The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1920-08-05
PEOPLE PAY THE FREIGHT

ST Paul PioneerPfess-Clos upon
the heels OF wage Increases recently
granted by the Railway Labor Board
comes the rate increase allowed on Sat
urday by the Interstate Commerce
Commission. The wage award, IN
round figures, was $60O,OOOOOO The
rate advance in figures equally round,
not to say equally impressive, is ST.
500 100000. 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. value, incidentally, when Is
fixed by the commission at upwards
of a billion dollars less than that
claimed by the roads.
Fifteen hundred million dollars, the
sum which the new rates are expected
to add to railroad revenues, is tall
figure. even nowadays. 1t is larger
sum than the total annual revenues
of any country on earth, save Great
Britain and the United Staes, and II
is more than 25 per cent of the total
revenue of this country in the year
1917-191S. 1t is more than the annuai
pre-war expense OF our government,
and it is larger than the total national
debt of Canada. The new freight tar
ifs alone, excluding the passenger and
other increases, levy a toll OF $l2
upon each Of the 105,00O,OO0 men,
women and children in the United
States. and assuming the average fam
ily to number five persons, the new
rates mean that the head OF every
family in the country must add up
wards of $50 toh his annual living costs.
Such figures as these ought to bring
home to the ultimate consumer the
meaning of the commissions decision.
We assume that this huge addition
to %the burdens of the public is nee
essary, and being necessary, we as
sumo that the public will pay it will
ingly. The decent railroad wage
awards were not extravagant. The
country does not expect the employees
of its railroads TO labor for less than
living wage, h2r can the country
reasonably expect the roads to pay
their labor and other expenses out
of a 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 obtained and some such
calamity as government ownership,
with all the extravaganza and misman-
agement we have recently observed,
is bound to occur. To put the roads
on paying basis is all that the new
rate increase is intended to do, and
with that the public cannot reason
ably quarrel.
But the public does expect some
and rate advances, and it is this
That the railroad question, having now
been settled as satisfactorily as is pos
sible in the circumstances, shall re-
main 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 fingers while employ
ers and employed whined and threat
ened and freight was congested in ter
minals or marooned on sidings from
Maine to California. The public now
expects resumption 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 1t expects the man
agement of the lines to effect econom.
les of operation which will enable
revision downward of the present tar
IFS within the period set by the COM
mission. An finally it expects the re-
storation OF little, at least, of the
old-time attentiveness which was nec-
esary when railroading was on an
eflciency rather than cost-plus basis
In the simplest and plainest language,
the country now demands dollar of
value for every dollar it is obliged
to pay, and unless the country gets 1t,
the next railroad controversy will be
between railroad employers and en-
ployees, and the people who pay the
freight,
-----w. 3. s.---
The democrats should remember that