Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1916-08-04
Cheap Transportation Has
Built National Prosperity

This is a big American freight engine. :
It'll built to HAUL LONG TRAINS loaded with the products of Amer
es'a the sn souatyy' 'i snd tn .h m's sssbo ,ssni for n shipment nea f sero.s the . .s shs markets
In all the wonderful history Of American industrial progress NO
BIG FREIGHT LOCOMOTIVE.
Freight is carried on our railroads at the LOWEST RATES IN THE
WORLD, while we pay our railroad workers the HIGHEST WAGES
THREE MILES FOR THE COST OF A TW0CENT POSTAGE STAMP.
Cheap transportation is one Of the biggest builders of our prosperity;
freight car with its great carrying capacity, and the heavy rails ana
heavy tains-these are the achievements of American industrial genius
which have given us low freight rates and broad markets, and have
enabled US to put our products in the markets of the world in competition
with foreign manufacturers.
But Low come welmeaning but shOrtsighted leaders of American
railr nsHo TSTFsT' y Th1 say ya e tns Tai 4Rsdn man ma a tsst H.. en,;n.nen and
trainmen can haul the tonnage faster Overt the roads, and so make a many
miles Is. pay a. in Ss eight hour. q. they now do in ten t. hours :, j.. ..n.,.a uor,.
"Pas laws LIMITING THE LENGTH OF FREIGHT TRA1Ns-ws
To the Farmers, Manufacturers and Merchants they say:
with shorter freight trains railroads car move your products faster
To the American Public that pays every dollar of the railroad bill
land A cents Of every dollar paid for transportation is for wages),
cali that the railroads have to do to meet our demands for higher
wages is to shorten their trains, move the freight more rapidly and escape
the penalty Of overtime wages"
What would be the result of taking these leaders of the $4,000 train
employees at their wOrd-shorten freight trains so that they can be run
Increasing the number of trains to handle the same, tonnage would
terminals, more supervision, and it is plain that there would be more con-
lions a year would have to be spent by the railroads to increase their facii-
ties and to operate the bigger plant.
IT WOULD BE AKIN TO USING HAND SH0VELS INSTEAD OF
FIvE-T0N STEAM DREDGES TO DIG A PANAMA CANAL.
American railroads have spent enormous amounts in reducing grades,
cutting down mountains and filing up valleys; in increasing the hauling
power Of locomotives and the carrying capacity of cars; in putting down
rock ballast and heavy rails-al for one purpose, to lower the cost Of
operation.
It is the public that has reaped the beneft-in better and cheaper
railroad service.
If the railroads moved their tonnage in shorter trains at higher speeds,
the public, it is seen, would have to shoulder a great burden in the in
creased cost Of transportation.
Would the public get value received for its moneys
Of the tonnage O the roads east of Chicago go per cent consists of
COAL coke, ores, stone and other mine products. To the public it is of no
consequence whether this freight is a few hours longer on the road, 81
long as there is a continuous and regular stream of it coming to the
markets
F0URFIFTHs OF ALL THE TONNAGE MOVING IN THE EAST
rs MADE UP OF Low GRADE, SLOW MOVING FREIGHT, CARRIED
AT THE LOWEST RATES IN THE WORLD.
To abandon the big freight trains on American railroads in order to
increase the speed at which the bulk of the traffic moves, and thereby
enable the train employees to arm higher wages in shorter hours, would
place a great burden on American industry without giving the public
any tangible benefit.