The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1920-01-15
Letters from the People

(Coptinued from page three)
employment directly and nearly all
the others Indirectly.
Can you imagine what would
happen to those cities if the railroads
were suddenly taken away from them?
What would become of Spokane and
Denver and Salt Lake City or any
other of the larger cities that de-
pend entirely upon the railroads for
their existance, what would become of
all the beautiful little cities and
towns of all the Pacific northwest who
depend entirely on the railroads to
market their products, their fruits
and grains produced from agriculture
and horticulture and their lumber and
minerals produced from their forests
and mines and to bring in the manu-
featured goods from eastern cities
where iron and other raw materials
are available? Had there never been
a railroad in existance at all there
might have been just as many people
in the world as there are today but
they would have been so situated
that they could get along without
them. AS it is, many, very many in
deed cannot exist without them. The
larger cities would suffer the most
The rural cities and towns that are
built up largely by agriculture and
who have enough food and fuel pro-
duced within the range of gasoline
would get along for quite awhile and
the country people would probably
survive the longest of all for they
could produce most of their actual
living. But could they? Man will
first beg, then steal, then kill before
he will starve or if they would not do
it for themselves they would for
their families and / sometimes think
that the farmer who normally could
at least feed himself and his family
would have pretty hard time to pro-
tect what he did produce for his own
use while the cities were starving. ]
have asked what would happen if the
railroads were suddenly taken away
and you can draw your own conclu-
sions.
will now ask what would happen
if they were tied up for ninety days.
The first day all the railway employees
would be out Of job. In ten days
a large percentage Of. all other labor
ers would be out of work. In thirty
days some of the railway employees
would be broke and many of the other
laborers. Food and fuel and all the
necessities of life would be advanced
100 per cent or more. In sixty days
in city of 100000, 10000 would be
hung up. Automobiles, wagons; trucks
and every available means of trans
portation would have scowered and
cleaned up the country for fifty or a
hundred miles around. Hunger riots
would be fierce and frequent, jails,
would be full to overflowing.
In ninety days l don't think it is
possible for any pen to describe the
situation, suffice it to say He'll would
be loose and pandemonium would
reign supreme, and yet that is just
about what the government is threat
ening with on or about March first #
the demand of the railway employees
are not met. It is just what will
happen if the threats are carried out
and the strangest part of it all it is
just what some want o see happen.
That is the hard part to understand.
There are many who believe in the
right to strike under our present laws.
1t may be legal to strike for anything
desired but there never has been given
to man a moral law to strike collect