The Washington times., 1921-10-24

enough. ..~ -.-.
Z Suppose you dragged your feet up
to Capitol Hill and talked with a lot
OF Congressmen and Senators about
the feelings OF the folks at home.
What would be your conclusion about
the most interesting political topic in
the country7
Would II be .taxatjony II would not.
The report would be that the home
folks are dissusted at the inability Of
.Messrs. Lodge and Mondell and their
valiant cohorts to get together and do
something clear about taxation. but
that when Farmer A and Grocer B
get out their pencils and figure just
what any reduction in taxation means
to them their excitement is limited.
Net Cost Of Armament.
Would It be limitation OF armament
Undoubtedly Farmer A and Grocer b
want to lessen the cost OF armament,
and lessen the unrest and fear OF the
world, but their ideas are vague and
they do not discuss II excitediy at the
corner store.
The topic of the websterian orations
at the corner store and around the
lamp at night is freight rates. High
freight rates hit the farmer. They hit
ONCi % lHty ulI every
body whose business success depends
on orders from anywhere outside of
his own county. II you get to the real
people you will find that in the field of
public affairs freight rates come first.
Now the bottom Of the railroad situa.
ton is this: The roads, as they are
managed, cannot be run on rates that
win satisfy the public. Their expenses
are too high. For many Of these high
expenses they, have themselves to
blame.
' In many of their large decisions they
have shown as little sense as they
showed when they demanded that the
Government turn back the roads to
public ownership at a most propitious
moment.
The Long.Haul idea.
1t says In the Bible that children
pay for the sins of the fathers. In
railroad management. the present
pays for the errors Of the past. and
there is no escaping the bill.
Take the long-haul idea. The his.
tory of that idea Is more important
than the private life Of Jack Dempsey
or Mary 'Pickford. 1t has played a
large role in bringing about the pres
ent predicament of the roads.
The railroads do not like competi.
ton. Even. before the Panama Canal
was built, they tried to kill off what
water competition there was. Nor.
mally certain kinds Of freight could go
all the way around the Cape of Good
Hope from New York to San Fran
cisco, cheaper than the railroad car.
ried them. ,S t-
so the roads made special rates
across the continent to meet and kill
this competition.> They charged a low
enough rate from New York to Seattle.
let$sus say. to get !. the traffic. All
right. but what about Spokane? Spo-
kanesfs nearer to New York than Seat
tie h: Therefore the rate would be
: Not at all. Spokane must make I'D
to- the roads what IL cost them to pay
water rates to Seattle. SO the rate
from New York to Spokane was a sum
IN addition. 1t was the rate from New
York to Seattle plus the rate from
Seattle to Spokane ~ @
3 SO TAR all the region lying between
the Sierra, Nevada mountains and the
Rockies. In all this inter-mountain
region these artificial rates were main
tanned. sr' 4
7 A similar principle was, applied as
between other important points.
Wherever some town, got a special ad.
In the manufacture Of some
product the rates were fixed SO as to
give an advantage to that town over
smaller, producers. .- ~, -
; That was all sweet until a situation
developed where the very situation
created by the roads became their
They had arranged to force
% much freight - possible--to force
HE country TO produce in limited big
eenters and then distribute from those
centers~ all over 'the country. But
when conditions changed and the roads
sould not handle this artificial bust
ness at possible rates. what then?
The answer will be found In the Sec
,nd reel, which will produce tomor-
row. In the course Of this tale II win
be shown that by their own follies
,oads have made themselves Incapable
,f filling their function. against the
of Water and - u.o,to.