Durant weekly news. (Durant, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 190?-1944, 1920-08-20
FRIDAY, AUGUST 20, 1920
THE RATE HIKE

brought forth, not mouse, but yer!
substantial award running in the ag
gregate into a sum of approximate
ly $600,O00,000. While the amount
may appear staggering yet when it is
remembered that it is divided between
over 100000 employees it will be
seen that the average increase is
about twenty-five dollars a month anG
the employees in most other lines
have received fully as great increases
during the time that the matter Of
railroad wages has been before the
board which recently made the award
Promptly on the heels of the award
Of increased wages came demand by
the railroads that the Interstate Com
merce commission permit raise in
freight and passenger rates to meet
the raise in wages. There was no
long delay this time but the roads
were promptly authorized to raise
their rates to a point which would
not only absorb the wage increase
but give them a neat little sum Of
$800,000,00O for spending money, As
Il is estimated that the increased
rates will bring into the Golfers Of
the roads something like $1,4O0, ,OO0,-
600 per year. Ostensibly this sd-
ditional amount is to be used to in
crease the efficiency of the roads. 1t
would probably permit them to in
crease their efficiency but it is diff
cult to see wherein it will compel them
to do SO. In ordinary business trans
actions increased efficiency has to be
delivered before it is paid for. In
this case the roads get the money in
return for some rather vague talk
about doing something or other
sooner or later, to better their service.
But the end is not yet; it is pro-
posed next month to pay the roads
a lump sum of approximately $780,
100000 as partial settlement of the
governments wartime guarantee.
Just what the roads are going to do
with that money is not very clear.
So much for the railroad workers
and the railroad owners, both seem to
have been cared for, but the public
is also vitally interested in the mat
ter and it is interesting to know how
the dear people" are being taken care
Of. An increase of rates is coming
certain and soon, betterment of
freight and passenger service is
vaguely promised in the dim and dis
tant future. The coal bins Of the na-
tion are empty and winter will soon
be upon US. The car shortage is
still very much in evidence, nor does
anything appear on the surface to
indicate that the operators are tear
ing their shirts in any effort to
change conditions. Food prices to
the consumer are kept up by an arti-
ficial scarcity caused by lack of
transportation and for the same rea-
son prices to the producer of foods
is kept down or his market alto
gether destroyed, as when thousands
Of tons of vegetables rotted this sea-
son in the lower Rio Grande Valley
while prices for the same things
were soaring in the centers of con-
sumption.
= That the increased freight rate will
be passed on to the consumer goes
without saying. If the increased
freight rate were all the consumer
were asked to pay; to the individual
II would be scarcely noticeable. =.
Upon this phase Of the subject the
Dallas News discourses as follows:
Zone has only to recall this expert
ence (making the roads the vicarious
victims Of the profiteers) to under
stand the eagerness Of railroad men
to have it understood that the freight
rate increase recently granted by the
Interstate Commerce Commission can
not be made to justify any consid-
cradle advance in the retail prices
Of commodities. Some of them even
60 to the extent Of saying that it
should not occasion any advance what
ever.
perhaps it would be impossible
to show that no increase whatever
in the price of commodities should
follow the increase in freight rates
But that the margins of profit in
most commodities are ample to alb.
sorb the increased cost of transport
ing them without imposing any hard.
ship on dealers must be thought
abundantly evident. One of, the
railroad traffic men showed thu
other day what would be the in
crease in the carrying charge fol
. few commodities from some O,
the principal shipping points outside
Texas to points within the State
For shoes, he stated it to be l.2c q
pair; for suit of clothes, 3sc; fol-
hats, 2.2c each for shirts, &c each
for sugar, two-tenths cents a pound
also for canned goods and bacon
while for a fifty-pound sack Of floul
the increased transportation sharg,
would be Csc, with half that amount
for a bushel Of oats. In some in
stances the increase in the cost O.
transportation is infinitesimaI, com
pared with the price Of the COM