The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1920-03-25

other pests there has been scratched
up in Washington a score Of 10000
rabbits that fell before organized
drives in Idaho. Wolf scalps are re.
ported in the statistics received from
county clerks quite equal in their old
time proportions to the days when the
country was wild Prairie dogs as
pest in Wyoming and elsewhere con-
tinue to excite the activities of gov
ernment forces. The agricultural de-
partment also reports success in its
operations against the hog cholera,
and it is getting the lice off chickens.
while at the same time progress has
been obtained in taking the mineral
matter out of milk.
And most of the pests have not yet
got to the point of being classified.
On the morning of March / the
newspapers started carrying adver-
tisements for railroads that were once
more competing for business, they
having passed from bureaus operating
at Washington on that date
One Of the leading railroad officials
of the country has described the task
of resuming the direction Of the rail
roads after twenty-six months of gov
ernment operation as truly gigantic.
But he feels certain that the spirit
which has directed the railroad per-
sonnel Of America through the years
that developed it to the greatest sys-
TEN of the world will rise again to
the new tasks. In contemplation OF
what will be needed in this work
it has been truthfully said that
there will be demanded mot only the
utmost loyalty, industry and patience
upon the part of the railroad forces
from section-hand to president, but,
even more, there will be needed the
spirit Of complete cooperation and help
full assistance from the public and the
publics duly constituted authorities" q"
1t is agreed that the railroads OF
the country have fallen behind in the
program of constant foresighted devel-
opment which must precede the actual
! <
quence the shipping world is anxious
that there should be additional equip
ment, freight cars. passenger cars, To-
! comotives, and in some places new
lines A railroad president who knows
whereof he speaks says: "The rail
roads of the country need cars TO
make up not only the present short
age, but an adequate reserve supply
to take care of increase in traffic and
peak demands, as we'll as cars for
normal retirement. In this situation
we find an era Of high prices. Freight
cars which might have been bought
in 1914 and 1915 for $500 to 5000 now
cost three times that. Baggage, mail
and express cars cost between $4,000
and $1,000 in 1914, but now cost $21 900
to $22 900; and so on through the list"
short, is new capital, and this means
adequate earnings to establish railroad
credit The ultimate proof, therefore,
of the wisdom of railroad legislation
|
credit Congress and the public have
shown their approval of a construc-
tive spirit, but no one assumes that
all contingencies have been foreseen
by the present railroad legislation, but
the evidences all point to the prOba-
bility that congress has at least reach
ed a frame Of mind to meet the in
terests of the people of the United
States.
1t cannot be said of William Jen-
nings Bryan that he is deficient in
| memory when it comes to raking up
the old stuff that shot hats into the
air in bygone days; and his recent
references to "the days when Wall
street financed both the old parties
and didn't care which side won" has
elected murmurs of approval from
people who do not take the time to
analyze such ridiculous statements.
Right alongside of this resurrected
phrase there was the action of the
Indiana State Labor Party, which IS
opposed to the declaration of the
American Federation of Labor asking
labor to elect their friends and defeat
their enemies The Hoosierites de
clared for straight-out labor party
ticket, and their point of difference
with the American Federation Of La
Dor is that the latter propose picking
out all the good republicans" and the
good democrats" and electing them
in place of opposing tad candidates
put forward by the same parties.
Neither Mr. Bryan or the competine
labor groups are willing to acknowl
edge that among the rich men Of Wal
street that there is just as much hon
esty of purpose and mind per capita
as anywhere else in the country. AnC
the differences of opinion among this
} class that makes republicans and dem
; ocrats of them, is in about the same
ratio as that which prevails among
the longshoremen and laborers at the
! waters edge at the foot of the same
, Wall street AS matter OF fac
humanity is pretty much the same