The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1921-10-28

1t will thus be noted that during the
years when other industries were MAX
ing very large profits. when the prices
OF farm products and the wages of la
Dor were soaring to unheard-of heights
the earnings upon railroad investment
10 the United States were held within
very narrow limits and that they have
during the past four years progressive
ly declined
Roads Handicapped More Than Other
Business.
2. The railroads are responsible to
the public for providing adequate trans
pOrtation. Their charges are limited
by public authority, and they are. in
very large respects (notably for labor)
compelled to spend money on a basis
fixed by public authority. The margin
within which they are permitted TO
earn return upon their investment
or to offer inducements to attract new
capital for extensions and betterments
is extremely limited However much
the railroads might desire. therefore
10 reduce their charges in times Of de.
preston, 1t will be perceived that the
limitations surrounding their action do
not permit them to give effect to broad
and elastic policies which might very
properly govern other lines of business
not thus restricted.
1t has been urged upon the railroa as
That reduction in rates will stimu.
late traffic and that increased traffic
will protect the carriers from tha Ioss
incident to reduction in rates. The
railroad homogeneous cannot disguise
from themselves that this suggestion il
merely conjectural and that an AID.
verse result of the experiment Womb
be disastrous not only to the railroads
but to the public, whose supreme need
is adequate transportation
! Consequently the railroad manaoa
merits cannot feel justified in nlacino
these instrumentalities, SO essential -
the public welfare, at the hazard ~
SUCH an experiment based solely upon
such conjecture.
Farmers Especially Need Lower Rat..
It Is evident. however, that existino
transportation charges bear in MAN.
cases disprOpOrti0nate RELATIONSHIPS r.
the prices at which commodities oar
be sold in the market and that nviot
Ing labor and other costs of transnor.
tati0n thus imposed upon industru
and agriculture generally a burden
greater than they should bear. This
is especially true of agriculture. The
railroad homogeneous are FEELING cor
sitive to and sympathetic with the dis
tresslng situation and desire to do
everything to assist in relieving II tb.+
is compatible with their duty II FIR.
nish the transportation which the nh
lie must have
At the moment railroads. in n,arr
cases ARE paying 40 cents an honr for
unskilled labor. when similar labor :.
working alongside the railroads ana
can easily be obtained by them at on
cents an hour. The railroads ~ ~
country paid, in 1896, total 81 CO...
siderably over 81, 800, 900 900 to unsr;,,
ca labor alone. However desirable Il
may be to pay this or that schedule ~
wages, 1t is obvious that it cannot he
paid out of railroad earnings nnloss
the industries which use the railroads
are capable of meeting such charvas
The railroads and through .th@,.ss -
the people generally are also ham,
pered in their efforts to econon1i1 aa -,
9 schedule Of working rules and ca ~
ditions now in force as a heritage fro,,,
the period OF federal control and u IA,
held by the railroad labor board III ~ ~.
conditions are expensive, uneconom ic
and unnecessary from the point 81 viaw
q rallT0ad operation and extremeIwv
burdensome upon the public whSnh
pays the BIZ. This schedule Of Wae ,cn
and OF working conditions rro vo,,x AZ ~ ~
railroads from dealing eduifahiv 2 w dhIS
Their labor costs in accordance viii
rapidly CLEANSING conditions and the IL
which ought TO control wages IS & '4 99e
ferent parts Of the country. The r 1ii-
roads are seeking to have theae v, IL
and working conditions abrogafed uls7s
the railroads will seek red,,c,,
y III. W4kes Low proposed By first reauest.
board. The railroads win proceeda .9or
AZ az po s, ,o1spatch, and as soon ~ a
en 1fs assent to the r. IA s z s s ~
the general reducti s. IS q So g ~ S..
nl1f ~ ~ - as