The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1916-09-22
President Of Kansas City South
ern Says They Must To Con-
tinue Business
UNIONS ALSO DETERMINED
TO TAKE IT ALL THE WAY
Too Early Yet To Tell What Effect
Measure viii Have On
Campaign

With the end of the war in Europe
there is going to be big slump in in
dustrial and commercial prosperity all
over the United States.
The railroads are preparing for this
and are determined to fight the Adam
son eighthour law, passed just before
congress adjourned, through all the
courts, to the supreme court of the
United States if necessary.
The railroads are utterly unable to
meet the increased financial demands
made upon them by the eight law.
These and similar statements were
made last night by ]. A. Edison. presi-
dent of the Kansas City Southern Rail
way Company, with headquarters at
Kansas City, Missouri, who, with a
party of friends, is at the Alexander
Young Hotel.
War Has Long way to Go
Mr.. Edison believes that the war in
europe has still long way to 60 be-
| fore peace can come, and that mean
time what Is Europe's loss will be the
gain of the. United States, at least in
part. He is also of the opinion that
the beginning of the end Of the war
came when the Allies Completed then
! ,ncircling movement by the introduc
| ton of Rumania into the conflict, and.
that Germany is bound to be defeated.
"Of course, he said, with a pleas
ant smile, "there are lots of folks who
think different, but as I see IL the odds
| against the Kaiser are TOO heavy.
However, think the war will con
tinue until one side or the other gets
I most all fred hard licking"
| Reverting to the railroad situation,
Mr.. Edison said:
owe are going to fight that meas
IRE, the Adamsou bill, to the finish
As a matter of fact, we shall have to
| 10 so if we are going to keep in bust
ness at the old stand. The. plain
truth of the situatibi is that the roads
| IRE not able to carry the additional
,urdens which the eight-hour Law
would impose upon US. 1t means
added millions TO our rolls, and
those pay rolls have been steadily in
creasing in amount for years.
)cing Business ut Loss
"You see. for q number of years be
fore the outbreak of che war in Europe
the lines were doing business at loss
| They were between two fOrces-sort
If hammer and,anyil kind of thing
| The shippers and merchants of. the
country, through the Interstate Com
uerce Commission, blocked every eff
7 fort we made to get our rates raised
1
fair profit. On the other hand the
state commerce commissions and some
times the Interstate Commission low
red the rates when they had ghost
of an opportunity. While this was go
ing forward the employees of the lines
were forcing steady increase in
wages or, what amounted to the s'm"
hing, to a shortening of their hours
0ur income was going down and our
expenses were mounting.
Setter Business; Then Pihda
"Then came the war, and the rail
\, roads began hauling tremendous guam
itics of freight. The country began
ii % boom, and that, o: course, helped
he lines indirectly. The crops were
good and the prices they fetched bet
err. That helped the railroads. We
we're doing vast volume of business
,ut at a very low ratej yet we began
n see clear ground ahead. Thea came
this railroad trouble with the brother
foods.
"Now the roads, as ] have sa'd, are
in no position to meet the increased
lraft upon their financial resources
md we protested. We felt that, IL
Justice 10 our stockholders. who had
been going without dividends, fol
Years in many cases, We should 'b'
Qiven u chance to make little money
We knew that our cause was right, oil
We felt that it was right, but we were
willing to arbitrate. .a
Nothing To Arbitrate
",Then, President Wilson stepped II
! and denied that there was anything IL
arbitrate. In my opinion that was 9
! wrong step for him to take, and
: tnow that it has done much to weaker
him with the business interests OF th'
, lountry as whole Whether 1t hal
helped him with the unions is mat
ter which remains to be proved,
: doubt it, in part; while / am convin
sed that the union leaders are just a
. determined as we are to fight theii
: case as high as necessary to get fav
. Irable decision on the constitutional
ity of the law. / believe that it is too
early as yet to be able TO give def
mite answer to the question Of the Ell
feet the measure will have upon thu
campaign.
, "Taken as whole the country wa
newer more prosperous. There Is worl
for, every one and that is going u
assist Wilson in his fight / am afraid
There are, however, some indication
that the strength of the business com
nunity Of the country is going to b.
thrown against him, and there are 9th
er powerful classes which will vOt'
., against him.
at is the after the war problem
! that Is attracting much attention
among the business, commercial, fnan
cial and industrial leaders of the coun
r try Just new We we're caught unPe
pared by the war and came mighty nea