Perth Amboy evening news., 1917-04-27


Of thousands of doliars
On one big railroad alone. the In
crease In wages since January 1, this
year, has amounted to $4,000, ,oo0.
Since the recent decision of the
United States supreme court In con-
nection with the Adamson act this
railroad must pay additional wages
for the same service from January I,
1917, amounting to an annual ex-
pense of s1a.50O.o0o.
The reason the railroads cannot
take care of all this increase in
wages. or any added expense. for
that matter, like private industry,
is that the Interstate Commerce
Commission sits over the railroads
and says how much the railroads
shall charge the public for carrying
It's freight and no more. We cannot
than there Is in it. II the expenses
of a railroad are increased to such an
extent that the expenses exceed the
income, and the Interstate Commerce
Commission refuses to permit the
railroads to increase their freight
rates to take care Of the increased
bankruptcy.
This Is exactly what has happened
In a great many instances through
out the country. There were more
railroads in the hands of receivers
during the past year or two than
ever before. Some of these receiver
ships were due to mismanagement,
to be sure, but a great many of them
were due to the fact that the income
of the road was not sufficient to meet
the running expenses. The cost of
operating the road has constantly
advanced while the income. as fixed
by the Interstate Commerce Commits
sion. has stood still.
Railroads are the arteries through
which the life-blood of the nation
flows. 1t has been the railroads that
have developed the country. In a
great many instances the railroad
has preceded the emigrant. 1t has
required a vast outlay of capital to
construct these railroads Many of
them were built largely on faith. be-
lieving that the country would soon
grow up along the lines and thus
make the road a paying proposition.
Then. along came the reformers
with their laws to soak the rail-
roads" There was the two-cent pas
senger rate law. which fixed the limit
for passenger fare; the full crew, law
was enacted compelling the railroads
to employ many more men on their
trains than were necessary; finally
came the so-called eight hour law,
still further increasing the cost of
operation.
At this time various means were
being devised for increasing the tax-
es to be paid by the railroads. Taking1
seven of the leading railroad lines, 4
there has been an increase in taxes
comparing 1916 with 1905 of $16,-
$4,000 or 81 per cent. In 1916 the.
federal income tax was increased,
from 6fs' is two per cent: IN 1917
taxes will be further Increased be-
cause of the new federal capital
stock tax, which means an additional
payment for these seven lines of
SS25,o00 per annum.
In the matter of fuel. the Increase
in cost of coal to the railroads for
use in their locomotives has been
doubled, causing an increase In ex-
lpense In this item alone Of 7.0O0,-
900 per annum. The principal articles
of consumption have advanced rs
per cent in 1917 over the average
prices paid in 1915. Axles have ad-
vanced 173 per cent, steel bridge
material 14S per cent, steel plates
244 per cent, tie plates 8S per cent,
and so on. The price submitted for
rails is now forty dollars compared
with thirty dollars, an increase of 33
per cent.
In the meantime the public has
been demanding better and more ac-
commodations, and increased facili-
ties. We have been passing laws
i compelling railroads to elevate
tracks, work which for single
city like Railway, for instance. costs
three or four million dollars We
have demanded new stations-some
have got them and some have not.
We have insisted upon steel cars and
all the latest improvements in the
way Of lighting, heating and the like.
The whole process has been one con-
tinual increase in cost for the rail-
roads. But all this time there has
been no way for the roads to in
crease their incomes to meet the ad-
ditional expense because the Inter
state Commerce Commission has been
sitting on the lid. so to speak.
The result has been that during
the past few years capital has been
very shy as far as railroad invest
900 oo-aarnnA paaNIa xxyffl,