Norwich bulletin., 1921-04-01


 It used to be regarded as piece of l bad policy, not to say of ignorant stupid l sty, to Kill the goose which laid golden | eggs. Even schoolboys in the primer l grade used to laugh at the incredible ni- 1 ocy of the peasant in the fable who was finding a golden egg in the gocse-nest ev- cry day, but wasn't satisfied and so kill cd tho goose to get 'en faster than one a day. It was not merely poetic justice which promptly put an end to his aureate hopes, it was also exactly what any real ly intelligent being might have expected NoN-a-days. n rather large, very noisy and quite too influential portion Of the American people are industriously en- gaged in killing all the geese that everI laid golden eggs or have shown any indi- cations Of considering such an output Take the ease of the railroads, for il+ lustration. Practically all the farm pre- ducts of the great west have to be car-l ricd to the consuming centers of the. east by railroads. Their management, their efficiency. their economy of operation are, therefore vital factors in farm success. 1t makes small difference how big crop the farmers of Iliinos and Iowa may raise. if railroad freight rates are so high IS to forbid its shipment to where it can be sold In such a dilemma, the bigger his crop the greater the farmers loss. Ana the more certain his determination rot to raise such crop again, till, hH knows what he can do with it.
 when the late un-lsS4ented adninistrt- ton took charge of the eountry's railroads as an alleged WAT measure, and started ts gun them into the ground as a party measure. among it's first actt' was the gen. e-ai boosting of wages, whether the boosting yas asked for or not. This boosting was. indeed, the most noticeable feature of governmental adninistra ton. It was dol1e, not once only, but certainly three tlnes and how many more only a professional statistician can tell.
 Then when this boosting process had continued till it had cost the patient tax payers of the country several billions to make good the losses involved, then the war ceased and the rai1r0ads were incon- tnsntly dumVea back on their owners.
 With equipment sadly deteriorated with engines and cars scrapped, with tracks wSrn out, with bridges unrepair- I'd. with traffic in 2 crazy mess, and with . wage-biil increased from 200 10 BOG per cent. the commandeered roads were n c sorry condition when they were con- temptuouslx thrown back to their own srs. with a comm3nd to take 'ern agaiT and make the best they could out of 'em
 
 :hc owners and managers was that they weren't paying wages and expenses, es reeially wages. This was so absolutely snd universally certain that even the rail read commission had to admit it. O. cou-s". 1t wouldn't have done, politically Co reduce wages and so. in hopes of mak ing receipts at least balance -eutgees; tn, roads were authorized to increase freigh and messenger rates. They did so, sev oral times. The first raige, didn't brins in enough additional income to pay ex penses. so another was ordered. This, toe proved inadequate. A third was heape on the helpless trafic This last. in con nection with the preceding increases, ef Actually did the business for would-b shippers
 h some cases the freight charged fo hauling car of farm produce from tn west or south to the seaboard was greate than the entire value Of the carload g prevailing market prices. The farmer nc only got nothing for his forty tons food. but was compelled to dig dow into his pocket or mortgage his farm [ make up enough to pay the freight bil In ether words, the ISad had been p, on so remorselessly that at last the pc tieHt cEmers back broke. Shippers nt only Of farm produce but of other good
  The result was a tremendous falling 0 in the volume Of pods carried by u railroads6 To be sure they got twice : many dollars per ton for carrying b, they got only half as many tons to carr The increase from rates was more tha lost In the decrease of business. At oI lime 400,000 freight cars stood on si, tracks. empty and idle. It was perfect clear that any further raising of freig
 
 worse
 There remained. then, only one hope: reduction in expenses.
 A few railroads tried to effect this Gying off men. sometimes by the thou and. Others adopted what they called 'hvc-aay week" Others ordered redu ticn in wages about equal to the admit reduction which has come about in t cost Of living. A concrete illustration this latter course is found in the case tho Eric. That road found it was payi out BLOT for every s1 it took in. So managers ordered reduction of abt thirty per cent. in wages Tho worfHr affected promptly appealed to the rs road labor board, which decided in tn favor. holding that the road had no riC to reduce wages without first consult inc workers concerned. whereupon Erie fell back on the other alternat and Is now proceeding, as rapidly as IT be- to reduce it's working force thirty cent. by laying of that proportion of ( pioyes. It had found, during the sh period when the reduced wages were effect that it was just about ''break sven," without regard to taxes. It ho to do as well by effccting an equiVal reduction in the number of employees.
 "Tsum notice that this means sim