The Ordway new era., 1914-06-05
lFrom Better Farming.l

(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 room now yies with
the country store as the repository for
philosophy and political
wisdom. If there Is anything wrong
with the country, or the universe IN
general, you will learn 1t here. You
will learn Its cause and learn Its cure.
Twenty years ago. yes, even ten, II
you listened to the conversation at
the cracker-box. or in Pullman COM
partments. you learned that the Ana
conda grip, which was 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 monopolistic 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
q Tariff System which enabled big
business to fortify itself against world
competition and levy its tribute on
every consumer. The sire Of this sys-
tam was 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 q proof OF penitence
he has given US the currency bill be-
sides, which still further emancipates
us from commercial bondage. Now,
according to the common verdict. from
cracker.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 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
peEity such as the world has never
seem"
/ wondered II that was true. For 30
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 more interested In
this subject than the American farm
er. He Is not only interested a.
good citizen in the country's we'll
being, but interested the more since
the country's well-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 good
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 am summarize
ing the evidence, which you can easily
digest.
The railroads Of the United States
extend over about 100000 miles OF
main line. They represent an invest
ment of approximately $4,000. 000. 1000.
They are owned by approximately
100000 shareholders. They employ
approximately 1.72s.000 people, and
pay directly to these employees approx
imasely $1.3oO. 100000 a year in wages.
This, of course, does not include en-
ployes in collateral lines of industry
like steel mills, car shops, ETC.. which
supply the railroads with equipment
There are three facts which the
Jury will note in this brief statement.
First, that the railroad industry is by
far the biggest industry we have. Sec
ond. that 1t belongs to . lot Of people.
Third, that 1t pays more wages to
moro people than does any other busi-
ness in the world. But these features
b al j..