The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1914-11-13
Commerce Commits.

mcata in the metropolitan press t,
the effect tina. the railroads are ask
ing for general advances of from 81
per cent to 22o per cent are Of COURSE
untrue and misleading. In the neal
future the public will be informed OF
the exact requests which the railroads
/ will make.
As general proposition, however
the general public is inclined to view
al increase Of railroad rates with ex.
aggerated alarm. An increase of lC
per cent, for instance, over rates in
effect now on distances Of between
! 500 and 1000 miles would amount to
between S mills and one cent on the
average suit Of clothes, 3 to mills
on pair of shoes, less than one mill
per pound on meats, less than mills
per dozen on eggs II Il, on two
horse pillow and % lie on fam wag-
on--nHG for haIIs Of loss than from
500 t. 1000 miles the increase would
&c pr,rortionately less. Is there,
therefore. anything about this Prob
lem which should alarm or inspire the
arjaEDaiam Of the ayer&Ea citizen?
For every postage stamp a Nilsson
ri railroad uses it must haul Il ton Of
coal five miles, and many similar cx-
amplcs could be shown. 70 give
them adequate rates for the services
hey render means they can go ahead
with a comprehensive program of
statewide Improvement that they
viii be able to put millions of dollars
into h2ttermcnts and new extensions,
put many additional men mt work in
every railroad shop in the state, in
crease section gangs, improve their
road beds, install block signals, buy
new engines and cars and otherwise
lnauguratc an era Of progress which
will enable Us to make the most OF
our agriculture, manufactures. mines,
lumber and other interests.
As matters stand, numerous rail
roads in Missouri are paying ont more
money in the state than they collect
on Mi: ouri freight ali passenger
traffic. \ notable example If this is
Tie Missouri Pacific, winch, during
the las, fiscal yea, pa.I 'rlo ;ne stat
tIl2sJ2i az excess Of It's ,alaI .,-
cclptt Missouri ,~afilr and which,
tat for it, Interstate business would
!.a"e been forced INTO the hands Of q
receiver long ego. When lha people
81 . great stat" are ACTUALLY receiving
hundreds cf thousands r dolIars
morc from numerous railroads than
hey pay 20 them fer service, should
they not be willing TO meet them half
way in a fair and equitable ate ad-
justment? Or, taking the state rs a
whole, if the railroads are now return
irg practically every dollar they rc-
ceive for service to the public in one
way or another. should not the people
be willing to give them a dollar and
ten cents where they now receive n
dollar, il the additional ten cents will
save them from disaster and prove
a powerful, added stimulus for every
Industry il the state?
The charge that the railroads are
merely pleading for relief against the
abnormal conditions produced by the
European war is MT tlu2. 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
would have had 20 come
anyway.
Missouri Should Stand for Progress
Before the wonderful resources of
Missouri can be fully developed we
must not only bring our present rail
roads up to high point of efficiency
but we must also build many new
lines and extensions into those sec
lions of the state where farmers and
local commerce and industry are still
inadequately provided with transpor-
tation facilities. The chief reason
why the farm lands of Iowa and Ill |
Inois 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 investors will rot put their mon
~ into rev Missouri lines if we con-
.irue to advertise to the cutter world |
hat capital cannot get n square deal
n our midst. In an address delivered |
before the Commercial Clup at JEFF
sr3on City several months ago, W. b.
The big traction builder OF
Illinois, gave this as his reason for
,ot having built intcr-urban lines in
Missouri up to this time--and until
&c urova TO the investing l,Ihlic tbat