Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1915-01-20
WHAT THE RAILROADS
DO WITH THEIR INCOME,
WHY THEY ARE CONSIDERED THE GREAT
BUSINESS BAROMETER OF
THE NATION.

their securities, use every dollar Of
their income to this end, and hence
one of the most alarming phases of
the present railroad situation is that
this process of burning the candle
at both ends means a deterioration
of rolling stock and roadbeds which
will render the continuance of ade-
quate and safe service for the public
impossible. In q recent article, James
j. Hill, the great Empire Builder of
the North points out that American
railroads should spend at least $780,
100000 annually in improvements
and betterments-and it is therefore
deteriorating equipment is one of
the ghosts which haunts hundreds
Of railroad managers throughout
the country at the present hour.
AS was stated in last weeks arti-
Gle, the operating income of the rail-
roads for the fiscal year ending June
80, 1914, was $11S,554,S75 less than
for 1913, while expenses and taxes
were $40, ,653 greater. 1t can
therefore be seen at a glance that
unless the railroads are given some
increase in rates in the very near
future the time when many of them
will go upon the rocks OF financial
ruin is not far off-and yet the
slight increase necessary to save
them is so small that the average
citizen would not be conscious of it
after it had gone into effect In
a future article this question will be
more fully discussed.
A Barometer of Prosperity.
1t is an old saying that when the
railroads are prosperous everybody
is prosperous, and the manner in
which their income is discussed, as
above explained, tells the reason
why. In short, for years they have
been regarded as the great business
barometer of the Nation. No other
industry in the country employs so
many men as do the railroads, and
furthermore, it is a high grade of
labor employed upon as lucrative Il
basis as obtains in any other large
industry. When times are good
nearly two million people, first and
last, are employed by the railroads.
and when this vast army is working
full time and is contented the mil
lions they pay out for merchandise
and for the living necessities produc-
ed on the farm cannot help but have
q tremendous effect upon the COM
merce and agriculture of the coun-
try.
But this is only half the Story.
Aside from the nearly two million
operatives directly employed by the
railroads in normal times, the hun
dreds of thousands of men who
work in the great steel mills, the
coal mines, the lumber industry and
in the big car and locomotive shops
are equally vitality affected, for when
the railroads are making extensive
improvements and buying heavily Of
these supplies it means that these
great industries are running full
shift, while when the railroads are
subsisting only upon absolute neces-
stiles it means that many of them
are only working half shift and this
is the state of affairs which has pre-
vailed for some time and which is
responsible for the thousands Of un-
employed who crowd every city in
the land at the present moment.
Farmer vitality Concerned.
That the farmer has very vital
and personal interest in this situa-
tion should be apparent at a glance.
When the millions of laboring men
in the United States are protitably
employed and when all our great in
dustrial enterprises are running full
shift it means that he will have a
larger demand and receive a higher
price for the things he produces on
his farm-for his corn, wheat, pork,
beef, mutton, cotton, wool and 9th
er farm products. In other words,
so interdependent have We become,
and so closely allied are the inter-
ests of the farmer, the merchant, the
man .facturer, the laborer and every
other great national interest, that
the prosperity of one has become the
prosperity of all.-(Paid Adv. To be
continued next week.