Potosi journal. (Potosi, Mo.) 1894-1929, 1914-10-21

mllllOuS OF taxes winch they nov
pay. Many other things coult
be said upon this phase of the
question, but space forbids. Fol
sometime, the Government
through the Inter State Com
merce Commission has been en-.
gagged in making a physical val
uation of all our railroads as a
matter of guidance for future
rate adjustments. Again, we re-
peat, since the people absolutely
control and regulate the rail-
roads, is that not enough2 Will
it not be better to let we'll anongh
alone-to cling to that which is
good and eliminate that which ia
bad from this time forward?
Increased Cost of Operation.
We now wish to refer briefly
to another phase of the problem.
For a number of years the cry
of the high cost of living" has
been everywhere abroad in the
land. Time was, not so many
years ago, when the farmer sold
his corn at 25c per bushel. Now
it brings from lQc to 75c. So,
too, he sold hogs at &c per pound, ,
which now readily bring &c to
10c-while a good steer calf.
which used to bring from $40 to
S12, now sells for from $40 to
S25. Nobody who knows any
thing about present land values
or the farmers cost of produc-
ton will contend that he is rot
entitled to these increased pric
es. AS a matter of fact, unless
be is an exceedingly good man
ager and utilizes the best of mod
ern agricultural thought, he is
by no means getting rich at
present prices, high as they may
seem to the people in the cities
who do not understand the cost
attached to present day farming.
10 go back to the old prices he
used to receive would bankrupt
in a little while every farmer in
the country; and the tendency of
the future will be for the prices
CT farm products to go still high
er, rather than lower. Agricul-
ture is the nation S greatest fun
damental industry, and society
must make the farm game suffi-
oiently profitable to justify the
man who is on the farm today
and the farmer boy of the future
to stay by the plow. Much has
been said recently about the fact
that the farmer does not receive
enough for what he produces, that
there is too big a waste in the
channels through which his pro-
ducts pass before they reach
the consumer, and that he has
some cause for complaint in this
respect is undoubtedly true.
However, the railroads can face
such an inquiry with a clear con-
science-for an exhaustive inves-
tigation conducted by the Le-
high Valley Railroad some time
ago shows that the farmer gets
50I cents out of the average dol
lars worth of products he sells,
the packers, local shippers, dis
tributors and retailers Az
cents between them, while the
railroads receive only sc, or one
twentieth of the dollar, for the
freight service they render.
So, too, there has been a stea-
dy advance in practically the en-
tire realm of merchandise and
manufactured products, what
ever their nature, and the ever
increasing toll in the cost of la
Dor, steel products, lum ber, cars,
locomotives and other supplies
has levied a tribute of untold
millions upon the railroads,
which have not only been forbid
den to increase their rates, but,
on the contrary, in many instanc-
es, compelled to lower them.
Big Increase In Cost of Labor.
To give the reader an exact
idea of how the cost of labor has
advanced in the operation of rail
roads we quote the following In
creases in the daily wage from
1903 to 1913. a period of ten
years only: In the case OF en-.
gineers it increased from s4.O1
per day in 1908 to 1924 ia 1913,
or an advance of 80 per cent
firem n from 1928 to So Is, or 3s
per cent; conductors from S3.3e
20 &f 40 or 81 nor cant. 1tho,