
English kite, nor is it going to be pos
sible for the Wilson administration to
escape the censure of an indignant
nation. Democrats and Republicans
and men of all parties are only wait
ing an opportunity to register their
protest against the attitude of the
administration in the Panama tolls
matter and also the "watchful wait
ing" policy of the administration in
Mexico.
SCHOOL EXAMINATIONS