Milford chronicle., 1920-04-30
UNCLE TED'S
BEDTIME STORIES
Current Events for the Children
and Grown-Ups, Too
A RAILROAD STRIKE AND LOST
MONEY

as it true, Uncle Ted" asked Jacl
that a lot of sheep and cows die
during the railroad strike beeaus,
they didn't get any water?"
well" answered Uncle Ted,
don't know that a lot of them die
because of the strike but I do know
that many of them that were on de
layed trains suffered for lack of foo,
and water. And the sad part of i
was that at that very time everyon,
throughout the United States wa!
asked to remember the slogan, 'Bt
kind to animals There was danger
of lots Of people being hungry, too
The strike seems to be all over now
but it has shown the country that il
is not impossible for a certain class
of people better known as radicals tc
hold up the trains in the hope that il
would be the beginning of a union to
be used by the bolshevik elements in
this country. For a long time this
class of people has been trying to use
the railroad workers as a means OF
furthering their scheme to make the
government buy the railroads and let
the employees manage them. Under
their plan the government would bor-
row about twenty billion dollars to
buy the railroads and then form a
committee to control them, with the
workers in a position to control the
committee. Thus they could prac-
tically fix their own wages, hours Of
labor and so forth All the rest of
the people of the country would be
expected, under that plan, to pay
freight and passenger rates high
enough to give the railroad employees
everything they wanted. The better
class of railroad workers do not IA
vor that plan for they know that it
would be bad for the country and bad
for them in the end.
Isn't there some way to settle dis
putes without strikss?" asked Ruth.
no very definite and certain way,
at present" replied Uncle Ted.
There was a plan proposed but it
did not get votes enough in Congress
to put it into effect. Two or three
months ago, when Congress was pass
ing a law for the return of the rail-
roads to their owners, Senator Cum
Minis wrote a section of the bill
which would forbid strikes and re-
Quire the workers and the railroad
to submit their differences
to a sort of court to be settled ac-
cording to what seemed to be right
after all the conditions had been TAX
en- into consideration. l believe it
would be better to have disputes set
tied that way than to have a strike
that would not only stop the cattle
trains and leave the cattle and sheep
to go hungry and thirsty but also keep
people in cities from getting food and
and fuel"
"The railroads aren't being run by
the government now, are they" ask
I'd Jack.
mo, Jack You surely remember
ne telling you all about that. They
we're turned back to their owners
many weeks ago. But that really
brings me back to the story 1 wanted
% tell you about tonight. That is, /
lbout the great amount of money that
t cost the United States to run the |
''The total loss to the governmnet of |
he United States due to the govern /
nent running the railroads has been .
placed at more than $1,129,0 100000!
"Gee!" exclaimed Jack, that's an
.wful lot of money"
at certainly is a lot of money,
ack. This amount has been estimat-
d by the appropriations committee
f the House of Representatives and
includes the amount of 1925, ,000 900
which was estimated as the guaran-
ees to the railroads by the wording
f the transportation law. The actual
Oss to the government during the 26
months of government control was
laced by the committee at S904,000,-
90 and the committee mentioned the
ct that since the government had
)aned the roads 1852 100000, the big
er part of which went to weak lines
} keep them from going bankrupt {
uring government control, a lot of
lis money will never be recovered.
Nov right here IS a point which
lows again how the Republican Con-
ress is saving the peoples money. g
irector General. of Railroads Hines, 7
no came into that place after Mr.
-cAdoo quit, asked Congress for s
l20000,000 with which to finish up
lie work Of the Railroad Administra- S
on. The committee cut that amount
OWN to S300,0O0O0O by cutting the to-
j S90,000,000 and suggesting that the I
nited States Treasury be told to q
ly S90,00G000 worth of liberty bonds
wned by the railroad administra-
on"
did TIE committee say why they
t them have less money!" asked
lck.
"The committee explained, Jack, nj
at it was because the transportation s.
W which has already been passed n
YES S5U,UUO,UUU with which 70 settle settle q
aims against the government which
e the result of government control n
will read you what the. committee u
IS to say about these losses in its re- a,
rt. Listen: Clearly it was the pur-
'se of the director general of the te
ilroads to give the impression that in
04,000,0 900 would cover the total az
sses sustained by the government in
ring Federal control, nor should it II
inferred that S253, 100000 shown as a.
e additional loss the government r
II suffer because of Federal control, NJ
the only loss which the government al
II sustain because of the Federal ra
ntrol and operation of the rail- NJ
ads M
That shows us, kiddies, that the NJ M
act losses can not be discovered Va
til all the affairs of the railroad re-
are settled, which may re
be until March of next year. That TO
losses will be more is certain and fa
should teach us that the govern
mt cannot afford to run the roads" ou W
Anyway, 1t lost a lot of money for ~ ~
government and the people, didn't
was Jacks final comment. me
- ---@o-,-- - inl
LOVES CROSS ROADS foI
- dif