Mexico Missouri message., 1914-03-19

side. Brandeis has made a study OF
railroad conditions and while a good
many people think he is somewhat
prejudiced, his knowledge OF condi.
lions and his ability as a lawyer are
said to be of great service to the COM
mission in finding out the truth as
between the conflicting statements of
witnesses to the two sides Of the pre-
scented case
The country probably has no realiz-
Ing sense of the immense quantity of
material which must be gone through
before decision can be reached In
this advanced rate case. The charge
Is that some Of the railroads are either
paying on watered stock or trying so
to do, and that If they had issued no
stock without ample foundation for Il.
they would all be now in a prosperous
condition, and would not need to ask
an advance in freight rates. There is
one big railroad which is paying a
five per cent dividend and which some
men declare would be paying 40 per
cent II the securities which 1t had
issued had a basis more stable than
water.
Innocent Investors Plea.
Now OF course thousands of inno-
cent people have bought this watered
stock and they are expecting their
dividends, and they maintain that II
an advance rate is necessary to en-
able them to realize on their money
the increase should be allowed be-
cause they made their purchases in
good faith and should not be made to
suffer for the sins of railroad officials
and great bankers who have helped
to manipulate things so as to benefit
pecuniarily the few to the injury of
the many.
1t is little to be wondered that there
has been slow progress in reaching q
decision In this case. The shippers
who do not want to pay advance
freight rates have been sending In
their protests with their reasons for
opposing the increase which If granted
or course they will have to pay. The
stockholders are sending in their pleas
for an increase. The railroads are en-
deavoring to show how they are
obliged to conduct business at loss
under the present return on freight
shipments. The financial operations
Of the roads In the past are being laid
bare In the rooms of the interstate
commerce commission. The matter Is
a deep one and the hope is that one
way or the other the members of the
commission will be unanimous in its
final decision.
Civil Pensions Up Apain.
There has been introduced into con-
gress a bill to create a commission
to consider the matter of pensions
for aged government employees There
Is reason to believe that the bill
Is likely to pass. The commission
If appointed will be expected TO
submit plan for what must be called,
even If so calling it is unpalatable, a
scheme to create civil pension list
Ever since the foundation of the
government there has been objection
to pensions for civilians. 1t has been
hard work even to secure the passage
OF legislation giving the widows of
army officers of high service, pen
sions sufficient for their support. or
course army officers widows have a
pension which is fixed by law, but
whenever it has been attempted to
increase the pension largely, strong
opposition has been shown by the
lawmakers. There are few civil pen
sioners of the government today and
none outside OF those who
have had some connection direct or
indirect with the armed services of
the country.
For years attempts have been made |
to get congress to consider the civil |
veterans" Members OF congress have |
had the necessities in the case before
their eyes in their daily walks. When
one passes the treasury building, for |
instance, at the hour when work Is
about to begin, or just after It has
ended. he sees men and women of |
advanced years going in or coming out |
Of the big structure, some OF them |
on crutches and others almost being |
carried to their desks. Congressman !
have looked on these scenes for years |
and 1t has been the looking on them !
which has moved scores of represen-
tatives to introduce bills for the pen
sioning of the aged and decrepit The
of the bills heretofore |
always has been just SO much wasted
effort
In Continental Europe and in Eng
land they have set the example OF !
aged government workers, !
and the pillars of state OF the coun-
t=ies which have shown generosity .
have not been shaken from their foun-
dations by the government act.
Official Washington is beginning TO .
look with different eyes upon this
situation. Always there has been sym
pathy for the aged who had to stay /