The Carlisle independent., 1919-11-13
THE NATIONAL CAPITAL
Artificial Respiration
By J. E. Jones

erybody that when the President and his Cabinet decided to fight the coal strike, and when the Senate and the House of Representatives by their unanimous votes declared their unqualified support to the Administration in the course it had taken, that under such eircum- stances the Government cannot be all wrong. It is an inevitable deduction that the men in this government, SC lected as they are from every walk of life and from every part of the coun- try, are good men as whole, and are truly representative of the people of this great country.
 These are self-eyident truths, and up on the principles involved the life of the American government depends.
 For perhaps the first time in the his ernment as it is regarded by free peo- pie. has been challenged by class of workingmen: and the acts of the coal miners constitute flat defiance to the government that has shielded and O. tected them.
 
 the rights of labor unions to exist and enforce the demands of their members, and public opinion and the government has been standing back of them. But acting on the same principle that has brought about ''trust-busting, the re- straint of unfair competition, the disso- lution Of combinations. and the regula- I l.. business that are damaging to the pub- lie as whole The Government first sought to prevent a strike that would bring disaster to the whole country; and when gentle measures failed the drastic processes of maintaining the sovereignty of the United States were enforced. It was the policy Roosevelt defined when he said: speak softly and carry big stick
 Facts as Opposed to Contentious
 Declaration by single member of that new rate increase would add se- riously to the cost of retail products has been sharply answered by writers on railway problems, one of whom in the Railway Review, remarks editorially: The claim that the cost of transporta- ton is one of the greatest elements III the cost of living has been so often dis puted that it is hardly worth attention. A pair of shoes which formerly cost S5 HOW costs say S12. The entire element of transportation in them, figuring from the steer on the ranch to the finished atiele in the store w4adow, amounts to not more than 25cents. The prices of manufacturer, wholesaler. and retailer are not i'll tn eleast influenced by the transportation element. If transporta- tion cost is today doubled. the price of the article may 90 down tomorrow, or it may soar again without limit.
 The estimate of D cent transporta- tion cost in the retail price of shoes, ot course, included the accumulated cost of transporting the hide, the raw leather, the semi-finished and the finished prod uct. With all this included it is appar- ent that the increase in price can hardly be attributed to freight charge increase of five cents the freight charges hay ing increased roughly D percent,whi
  an illustration Of the recent statistics prepared by Julius Kruttschnitt which showed that .1.3 cents in every dollar increase was caused by freight charges; responsibility for the remaining 9s.7 cents must be sought elsewhere; 1t was not caused by freight charges.
 How Will Increased Costs Be Paid
 Statistical charts show that the cost of living had increased rapidly before railroad increases were scheduled. In fact when. the higher freight rates be- came operative, the increase in living cost actually slowed up, thus indicat- ing that the connection was remote and and so tight as to be almost negligible. The plain fact is that the second year Of government operation Is showing about the same railroad deficit as the first year. and the roads are admitted by the Federal Railroad Administration to be in bad physical condition, requiring very heavy rehabilitation work without de lav upon being returned to their owners. It is obvious that more revenue must be obtained, and the only alternative is be- tween getting it from the shipping pub lie. which gets the benefit Of the rail- roads. or extracting it from the whole public. through the Treasury as at pres cnt. The roads prefer to be self sup porting. and this view of the proper railway position is shared by the peo- ple's representatives at Washington Nobody is keenly anxious to have high CT rates. but the National Capital regards railroad rate increase as preferable to railway stagnation, which is the only alternative. A small increase in rates is preferred to large decrease in effie- iency and service.
 There is not much sympathy for loose conversation about the advance in liv- s-l.-...- "a to-a .lc-a aaans :,