The daily Nome industrial worker., 1916-08-31


 and by politicians as the public re- futation of the socialists emphatic declaration that there was class struggle in society and time and again up-lifters, reformers, and wei fare workers looked with a sigh upon the beautiful bonds of indus trial love that bound railroad brotherhood man and his manager | together.
 Withal there was working the great economic force which com pelled divergence of interest. The need for profits was the great incen- tive of railroad operation and the l need for good wages under fine liv- ing and working conditions the in centive of the brotherhoods. Those two incentives have nothing in com mon. Better wages, shorter hours mean less profits. The railroad man men instinctively realize it, and the clash occurs just when every one thought the lion and the lamb were sitting down together to a love feast in mutual administration of the dis ' tribution industry for the welfare or human society
 The most serious economic aspect of the railroad question is that this antagonism which is perennial will cause trouble just as long as pri- vate ownership of the public utility exists.
 The financial problems which the country has need to consider with reference to American roads invol- yes the very important fact that | some are grossly over-capitalized. No one except a financial wizard could untangle the mystical stocks, bonds and notes which are outstand- ing and each of which represents some degree of private ownership and in itself is a title deed to divid- ends. There are mortage bonds, collateral trust bonds, plain bonds, debentures, notes on funded debt, income bonds, funded obligations. equipment trust obligations, stocks, common and preferred, in endless and variegated profusion.
 The financial system upon some roads is simplicity itself because ill some there is less water than in others. Some have been however so frequently organized and re-or- ganized that the funded debt reaches proportions as intricate as enorm- ous.
 And the very important thing to consider is that each of these cou- pons entitle the owner to profits on the railroad operation, and that quite regardless of the welfare Of the shippers, the employees or the public. The interesting and very incapable effort of the public to straighten the tangle through a more or less pliable body of men. extremely susceptible to the agita- tive influence of railroad publicity departments, called the Interstate Commerce Commission is a monu- ment to the stupidity of legislative efforts at reform. Today the shipp- CTS complain of severe rates and look to the Commission for relief. Tomorrow the railroad compan1es complain and invite the Commission to extend permission for rate in- crease. And with cheerful and quite useless pliability the commission bends to the varying influences that it experiences.
 Railroads in the United States represent a tremendously profitable investment, water and all.
 The par value of the railway in vested capital is about twenty and quarter billions. On this the an- nual earnings are over three bill lions. With an operating expense of about two billion, this leaves for distribution on the twenty billion capital, one billion dollars. This in- cludes all roads which pay no divi- dends, which are in the receivers hands and those also which are not operating. That is an annual pro- fit, upon capital most of which never went into railroad construction but fattened up all kinds of magnates and financial pirates, and is exist ing as water in railroad capital, Of