Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1914-12-24

well known to every reauer Oh he"S-
papers-for hardly q day passes
that the press Is not full OF comment
about the hungry thousands who
stand in the bread line" and pat
ronize the free soup houses" In
every large center of population. Nor
In this state of affairs due to the
policy of any particular political
uarty. but rather the outgrowth OF
conditions which have been slowly
but surely crystalizing for number
of years. In the first place, the corn
belt-the great bread basket OF the
uation-has had a series OF slim
crops in most sections, and this nat
urally has had a depressing effect
upon business conditions. Again, we
have been passing through a period
of Industrial readjustment-oi
changing from the loose methods
which prevailed q dozen or 80 years
ago over to a policy of strict govern
ment control of public service cor
porations and a sharp inquiry into
the conduct OF all other large cor
porations-and, in trying to stamp
out the abuses of the past, the PEN
dulum has swung 80 far in the other
direction that so far as the railroads
are concerned, at least, 1t threatens
to precipitate the most of them which
are not already in the hands OF re-
ceivers upon the rocks of financial
wreck and ruin.
That the depressed financial con-
dition of the railroads is largely re-
sponsible for the great army OF I'M
employed was wildly demonstrated
by a prominent st. Louis newspaper
the other day when 1t showed that
nine st. Louis manufacturing es-
Adjustments which deal in railroad
supplies employed 14,673 men one
year ago, whereas now they employ
only 45O3, with a reduction in their
nay rolls amounting to $5SS,7OO per
month, or over seven million dollars
a year. II the effect upon only nine
enterprises is as far reaching as
this, what would the figures show
II they were available for similar
industries and the hundreds OF
other enterprises affected in a great
or or less degree throughout the
country? Nearly all Of these con-
Germs have on hand hundreds OF
thousands of dollars worth Of fin
ished equipment which was ordered
by the railroads year or 80 ago,
but which they have not been able
to pay for; in the meantime, not be-
ing able to pay for goods already
ordered, the railroads are not plac-
ing any new contracts, and unless
they receive speedy assistance from
the interstate commerce commission
and the rate-making authorities OF
the different states the tendency will
be for labor conditions to grow
gradually worse rather than better.
In last weeks article we referred
to the fact that the railroads are
the largest employers of labor in
the United States and that during
the last fiscal year they paid ont
over thirteen hundred million dol
lars in wages to the army Of men
and women who conduct their bust
ness. We also referred to the fact
that they paid out almost thou
sand million dollars for steel, coal,
lumber and other supplies, of which
they are the largest consumers in
the country, and therefore the chief
support OF the hundreds of thor-
sands employed in these great in
dustries.
In view of these facts, is 1t not
plain to any thinking man that 1t is
of tremendous Importance to the
whole country that the railroads be
permitted to earn reasonable In
come If the millions Of American la
boring men are to be kept profita-
bly, employed?
Does not any man know that 4
the thousands who are this moment
hunting for work in Chicago, st.
Louis, New York. Pittsburgh, Cleve-
land and other large cities were
prOfitably employed that it would
mean a higher price for what the
farmer has to sell and that 1t would
be reflected in the receipts of every
merchant ard the output of every
factory in the nation?
In view of such serious state Of
affairs. can the average farmer or
business man afford to oppose the
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