Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1915-01-07


any idea of combating this propa-
ganda but merely that the people may
briefly see both sides of the picture.
So long as a. lot of men welcome the
wrecking of the railroads on the the
DRY that the government will take
them over and that such state of
affairs would be preferable to private
ownership, it will be impossible to
obtain from them fair judgement of
the latter system which now prevails
in the United States. 1t is impossible
to go into this great question at any
length at this time, but here are a
few things worth thinking about:
Much has been said in recent years
about the water" contained in Am
erican railroad securities, and in this
connection the valuation of the gov
eminent owned railroads of Europe
is very interesting. In Germany the
state owned roads are valued at
$114,1S5 per mile, in Austria at $3.50
692,in Hungary at $69,210, in Italy
at $126,S86, in Belgium at S190,914,
in Switzerland at $102.950, in Rou-
mania at $90,113, in japan at sSS,
104, in New South Wales at $71,391,
while the privately owned lines of
the United States regardless of what
water may have been forced into
| them in specific instances, are valued
at only $63,944 per mile. Whatever
imitation may therefore have been put
into these properties in the past, the
| fact remains, that their present val
uation is much lower than that of
the government owned railroads of
Europe, and, what is still more i'm
portant, the rates charged are the
lowest and the service rendered ad-
mittedly the best in the world. 1t is
also pertinent to remember that the
charge of watered stocks, after all,
can be made against but very few
American railroads.&c. lions share
of them having been managed with
out a breath of scandal or criticism.
In this Connection statement con-
tanned in the last annual report OF
the Deutsche Bank of Berlin, which
has paid-up capital and reserve
fund of $75,000,000, is interesting:
American railroads need higher
rates. The present rates are the low
est in the world-representi but a
fraction of the English railway rates,
for instance--and this in the face of
the fact that wages in the United
States on the average are fully twice
as high as in Europe" Certainly this
view of the privately owned lines of
the United States, coming from Ger
many, which has the most successful
state owned system of transportation
in the world, is worthy of grave con-
lsideration.
In further confirmation of this
statement we quote the following
statistics: 1t costs mills per mile on
an average to haul ton of freight
in the United States while in Eng
land it costs an average of 2.33 cents
in France 1.41 cents and in Germany
LAP cents. The average daily wage
paid to American railroad employees
is $2.23, in England it is $1.15. and
in Germany and France it averages
little more than a dollar per day.
Are American railroads therefore en-
titled to the wholesale abuse and
remuneration which has been heaped
upon them from all sides in recent
years?
LETTING WELL ENOUGH ALONE.
In view of these facts the average
citizen may we'll ask himself whether
II is not best to let well enough alone
rather than invite other ills we know
not of-whether ii is not wiser to
cure such defects as may cucumber
the present system rather than run
the danger of plunging this mighty
industry into the whirlpool of party
politics for all time, with its attend
ant opportunity for evil of which the
past affords such rich variety of ex-
perience. The United States is still
a young country, and in many sec
tions only partially developed. Many
new lines and extensions are needed
here and there to give a wider OPP
portunity to expanding agriculture
and commerce, and nothing could
be more unfortunate or disastrous
than that these favors could hence
forth be obtained only by leave of
the dominant political factions which
will reign at the national capitol in
the years to come. Political parties
are intensely human institutions, and
the average cautious citizen will pre-
fer to leave the railroad expansion
of the future to the economic law of
supply and demand of the different
communities rather than to place
such temptation for power in the
hands of those who rise and fall in
the field of politics. Furthermore,
should the time ever come when the
government takes over the railroads
it means that the peole will have to
forego the millions of taxes which
they now pay and which help to sup
port the public schools, public high
ways and other public expenses-and
that henceforth these millions of rev.
xsrsIl hnu 30 ~ he
pockets of the people.
Many other things could be said on
this phase of the question, but space
forbids. For some time the govern
ment, through the Interstate Com
merce commission, has been engaged
in making physical valuation of all
our railroads as matter of guild
ance for. future rate adjustments.
Again, we repeat, since the people alb
solutely control and regulate the
railroads, is that not enough? Will
1t not be better to let we'll enough
alone-to cling to that which is good
and eliminate that which is bad in
the present system which, with all
that has been said against it. furn-
ishes the best and cheapest transpor-
tation service in the world?
INCREASED COST OF OPERATION
We now wish to refer briefly to
another phase of the problem. For
number of years the cry of the
'high cost of living" has been every
where abroad in the land. Time was
not so many years ago, when the far
mer sold his corn at % cents per
bushel. Now it brings him so cents
to 10 cents. So. too, he sold hogs
at 3 cents per pound, which now
readily bring from cents to 10
cents-while a good steer calf, which