The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-08-10
With Other Editors
The Rate Advance.
est. Paul Pioneer Press.)

Close upon the heels Ct wage increases re-
Gently granted By the railway labor board
comes the rate increase allowed on Saturday
nv the interstate commerce commission. The
wage award, in round figures, was $e00, 0o0. 900.
The rate advance in figures equally round. not
to say equally impressive, is $500 ooo 900 This
increase is intended not only to take care Of
the new wage schedules but to provide per
cent return upon the actual value OF the lines
q value incidentally, which is fixed by the COM
mission ut upwards Of billion dollars less than
that claimed by the roads.
F1fteen hundred million dollars. the sum
which the new rates are expected to add to rail-
road revenues, is tall figure, even nowadays
It is a larger sum than the total annual rev.
enues OF any country on earth save Great
Britain and the United States, and it is more
than Is per cent OF the total revenue Of this
country in the year 1s17-1s1S. It is more than
the annual pre-war expense OF our government
and It is larger than the total national debt Of
Canada. The new freight tariffs alone. exclud-
ing the passenger and other increases, levy q
toll Of $12 upon each of the 105,0oo.00o men.
women and children in the United States, and
assuming the average family to number five
persons, the new rates mean that the head of
every family in the country must add upwards
Of $50 to his annual living costs. Such figures
as these ought to bring home to the ultimate
consumer the meaning OF the commissions de-
cision.
We assume that this huge addition to the
burdens of the public is necessary, and, being
necessary, we assume that the public will pay
it willingly. The recent railroad wage awards
were not extravagant. The country does not
expect the employees Of its railroads to labor
for less than living wage, nor can the country
reasonably expect the roads to pay their labor
and other expenses out Of deficit Unless the
roads can earn their way, and show something
on the credit side OF the ledger the capital
necessary for their operation cannot be OBJ
tanned, and some such calamity as government
Ownership with all the extravaganza and mis-
management we have recently observed, is
bound to occur. To put the roads on paying
basis is all that the new rate increase is in
tended to do, and with that the public cannot
reasonably quarrel.
But the public does expect something as a
and it is this: That the railroad question. hav-
ing now been settled as satisfactorily as is pos
!, sible in the circumstances, shall remain
settled The men have their higher wages, and
the roads have the money to pay them Now
let the trade of the country have the service
to which it is entitled. The patience of the
people has been sorely tried of recent years
They have stood about twiddling their fngera
while employers and employees whined and
threatened and freight was congested in ter
minais and marooned on sidings from Maine to
California The public now expects resump-
ton Of service. 1t expects the business of the
country to move, and to keep right on moving
It expects the trainmen to earn their new
wages and it expects the management Of the
lines to effect economies of operation which
will enable a revision downward of the pres
ent tariffs within the period set by the commits
sion. And finally it expects the restoration of 9
little, at least, Of the old time attentiveness
which was necessary when railroading was OF
an efficiency rather than a cost-p plus basis. Ii
the simplest and plainest language, the coun
TRY now demands dollar of value for ever,
dollar it is obliged to pay, and unless the coun
try gets it, the next railroad controversy will
be between railroad employers and employees
and the people who pay the freight