The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-04-12
RATES NOT CAUSE
( Business Depression a Matter of
Supply and Demand.
$50 Explains F. Il. HOughtOn,
Traffic Manager, A. 7. 6 s. F.
EUROPE IS NOT BUYING
no Market for Surplus of Nearly
All Commodities.
Harding'S Recommendations
Discussed by Official.

High freight rates are not the pri-
mary cause of the business depression
today" F. B. Houghton, of Chicago,
freight traffic manager for the Santa
Fe, declared in Topeka today in dis
cussfng the statement to Congress by
President Harding, that freight rates
and railroad wages must be reduced.
IT can see how the two reductions
would move hand in hand to a GER
tain extent" Houghton said. But it
is a reaction and the reassertion of
the law of supply and demand which
is behind the business depression
The law of supply and demand hasn I
been with us for a while. 1t is back
again now. The real trouble with
business is that there is a surplus of
every commodity that you can name
in the United States today and there
is no chance of export on account OF
the condition of European cred1ts-
Houghton expressed the opinion
that some scheme of financing the
foreign customers of American pro-
duce would go farther toward adjust
ing the economic situation than a re-
duction in freight rates.
Europe Not Buying.
He referred particularly to the ex-
port of copper and metallic ores. If
you were to haul them to the seaboard
for nothing, they could not be sold.
Europe is buying only those things
which it absolutely must have to live
he said.
Cotton was discussed.
I'VE raised our rates on cotton to
the seaboard some fifteen cents, when
the crops in Oklahoma and Texas were
Il total loss. and growers had aban-
doned their fields. That looked like
dealing a death blow to the industry.
But at the same time, the ocean rates
on cotton from Galveston and New
Orleans to Bremen, Manchester. or
liverpool. had been, reduced some
three times what the increase which
NE put into effect, amounted to. 1t
didn't help the cotton market any
though it cost far less to get cotton to
the world market today than it did a
year ago.
Wouldn't Stimulate Business.
''I do not believe that a reduction in
freight rates would stimulate business
TO any appreciate extent" Houghton
said. THE stimulus has got to come
from some other source. We were
told for two or three years that we
must increase production, and we did
Now there is surplus, and whenever
there is a surplus. you must naturally
expect a business depression"
When asked if the railroads would
follow President Harding's suggestion
and reduce their rates, Houghton said
that lit would be hard to say, spe-
officially. But you may be assured of
one thinS-the roads will do anything
in the world to get out of the present
depression and tangle. The roads are
harder hit than other industries be-
cause during the early war period.
when other businesses were storing
up huge profits, the railroads We're
held down. The railroads did not
profiteer, and when the depression
came down on them later, they were
not as well prepared to meet as were
some of the other industries"
Mr., Houghton is here to attend the
dinner tonight for w. X. Etter. assist
ant general manager for the Santa Fe,