The evening herald., 1917-03-24

supreme court upheld the conssitu.
tionaiity Of thc Adamson law. the rail-
roads have come forward with a re-
quest for an increase IN rates To offset
the additional expense 10 which they
have been subjected by being compeli-
% by Law 10 adop, the esght-hour day
Cor employees IN train and engine SER
vice. The railroad managers shed
crockodile tears when they were COM
batting the demands OF the men for a
shorter work day claiming that 20
grant Il would mean an Increase OF
approximately $50 600 GOO annually IN
the wages OF the men who would be
affected by the ruling, and this they
said they could not afford 10 pa..
why should the railroads Indulge In
shis sob stuff when they had pretts
good reasons for suspecting that any
increase In expenses resulting from
the substitution OF the eight-hour
lAy would be promptly met by an in
crease in freight rates. and therefore
the roads treasures would no, be de-
pieted In the least by granting the
brothsrhoods' demands
We are not in favor Of accedins to
the request Of the roads until thor
oSgh Investigation has been made For
instance. the roads claim that
placing the train and enginemen on an
cisht-hou- basis will increase their
expenses ts0.o0o.0oo wear. This is
merely an estimate. as we understand
r We have never seen any figures
10 show that the roads have any right
10 assume anything OF the kind. Per-
haps the estimate is correct and per-
h&ps Il Is not Anyhow. remembering
the old sdage tina, figures don't lie.
10 which some, wag has added the very
appropriate appendage that "iiars do
lot OF figuring Il would suit us
much better il some other agency than
the railroads submitted some data on
the subject. IL IL fact that the
eight-hour law ls going to cause add
Nrtt@i tAptAou "a tnt iaii.btues Ros
Just how much this is going 10 be we
doubt II amy human being known az
the present time. Let It's effects he
observed for reasonable period aud
then there will be something tangible
on which TO base calculations
The people are. as rule. inclined
To be fair with the roads. but there
has been no much crooked work
brought 10 light In connection with
leading transportation lines during the
past Few years that the public is in
clined 10 regard all roads with spspi-
zion. No increase In freight rates
would have kept the Rock Island, the
Frisco. the Missouri Pacific. the Wa
bash OF the New York. New Hasen a
Hartford out o; the hands OF receivers.
More money from freight revenues
would simply have meant more money
Tor the officials at the head Of the
roads who were digging into the
treasures. Perhaps IL Is not fair to
Judge all roads by the experience OF
The tew On the other hand many
people are inclined 20 the opinion that
more croOkedness has not been un-
earthed because more roads have not
been investigated
We are gradually drifting toward
government ownership Many people
do not favor a. but that seems 10 be
the only solution OF the problem.
Folks contend that the government
could not operate the roads as satis-
faetoriiy es they are being operated
nov. Maybe that h true. But re
sardiess OF the fact that We may be
opposed 20 government ownership we
are drifting slowly but surely IN that
direction
The government has recently award
cd contracts for a lot OF battieships
but before doing NO bids were ob-
tanned and the work vas allotted TO
the loves, bidders. But when a rau-
road wants twenty-five new angines.
for instance. IT does not ask for bids
and award the contract IL the firm
submitting the lowest figures The
order VIII be placed with . certain TO-
cOmotive works and no cost limi, is
placed on the eneines A strange pro-
cedure. you sayg Perhaps II is but
then YOU must remember that many
railroad officials hold stock In these
locomotive building concerns. oonse-
quently the more locomotive costs
the bigger the dividends are and divi-
dends are whai the stockholders are
locking for. In other words. Mr. Rail-
road Official spends the companys
money freeiy IN order that he may
profit personally. OF course. The gov
srHmeDt being short on business meth
ode AZ some alleGe. adyertises for bids
and awards ia work whore u can be
done the cheapest. Personally. how
syer, We very naueh favor the gosern-