The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1915-01-14

the farmer. In last weeks article
we cited the fact that in their des-
perate efforts to make. both ends
meet many railroads are burning
the candle at both ends'-that in or
der to bolster up their securities and
keep out of the hands of receivers
the rolling stock and readbeds of
many lines have been deteriorating
rapidly for number of years and
hence are in no position to handle a
big seasons tonnage, should the
strain of a heavy crop year suddenly
descend upon them That the great
foreign war will produce the highest
prices ever known for the foodstuffs
produced by the farmer is admitted
on all hands, and if there ever was
time when he will need adequate
and efficient shipping facilities 1t
will be during the next two or three
years-and yet we are actually fac
ing perhaps the most prosperous
period the American farmer has ever
known with many American rail-
roads in dilpidated physical con-
dition. No sooner had the great
European war burst upon the world
than Congress realized that our mer-
chant marine was utterly weak and
3n;1 ~
taken to make the best of the situa-
ton and to repair as speedily as pos
sible our neglected shipping facili-
ties upon the high seas-and that the
handicap has already cost the Ameri-
can people millions of dollars during
the last few months is so patent that
it requires no extended comment
It is one thing to have markets in ali
parts of the world which have here
tofore been supplied by the great
warning nations begging for Ameri.
can goods and foodstuffs-but it is
quite another thing to have Ameri.
can 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 weakened
physical condition that they will
break down under the strain of de-
livering the products of the farmer
and the manufacturer 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 Iowa and the Corn Belt generally
for here is where the lions share
of the nations foodstuffs are pro-
duced and here is where farmers can
not afford to be hampered by made
quate transportation facilities if
they are to make the most of favor
able market opportunities.
There is not single manager of a,
Central or Western railroad who will
not admit that the present supply of
first-class freight locomotives and
box cars could not successfully meet
the requirements of several bountiful
crop years-and yet they haven't the
funds with which to supply this
equipment and thus be prepared for
the emergency when it comes-as ii
undoubtedly will.
Farmers Will Profit.
In this connection, it is opportune
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
ching to the United States, yet, op
the other hand, fer several years to
come, the splendid trade which we
enjoyed in Germany, England,
France, 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 adj
just ourselves.
It 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 a
shambles for the contending armies.
Nvnor<e ~ hrood of,lf = from Tho