The Nevada County picayune., 1914-06-05

1 been millions of dollars taken ont q,
 the earnings in the last 20 years and
 have gone into improvements which
 have probably more than absorbed tha
 watered stock that was supposed to he
 in these systems. We should not for.
 get, moreover, that since 1876 thera
 have been 734 roads in the United
 States pass through receivers hands
 with 135,567 miles of track and with
 stocks and bonds of $7S12 ,697 1000. In congratulations through which these
 roads passed the stocks were scaled
 down, often annihilated, and some.
 times the bondholders' investments were extinguished.
 The situation today may be sue. cinctly stated thus: Owing to the in. creased cost of operation and the
 stricter demands of shippers and tray. elers for modern service, and the re.
 quirements of the government in re.
 spect to safety appliances, etc, the
 railroads are operating under a vastly
 larger expense, while their revenue
 from freight and passenger traffic has
 been growing steadily less. According
 to Charles A. Conant, author of "Prin. clples of Money and Banking" the
 purchasing power of the railroads dol.
 lar has declined 37 per cent between 1896 and 1912. We can now under stand why our railroads are bent al most to the point of breaking. They are facing crisis. Their responsible officers are haunted with the fear of deficit. A continued deficit means ultimate foreclosure. That is why upward of 100000 men have been taken from the payrolls in the last four months. This is why no rails, no cars, no supplies are being bought, except for hand-to mouth existence. When the railroad lays off 100000 men, 100000 men go on half rations. Merchants along the line sell them just half as much to eat and wear. When railroads stop buying, perhaps a half million other men stop working at the mills which make their rails and engines and cars and other equipment. These men are also on half rations. They buy less and their bills are not paid. Every tradesman feels it and finally the farmer feels it. He feels it last, but he feels it most.
 But talk about feeling, he feels that the railroads rob him every time he ships load of stuff to market and ships another load home. 1 wonder he often stops and figures just how much he pays the railroad for us service. Suppose We ask the Inter State Commerce Commission, wnica now fixes the rates and keeps them on file. The commission will tell you that farmer can ship an axe ron New York to Chicago for 21a cents If 1t costs him 75 cents he pays one thirtieth of the selling price to the railroad. He can ship live cattle anu hogs these thousand miles for o'~ Of a cent pound. If they sell ioi cents pound he pays one-tWenv seventh of the selling price to lne
  sand miles for 1-3 cent pound' he pays 30 cents pound for Ii ne pa!s of the selling price 'o the railroad. He can ship set w harness a thousand miles TOT 4oN cents and If 1t sells for $35 ne pay' the railroad one-eightieth Of the se" ing price for freight He can ship harrow a thousand miles for $l.Vo' no can ship motorcycle for $3.83 'hos sand miles. He can ship plano thousand miles for $6. He can sl,r a moving machine a thousand np,es for $3S5, a blow for 46& cents iaas for 1B cents, sewing machlne $1.01, a pair of shoes for 70 cen and a shotgun for 71s cents shove' for cents, suit of clothes or o'o. coat for cents, and he can shlp ,a wool from Billings, Mont, 10 No York City, 2,262 miles, for Is cen'' pound.
 The department of agriculture n called our attention to the Iact ' -, when a farmer receives 50 per v' of of the consumers price on pounu o, butter the freight charge oh If pound of butter is about one-han 1 per cent of what the consumer pa, psa, Another authority has estimateu .,nth the railroads get only one-tWeu,s,ts ,.,cts of the retail price on farm pIour or for an average haul of 1,5OO n'i''''