The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1920-01-02
What Is the
Truth !? 4

| For some days our people have been
RECALLED with flaring poster on the
cars Of the st. Francois County Elec-
tric railway displaying the cryptic
headline, "Truth What the War Has
Done for the Electric Roads. The
poster then goes on to give the elec-
trio roads Of a number of big cities
that have been forced into the hands
Of receivers, among them the United
Railways Of st. Louis.
The purpose of this latest piece Of
propaganda is doubtless to poison the
minds Of the unthinking part Of the
public and to create an impression
the all but bankrupt condition Of these
roads was brought about through
some oppressive or discriminative ac-
ton Of the government in connection
with the war. Let us impress upon
your mind at the start this potent
fact--that the government did not
take over any Of the electric roads
nor had 1t anything whatever to do
with their management.
Consider for a moment the United
Railways monopoly of st. Louis, zone
of the systems named as having been
forced into receivership by the war.
For several years prior to the entrance
Of the United States into the world
war the u. r. had an unsavory repu-
tation, and its management was any
thing but satisfactory to the public
or the investors, and hints of a reeeiv-
ership were in the air. Then came
that scandal of the burglary and the
theft Of referendum petitions gotten
up by the people asking that they be
permitted to vote upon certain conces-
sions or franchises to the u. r. under
the new city charter. General Super
intendent Mccullough, and officers,
or agents acting under his direction,
were subsequently indicted for this
criminal transaction on the confession
of one or more of the principal agents.
Thousands of dollars of the COM
pany's money were paid the thugs who
were directly or indirectly connected
with the burglary.
Then an application that the United
Railways be placed in the hands of a
Receiver was granted by Judge d. P.
Dyer of the Federal Court for the
Eastern District of Missouri, who ap-
pointed Judge Lamm as Special Com
missioner to take testimony bearing on
their condition and management, and
former Rolla Wells as Receiver.
Facts drawn out by the testimony Of
witnesses before Judge Lamm discov-
cred the grossest mismanagement Of
long standing and the fact that hum
dreds Of thousands of dollars had
been Illegally used in political schemes
and other doubtful ways, instead of
being applied to the legitimate ex-
penses of the roads and to pay divi-
dends to the stockholders. This and
exhorbitantly high salaries to Off
cials and an array of attorneys natu-
rally weakened and depleted the treas
ury. The war had nothing to do with
bringing about the condition that
forced the u. r. into the receivers
hands, except perhaps to increase the
cost of operation, as was the case
with all industries, but an increase in
passenger fare compensated for that
Gross mismanagement and criminal
corruption did the work. So much for
the II. r. W
But why this propaganda, this at
tempt to camoufage the mismanage-
mept and corrupt practices of the big
city electric railroad systems. Is it to
poison the mind of the public and dis
credit the government in it's manage
ment of the war, or to create a pref
udice against the administration and
Congress for engaging in the war at
all? Who is at the bottom of this
subtle electric road propaganda? Is
it political, or what? Talk about the
II. w. w. and Radical propaganda
which the Government is trying to
crush out by deporting Bolshevist
leaders and agitators, or the German
propaganda Of the Kaiser and his
spies during the war, they have no.
4 thing on this latest attempt to de-
ceive and mislead the public, and it
Truth" Yes, that is what the peo-
pie would like to find out. They are
getting tired of hearing the war
blamed for every oppressive condition
that exists. The profiteer tells us that
he has to put up his prohibatory pric-
es because of the war. The cold stor-
age highwaymen, with their millions
of eggs and other perishable foods
held out of the markets to create a
scarcity and boost prices, point their
pudgy fingers at the war and say the
war did it,. Any one who takes the
time to think moment must know
that all such talk is largely hypocrit-
icaL Greed, dishonesty, conScience-
less selfishness and mean desire to
take every advantage possible Of
others. are responsible for more than
half the extortions that the general
public is forced to put up with.