The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1920-02-27
.CUMMINS BILL TO
LOOT THE PUBLIC
Why Conference Report on
CumminS-ESCh Bill Should
be Defeated.

EBRUAR1, 23, 1920
mere are three parties interested
in the railroad problem.
They are THE PUBLIC AND La
Dor AND CAPITAL.
The interests of the public are
paramount. Next in Importance are
100000 employees with their
100000 wives and children
they constitute one person out of
eleven in the population of the
United States.
capital is the third claimant
Capital is an inanimate thing. II
has no body to be clothed. no stom-
ach to be fed, no mind to be salts
fled.
yet inanimate, lifeless Capital is
debating a railroad settlement af
fecting 10. 100000 people and the
lives and happiness of 100000
workers, their wives and children.
\ A" JIG uSAL lew udyS Dill
returning the railroads to private
ownership will be reported to the
house and Senate by the conference
committee which has been operat-
ing behind closed doors for almost
two months.
This bill is satisfactory to Wall
Street, but it should not be satisfac-
tory to any other element in the
community. If senators and con-
gressmen are influenced by consid-
Grafton for the public interests it
will be rejected by decisive MAORI
ties in both houses.
! Let us analyze the report which
the conferees are about to submit
Congress is asked to return the rail-
roads to j. P. Morgan and Co., The
National City Bank, the First Ma
tional Bank, Kuhn, Loeb and Com
pany, and their banking associates.
Within the memory of every
member of Congress some of these
bankers robbed and pillaged the
New Haven abroad, the Pere Mar
quette, the Rock Island, the Frisco
and other rich and prosperous pro-
perties.
They ruined widows and orphans;
they robbed stockholders; they
wasted the holdings of the corpor-
ations they had promised to safe
guard. Some of the men who did
this were indicted in the criminal
courts.
Congress is asked to guarantee
dividends of five and one-half per
cent. on the stocks and bonds of all
the railroads in the country. This
will amount to s1,1o0, 100000 a
year, OR 100000, 900 A YEAR
MORE THAN THESE PROPERTIES
EARNED IN NORMAL TIMES.
The Panama Canal, the most gi-
gantic engineering feat IN history
cost, completed and equipped, ap-
proximately $500, 100000. Con-
gress Is asked to give the railroads
each year, In the form OF excess
profits, an amount sufficient to du-
plicate this triumph of American
skill and energy.
The railroad lobbyists say the
guaranty Is for "onIy two years" but
the conference report provides that
nfter the government guaranty en-
pipes the Interstate Commerce Com
misniOn shall sec 10 1T that rates HTe
made 30 high that the dividends will
continue.
What difference does II make to
the people Of the United States
whether this guaranty IL paid out
OF the treasury of the nation or is
filehed from the pockets of ship
pers?
Cengress is asked in addition to
this guaranty to open the doors of
the treasury and present the rail
roads with s506,066,G00 as a Pc
voiviHg fund, TO be used in pup
chasing equipment and making On
tensions, When this revolving fund
was being discussed in the Senate
members of that august body cyHi-
caliy dubbed it the vanishing
fund" and declared that not sim
Gle dollar wsaIid ever be returned
to the government,
Congress is being asked 70 eem-
psi the welI=maHaged railroads to
divide their earnings with these
that are evefeapitaiized and iaef-
fieieHtiy managed: Thus a prem
ium is placed en- Predigality and
economy is penaii2ed,
Congress is being asked through
this guaranty ia validate the eight
billion doIlarA OF wateFed stock
which is now floating around the
stool, exchanges Of this country; 1T