Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1915-01-02
FARMER VITALLY CON-
CERNED IN RAILROADS
WHAT THE EUROPEAN WAR MEANS
TO THE AMERICAN FARMER

| out of the hands of receivers the roll
ing stock and roadbeds of many lines
have been deteriorating rapidly for a
number of years and hence are in no
position to handle big seasons ton
mage, 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 a time when he
will need adequate and efficient ship
ping facilities it will be during the
next two or three years-and yet we
are actually facing perhaps the most
prosperous period the American
farmer has ever. know with many
A merican railroad in a dilapida ted
physical condition. No sooner had
the great European war burst upon
the world than Congress realized that
our merchant marine was utterly
weak and inefficient. Steps were at
once taken to make the best of the
situation and TO repair as speedily as
possible our neglected shipping facil-
tiles upon the high seas-and that
the handicap has already cost the
American people millions of dollars
during the last few months is SO pat
ent that it requires no extended COM
ment. 1t is one thing to have mar
kets in all parts of the world which
have heretofore been supplied by the
great warning nations begging for
American goods and foodstuffs-but
it is quite another thing to have
American 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 a weaken d
physical condition that it will break
down under the strain of delivering
the products Of the farmer and the
manufacturing at our ocean ports
and thus largely waste the great op-
portunity for profit which the foreign
war will unquestionable- bring to us?
This is phase of the present situa-
ton which commands the serious
thought of every farmer in Kansas
and the Corn Belt generally-for
here is where the lions share of the |
nations foodstuffs are produced and |
here is where farmers cannot afford |
to be hampered by inadequate trans |
make the most of favorable market |
There is not single manager of a |
Central or Western railroad who will |
not admit that the present supply of |
frst-class freight locomotives and box |
cars could not successfully meet the
of several bountiful /
crop years-and yet they haven't the
funds with which to supply this
the emergency when it comes-as it
will.
Farmers Will Profit
In this connection, it is opportune
to say that the American farmer is
certain to reap a larger profit from
the chaotic conditions which exist in
Europe than any other class of trades
men or citizen. So far as our manu-
facturers are concerned, while new
are reckoning to the United
States, yet on the other hand, for
several years TO come, the splendid
trade which we enjoyed in Germany,
France, Austria and Russia |
on our manufactured products is GER
tain TO remain demoraliZed- 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 familiar, and TO which it is GER
tain to require some years to adjust
ourselves.
1t is the American farmer, howev-
er, who has no complications ahead
of him, and whose flour, pork, beef,
mutton and other foodstuffs must be
depended upon to make up the short-1
age which rs 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.
Exports of breadstuffs from the Unit
ed States in November were valued
at $40, $50, 600, or almost four times as
much as in November of last year,
while meat and cattle exports
amounted to nearly s14, 600, 600, or a
gain of over 20 per cent over last
year, and this despite our miserable
shipping facilities on the high seas.
In the light of these facts, WAS
there ever a lime when the farmers