Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1914-10-15
IRoNToN. MO-, THURSDAY, o.

1 WAeA a SAOoA NOADCAOuCC-lO GA
haustive investigation conducted by
the Lehigh Valley Railroad some time
ago shows that the farmer gets 50H
cents out of the average dollars worth
of products he sells, the packers, To-
cal shippers, distributors and retail
ers 44H cents between them, while
the railroads receive only &c or one
twentieth of the dollar for the freight
services they render.
So, too, there has been steady ad-
vance in practically the entire realm
of merchandise and manufactured pro-
ducts, whatever their nature, and the
ever increasing toll in the cost of
labor, steel products, lumber, cars, To-
comotiyes and other supplies has lev
led tribute of untold millions upon
the. railroads which have not only been
forbidden to increase their rates but on
the contrary, in many instances, COM
PEELED to lower them.
Big Increased Cost Of Labor.
To give the reader an exact idea of
how the cost of labor has advanced in
the operation Of railroads we quote
the following increases in the daily
wage from 1908 to 1913-a period of
only 10 years: In the case of engi-
neers it Increased from $4,01 per day
in 1908 to 1924 in l913-or an ad-
vance of 30 per cent; firemen from
1928 to 1915, or 3S per cent; conduc-
tors from SO 38'to $4.43, or 81 per cent;
other trainmen from S2.17 to $3O6, or
Al per cent; machinists from $3.50 to
1928, or 81 per cent-and all other
classes of railroad operatives and en-
ployees in a more or less similar de-
gree. While these advances have
proven great boon to the nearly two
million men employed in the railway
service and increased their capacity to
buy from the merchant and farmer, they
have exacted many millions annually
from the railroads themselyes-all of
which made the general public better
off, but the roads poorer.
Other Increased Costs,
But there are many other items
which have enormously increased the
cost Of railroad operation which we
cannot go into because of lack of
space. The public is constantly de-
manding more efficient and a safer
service and hence the railroads have
had to spend vast sums in installing
block signals, steel passenger cars, do
ing away with grade crossings,
Strengthening lines, heavier locomo-
tives, better road beds, and supplying
many other precautions protecting
both their operatives and the public
all things very necessary, yet very
costly. N-
Now, while labor, farm products,
merchandise and manufactures and
supplies OF all kinds have steadily in
creasec in price, the railroads, as
stated before, have been compelled to
reduce their rates in the face of this
avalanche of ever advancing cost of
operation-an that all but the most
powerful lines find themselves in an
exceedingly critical condition is not
to be wondered at. The farmer, the
merchant, the manufacturer and the
laborer justly insist that they would
not be able to get along on the prices
they received ten or fifteen years ago.
How, then, can the railroads, which
are the largest employers of labor and
buyers Of material in the United States
be expected to exist on less than they
received ten or fifteen years ago? In
view of these facts, it is no wonder
that President Wilson and other pa
triotic and careful students of the sit
uation are speaking words Of kindly
admonition to the American public to
the end that the railroads through
whose giant arteries flows the very life
blood Of the Nation may not be
wrecked and destroyed. Adv. ITO be
continued next week.