The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1914-12-25

speedily as possible our neglected
shipping facilities upon the high seas
and that the handicap has already
cost the American people millions o.
dollars during the last few months
40 81 paCent that it requires no eX-
tended comment. 1t is one thing TO
have markets in all parts of the
world which have heretofore been
supplied by the great warning nations
begging for American goods ana
foodstuffs it is quite another
thing to have American ships in
which to deliver these cargoes.
Will we now add to the neglect OF
an adequate merchant marine the
further folly OF permitting our rail
roads to get into such a weakened
physical condition that they win
break down under the strain of de-
liyering the products of the farmer
and the manufactures at our ocean
| ports and thus largely waste the
great opportunity for profit which the
foreign war will unquestionably
bring to us? This is a phase of the
present situation which commands
the serious thought OF every farmer
in Kansas and the Corn Belt gener-
ally-lor here is where the hons
share OF the nations fOOdstuffs are
produced and here is where farmers
cannot afford to be hampered by In
adequate transportation facilities ii
they are to make the most OF fav-
oraDle market opportunities.
There is not single manager oil
a Central or Western railroad who
will not admit that the present sup
ply of first-class freight locomotives
and box cars could not successfully
meet the requirements of several
bOuntiful crop years-and yet the!
haven't the funds with which to sup
ply this equipment and thus he pre-
pared for the emergency when II
comes-as it undoubtedly will,
Farmers viii Profit
In this connection, it is OppOrtunt
to say that the American farmer is
certain to reap larger profit from
the chaotic conditions which exist in
Europe than any other class OF
tradesmen or citizen. So far as our
manufacturers are concerned, while
new markets are undoubtedly beck
oning to the United States, yet on
the other hand, for several years to
come, the splendid trade which we
enjoyed in Germany, England.
France or Austria and Russia on our
manufactured products is certain to
remain demOraliZed-and thus we
will be fortunate if we do not lose
more than we can hope to gain in
new fields, with whose needs we are
not yet familiar, and to which it is
certain to require some years to ad-
just ourselves.
1t is the American farmer, how
ever, who has no complications ahead
of him, and whose -four, pork, beef,
mutton and other foodstuffs must be
depended upon to make up the short
age which is already looming big in
the distance because the harvest
fields of the most fertile sections OF
Europe have been converted into
shambles for the contending armies
Exports of breadstuffs from the Uni
ted States in November were valued
at $40,250,000, or almost four times
as much as in November of last year,
while meat and cattle exports
amounted to nearly $14,00O,00O, or
gain of over 20 per cent over last
year. and this despite our miserable
shipping facilities on the high seas
In the light of these facts, was
there ever a time when the farmers
nf Eoncoc and othor rorp nalt gto roc
can view the future with as much
assurance, or when they can so well
afford to treat fairly every other
great industry in the nation as now?
Putting 1t in the terms of sound
business policy, was there ever a
time when they should do their part
to the end that American labor may
be prOfitably employed in all the
great channels of industry, and that
our transportation system may be
kept up to high point of efficiency,
so that 1t may adequately discharge
the heavy shipping burdens which
will undoubtedly descend upon 1t In
the not distant future?
No other single agency in the ma
ton has had more to do with the
advancement of land values than
have the railroads, and as evidence
of this fact. the proximity of a farm
to the market almost invariably fixes
its selling value. Kansas and every
other Central or Western state is
still in dire need of hundreds of
miles of additional railroad mileage,
and these new lines will not be built
until American railroad securities
are re-established as paying in
yestment-and this, on the basis OF
present railroad earnings, is out OF
the question. Nearly all our present
lines were built years ago, when rail-
road investments were looked upon
with favor at home and abroad, and
hence, if there is a class of citizens
in the land who should be vitality in
terested in rescuing the railroads
from the pitiable plight in which
they find themselves at the present
moment 1t is the farmer. AS a mat
ter of fact, were it not so tremen-
dously far-reaching in its effect, the
controversy over a slight increase in
railroad rates in any great agricul-
tural state would largely resemble a
tempest in tea pot-a matter which
should be settled in the brief space Of
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