The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1919-11-20
THE NATIONAL CAPITAL
By J. E. Jones
(To be continued.)

BY J. E Jones
II must have occurred to mostly
everybody that when the president
and his cabinet decided to fight the
coal strike, and when the Senate and
/ the House of Representative by their
unanimous votes declared their un-
qualified support to the administra-
ton in the course it had taken, that
under such circumstances the govern,
ment cannot be all wrong. 1t is an
inevitable deduction that the men in
this government, selected as they are
from every walk of life, and from
every part of the country, are good
men, as a whole, and are truly rep
resentative of the people of this great
country. These are self-evident truths,
and upon the principles involved the
life of the American government de-
pends. For perhaps the first time
in the history Of the United States
popular government as it is regarded
by free people, has been challenged
by class of workingmen, and the acts
of the coal miners constitute a fiat
defiance to the government that has
shielded and protected them There
is no longer any question about the
rights of labor unions to exist and
enforce the demands of their mem
bers, and public opinion and the gov.
eminent has been standing back of
them. But acting on the same prin-
ciple that has brought about trust
busting" the restraint OF unfair com
petition, the dissolution of combina.
tions, and the regulation of other
methods of conducting business that
are damaging to the public as a whole,
the government first sought to pre-.
vent strike that would bring dis
aster 70 the whole country; and when
gentle measures failed the drastic
processes Of maintaining the sover-
eighty of the United States were en-
forced. 1t was the policy Roosevelt
defined when he said Speak softly
and carry big stick"
Declaration by a single member of
the Interstate Commerce Commission
that new rate increase would add
seriously to the cost of retail products
has been sharply answered by writers
on railway problems, one of whom, in
the Railway Review, remarks editori-
ally: "The claim that the cost of
transportation is one of the greatest
elements in the cost of living has
been so often disputed that it is hardly
worth attention. A pair of shoes
which formerly cost S. now costs, say,
$12. The entire element Of transporta.
tion in them. figuring from the steer
on the ranch to the finished article
in the store window, amounts to not
more than 25 cents. The prices of
wholesaler and retailer
are not in the least influenced by the
transportation element. If transporta-
tion cost is today doubled, the price
OF the article may go down tomorrow,
or it may soar again without limit"
The estimate of 25 cent transporta-
ton cost in the retail price of shoes;
cost of transporting the hide, the raw
leather, the semi-finished and the fin |
ished product. With all this included
1 is apparent that the increase in price
can hardly be attributed to a freight
charge Increase of five cents (the
freight charges having increased
roughly rs per cent, while shoes were
going from SIS to $12). 1t is an illus,
tration of the recent statistics pre-
pared by julius Kruttschnitt, which
showed that "1.3 cents in every
dollar increase was caused by freight
charges; responsibility for the remain
ing 98.7 cents must be sought else
it was not caused by freight
charges"
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 so slight as to be almost neglible. !
The plain fact Is that the second year |
Of government operation is showing |
about the same railroad deficit as the |
irst year, and the roads are admitted
by the Federal Railroad Administra-
ion to be In bad physical condition.
requiring very heavy rehabilitation
work without delay upon being re.
urned to their owners. It Is obviouJ
hat more revenue must be obtained.
Ind the only alternative is between
Ietting 1t from the shipping public.