Denver labor bulletin., 1918-03-02

peace measure ever taken IN America.
/ For there is war within America, just
as there is war without. There is war
at Washington, in our states, in our
cities. 1t is war that divides Amer
lea into two camps; war that aligns
the financiers, monopolists, public
utility corporations, lawyers, the press
and privileged interests in one camp
and the manufacturers, producers,
/ farmers, consumers and labor in an
other camp.
Government ownership ends this
conflict; a conflict that makes it i'm
possible to integrate the talent, the
press, the university and the best
I thought of America into our organic
| life. This alienation of one class is
I the costliest burden America has had
/ to pay for the private ownership of
the railroads. 1t is far more costly
than rebates, overcharges or an ex-
cessive price for the acquisition Of
railway properties.
Public ownership makes it possible
to integrate America into a real ma
tion; nation in which the purse of
the few is no longer at war with their
patriotism. 1t makes it possible for
chambers of commerce, the press and
monopolistic interests to think in
terms of service rather than of the
protection of privileged classes whose
profits and power are dependent upon
their control of the government.
1t is now possible for the railroads
TO be run for service. They can build
America They can serve industry,
agriculture, consumer, laborer. And
the big difference between the private
railroads of America and the publicly
owned railroads of Europe is that
American railroads are run for the
railroads, for profit, in Europe they
are run to upbuild the nation. The
competition of hundred different sys-
TENS for traffic comes to an end. Quite
as important, the struggle for long
haul traffic is over. 1t now becomes
the motive Of operation to develop
short-hauis: to encourage industries
near their natural market Ii makes
IL possible for the first time for farm
ing, cattle raising, food production,
20 spring up around about the cities
instead Of being driven by railway
discrimination to far distant points.
For a generation the Great Lakes, the
greatest inland waterway in the
world, has been strangled as a carrier
by the possession Of the harbors,
docks and terminal facilities by the
railroads. They refuse to permit
water traffic 10 develop. For water
traffic competes with railway traffic
And from Duluth to Buffalo harbors
which should be filled with shipping
have been almost the exclusive posses
sion of the steel trust, allied indus
tries, and railroads, which utilized
them only to the extent that it bene-
fitted their earnings.
The same is true of the great inland
waterways, the Mississippi. the Ohio,
the Erie Canal and many other smaller
canals, which have been in a state of
suspended operation, but which can
now be opened up to the carriage of
bulk traffic
We can see the effect of such a
revolution in operating motive IN those
countries where the railroads are in
public hands. In Belgium the rail
roads, waterways. docks and interur-
ban systems work as a unit for the
upbuilding Of Belgium, for making
Antwerp one Of the great ports of the
world, There is little thought of
profits, That is a secondary consid-
Grafton. Hundreds of thousands of
workmen are carried out into the
country daily; some of them forty or
fifty miles from Brussels and Ant
werp, in order that they can live in
the country and work in the towns
The rate of fare is negligible; far less
than that on our street cars. Den
mark consciously utilizes her rail
roads as an agency Of agriculture, the
dominant industrial activity of that
little state. The farmer is given every
facility to reach Copenhagen and the
seaports Steamships are run to Eng
land to get Danish produce to the
markets. All middlemen, who in this
country cluster about the railways
have been cut out. Together with an
enlightened land program, the rail
ways of Denmark have made that lit
tie state what she Is.
The railways of Germany are used
ms n strategic agency in time of peace
as they are in times of war. And the
after-war menace of Germany is quite
largely transportation menace. Dis
ordinations are not given to individ-
ual shippers, but preferences are
made to develop industry. The ship
builders enjoyed free trade and low
transportation on iron ore, timber,
machinery and supplies. Raw mate
rials in one section are brought at
cost or less than cost to the manu-
featuring regions. The great indus
trial cities like Essen. Dusseldorf,
Mannheim, harbor cities like Ham
burg and Bremen, are interlaced with
railway and water connections, with
sidinEs, with terminal facilities, which
make it easy for new industries to
come into existence, as well as to find
a foreign market for their wares. The
express service. parcel post service,
telegraph and telephones We're all in
tegrated into the empire for the pur-
pose of upbuilding industrial strength.
In Switzerland, Belgium and Den
mark travel is encouraged. 1t is en-
couraged for educational purposes.
One can buy ticket for two weeks
for n NEGLIGIBLE SIM and travel ten