The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1916-01-27
Vox PoPULI
SAYS RAILROADS NEED FAIR
AND EQUITABLE TREATMENT

Editor Pensacola Journal.
In this country there are 242,000
miles of railways and of this mileage
28,661 are in the hands of receivers.
1t would seem that the railroads are
in need of some good managers
Pensacola Journal.
What the railroads need is not
"good managers" but fair and equit-
able treatment-not at the hands of
the people, for the people really have
little to do with it-but at the hands
of the lawmakers and politicians and
their creatures in the various railroad
commissions. Had it not been for the
war in Europe and the consequent
stimulation to traffic, a far greater
mileage would have been in the hands
of receivers.
When the Hepburn act was passed
prohibiting the issuance of free
passes and the consequent abolition
Of valuable perquisites heretofore en-
joyed by legislators, ETC., the war on
the railroads began and has been
waged fercely ever since until it has
become absolute persecution. Repeal
that clause of the Hepburn act; per-
NIT legislators to ask and receive free
transportation from the railroads
while at the same time drawing their
mileage allowance from the state and
see how quickly these men would find
that the railroads could better serve
the interests of the dear people if
they were allowed to charge living
rates and not compelled, as at pres
ent, to operate their roads with al
most absolute certainty of a deficit
at the0end of the year staring them
in the face. The average lawmaker
and politician cares for the interests
of the "dear people" only so long as
they inure to this benefit.
Labor unions and commercial bodies
maintain Hobbies in the halls of legis-
latures to work for desired legisla-
tion-and it is all right-for they
have votes. For railroad or other
corporation to maintain lobby for
this purpose is crime. The wage
workers are given every assistance
possible in securing their demands
just or unjust. The employer of that
labor is denied the right to hearing
because corporations have no votes.
Since the virulent warfare on cor
porations, conceived in SIN by Teddy
Roosevelt, brought forth in iniquity
by President Taft and carefully
nursed by President Wilson, the de-
mands for increased wages by rail-
way employees have been granted
three separate times. Taxes have been
increased to nearly double the amount
assessed for many years, the Inter
State Commerce Commission requires
automatic safety appliances, auto
matte signals, steel coaches, all of
which mean very heavy increase in
expenses, and yet state after state
has reduced the rates, both passenger
and freight, to a point even lower
than already scaled by the Interstate
Commerce Commission, and when the
railroads ask for relief the various
railroad commissions, backed and
supported in many instances by the
labor unions who draw their very sus-
tenance from the railroads are lined
up, to fight against it to the bitter
end.
We used to buy passenger coaches
for SIS 900 to $4,000. Today, thanks
to the Interstate Commerce Com
mission, we are compelled to pay $780,
600 to S35, 900 for all steel coaches.
Yet many states compel us to haul
passengers in those coaches for &c
mile at an actual cost to the railroad
of 2Ac.
Give the railroads a fair show;
treat them as other business firms
are treated-allowed to sell their
wares at a price that will insure a
profit, and there viii be no more re-
eeiverships. Continue the work as it
is being done today and in five years
every railroad in the United States
will be in the hands of receivers and
the greatest financial crash the world
has ever known will follow.