Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-02-11

2 ~
, opportunity to ask for permission 70
advance their rates. They filed an APP
plication for reopening Of the five
per cent case. In the meantime.
widespread publicity campaign was In
augurated. The great daily papers all
over the country, in their news col
umns, and editorially as we'll, presented
the railroad side of the case. Public
men were appealed to-. President Will
son permitted a statement to be pub
lished as coming from him, which In
Dictated very clearly that In his opin-
ion the railroads must have relief. AZ
ter short hearing, the interstate COM
merce commission reversed its former
decision in part and granted very large
advances. This was done over the
protest Of several members Of the com.
mission. They pointed out that on
showing made when they had ample
opportunity, the railroads had utterly
failed to Justify their plea for an ad-
vance. The majority of the com.
mission, however was responsive to
the apparent public sentiment as re-
Elected in the daily press, and granted
the advances.
And now the western railroads are
asking for permission to advance their
rates. Articles in the daily press re-
Gently indicate that in Iowa the rail-
roads will ask not only for an advance
in freight rates, but for an advance IN
passenger rates. Preliminary to this
request, a widespread advertising cam.
paign has been inaugurated. Large
advertisements have been appearing IN
papers in practically every county IN
the state, and in papers of general cir
,,,l -; ,,at, ~, Ant 1,y In orv
ricultural press These advertisements
have been running in Wallace's Farm
err, so that our readers are familiar
with them. The railroads can not fair
ly be criticized for appealing to the
public in this direct manner. They
have perfect right to present their
side of the case. and they have right
to ask the people of the state to read
their statements carefully. consider
and weigh them. The railroads are
the highways of the country, in which
every citizen has vital interest. They
are absolutely necessary to modern
methods of doing business. II they
are to give us satisfactory service,
they must be permitted to charge for
that service rates which will enable
them to pay promptly all of their prop
er expenses to maintain their road
beds and rolling stock. and to pay
reasonable dividend upon the amount
of capital actually invested. They are
not entitled to ask for more than this.
They are not entitled to dividends on
watered stock.
But If the railroads wish to advance
their freight and passenger rates,
should they not be required to show
that such advances are needed? The
apparently trfing advance of per
cent will amount to many millions OF
dollars Year. 1t is equivalent to levy
ing tax upon every man. woman and
child in the country. Should we not
make sure that such an advance is
actually needed before 1t is granted?
1t is argued that the railroads fur
nish a sort of barometer of prosper
ity. In a sense this is true. but agrt-
culture also furnishes a barometer OF
prosperity. When temporary unfavor-
able conditions come, should the pub
lie be expected to tax itself to help
out the railroads? Why not apply the
,, same rule to the farmer? AS the farm
or pEosi,srs, 50 the country prospers.
If something suddenly hits him, should
the consuming public arbitrarily adj
vance the price of his products to a
point WHICH VIII elldDle iiIIi W iCSONSA
quickly with the blow? And SO with
the bank. 1t is absolutely necessary
to our welfare that the banks be main
! tanned in first class condition. Why not
help them out when unexpected trouble
comes? Where are we to draw the line?
In other words. why should the general
public, suffering from the same de-
pressons, be forced to tax itself for the
railroads?
| The evidence in the record shows
very clearly that as far as the eastern
railroads are concerned, they were very
prosperous up to 1914. The year 1918
/ was one of the most prosperous In their
entire history. Whether the same IS
true OF the western roads, we do NOT
know; but we ought to know before we
grant any increases in rates II we per-