Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1914-06-04
(From Better Farming.)

On q recent cross-country journey /
attended the daily sessions of the
school of political science. which is
held in the mems end Of the sleeping
car. This smoking oom now vies with
the country store al the repository for
cracker-box philosophy and political
wisdom. If there is anything wrong
with the country, or the universe in
general, you will learn it here. You
will learn its cause and learn it's cure.
Twenty years ago, yes, even ten, If
you listened to the conversation at
the c~racker-box, or In Pullman COM
partments, you learned that the Ana
conda grip, which al %strangling the
very life out of American commerce,
was that of the great American Rail-
road Trust. This monster in popular
imagination appeared also to be the
sire Of that brood of m~onopolistic evils
which have multiplied and flourished
in the last decade.
But the cracker-box philosophy did
not prevail. A sounder wisdom dis
cerned that the mother Of trusts was
O Tariff System which enabled big
business to fortify itself against world
competition and levy its tribute on
every consumer. The sire of this sys-
tem vas Uncle Samuel himself. In
the November elections Of 1912 he was
given orders to amend his ways,
which meant to amend his tariff. He
did so, and as a proof Of penitence
ne has given us the currency bill be-
sides, which still further em~ancipates
as from commercial bondage. Now,
according to the common verdict, from
c~racker-box and counting room and
street corner conversation. there Is
but one thing needed to accomplish
complete restoration OF good old
times. And this is what I heard on
my transcontinental journey.
'Give the railroads the required
revenue to put themselves in condition
to carry the country's traffic and we
will have a period of business pros
perity such as the world has never
seen."
/ wondered if that was true. For 80
days / have been thinking and study
ing and collecting facts and figures
which might confirm or disprove this
assertion. ! am going to give the
facts and figures here and let the
reader make his own conclusion
There is nobody mo- interested in
this subject than the American farm
err He is not only interested as q
good citizen in the country's well
being, but interested the more since
the country's w%ell-being measures its
ability to consume his produce at prof
liable prices. The farmer, besides
comes into more intimate contact with
the railroads than any other business
man. They traverse his land, they
carry his freight to market and they
carry back his machinery, his cloth
ing, his furniture and much of what
he consumes. They get him coming
and going. Are they his natural enc
my, as soap-box orators have de
scribed them, or are they his goot
allies?
In the first place. let us put our
selves in the position Of mind to rem
der a fair verdict without prejudice
You are the jury, the railroad is the
supposed culprit, and l am summarize
ing the evidence, which you can easil!
digest.
The railroads Of the United States
extend over about 100000 miles Q
main line. They represent an invest
ment Of approximately 100000 900 900
They are owned BY approximate!
100000 shareholders. They emplo!
approximately 1,72s,OOO people. ant
nay directly to these employees approx
imately $1,000, 100000 a year inwages
This, Of course, does not include EN-
ployes in collateral lines of industr.
like steel mills, car shops, ETC., whicl
eupply the railroads with equipment
There are three facts which tn
Jury will note in this brief statement
iFrirst, that the railroad industry is b,
Tar the biggest industry we have. Sec
Ond, that 1t belongs to a lot of people
Third, that 1t pays more wages T.
more people than does any other bus
ness In the world. But these feature