The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1920-01-02

TIC farmers National council his
ISSUED the following statement. from
Ilts headquarters In Washingt0b
There, hag never been better q
|nanced, more strongly organized drive
upon congress to secure a big subsidy
than the, railroads are now making
Through the Cummins and Esch bills
Farmers should remember the essen
ttial facts about the railroads. They
received land grants Of over 155, Co.,
600 acres, besides valuable terminals
and cash subsidy of over three quar-
tiers OF billion dollars, in order to
keep down rates for the benefit of the
lAmerican people. Instead Of doing
this the railroads have been looted by
the big financial interests and heavily
over-capitaliged with the result that.
freight srates were constantly increas-
ing, and service becoming poorer be
fore we entered the war. When we en-.
tered the war the roads were in such.
a demoralized condition that the gov
eminent had to take them over in
order to win the war.
!. OF the total present capitalization OF
the railroads of about twenty billion
dollars. about eight billion is watered
lstock. Fifty per cent of the stock is
owned by one and one-third per cent
Of the stockholders. The government
/! has been paying the railroads about
$3.50, O00, 600 year more than they are
morally entitled to, while the whole
Wall Street crowd which has remained
In control Of tn railroads under gov.
ternment operation, has been continu-
lously hampering operation, injnrin2
service, ana wasting the peoples
money In an effort to discredit govern.
lment ownership. In spite of all this
lunpatriotic effort by Wall Street, rates
have increased less on the. railroads
than in any other important utility in
private ownership or in public, less
than wages, and less than the made
lQuate increase In prices for farm prod
'ucts. Even under these hard condi
tons government operation is showing
a net profit. at the rate Of over $16S,
'O0O, 600 q year.
The director general of the railroads
and Interstate Commerce Commission.
er WoOlley, have shown that the Cum.
Minis and Esch bills, which Wall Street
is now attempting to drive through
congress, will require that freight
rates be increased about one-third
compelling the public to pay the rail.
roads a subsidy of about a billion dol
lars year, which will be reflected in
an increase in the cost Of living, OF
well over four billions. These bills
will compel farmers to pay at least
$500, 100000 a year more for merely
carrying their products, and on a most
conservative estimate, $1,000 100000 al
year more for what they buy, than
they would if the roads continued un.
der government operation.
In order to drive these bills through,
Wall Street has perfected it's plans to
spend ten million dollars on the cam.
paign Of advertising, to return the
roads to private operation with bill
lion dollar subsidy.
The return Of the railroads underi
pending legislation will be q serious |!
blow to agriculture. Not only will Il
compel farmers to accept less for what
they sell, but because Of the tremen-
dous increase in the cost Of living
which will result, the farmers wheat
will be greatly restricted. The city
consumer will be unable to buy so
much farm rrOdnno
Farmers should at once write or tele- !
graph Senator A. B. Cummins and
Congressman John J. Esch, in charge
OF these bills, opposing them, and also
wire their own senator's and congress-
men, asking them to work to defeat
both bills.
FARMERS MUST ACT AT ONCE
FOR WALL STREET rs WORKINGl
OVERTIME TO PUT THOSE BILLS
THROUGH
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