The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1921-11-16
RATE OF RETURN EARNED BY RAIL
ROADS Of THE UNITED STATES
ON THEIR PROPERTY IN.
VESIMENT

'''''''.' .............. 4.S4 co
1913 515G
~, .o1I ......... ................. ALTO
.'Io $3.50. ................ 420Go
i01o Nlscai YEAR, $780,
1910 calendar YEAR, G.16eo
, ,o11 ''................. 1868
ioIo '....... ................ $3.50
1919 o1cG
'0-0 '''''''......... O.32To
II Will thus be noted that during the
years when other industries were max
| hs very large profits, when the prices
il iafm products and the wages Of la.
Jof were soaring to unheard of heights,
ne earnings upon railroad Investment
Il the United States were held within
very narrow limits and that they have
luflng the past four years progress
sively declined.
Roads Handicapped More Thnn Other
Business
z. The railroads are responsible To
The public for providing adequate
transportation. Their charges are lin.
ted by public authority, and they are
II very large respects (nOtably for la
'of! compelled to spend money on q
BASIS liked by public authority. The
margin Within which they are permit
-eu TO earn return upon their invest
nent or to offer inducements to attract
new capital for extensions and better.
nents is extremely limited. However
nuch the railroads might desire, there
ore, TO reduce their charges in times
d depression, it will be perceived that
ne limitations surrounding their action
10 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 railroads
mat a reduction in rates will stimu.
late traffic and that increased traffic
VIII protect the carriers from the loss
incident to reduction in rates. The
railroad homogeneous cannot disguise
from themselves that this suggestion
is merely cOnjectural and that an adj
verse result of the experiment would
De disastrous not only to the railroads,
Out 70 the public, whose supreme need
Is adequate transportation.
Consequently the railroad manage.
ments cannot feel justified in placing
these 1nstrumentalities, so essential to
the public welfare, at the hazard of
such an experiment based solely upon |
such a conjecture.
Farmers Especially Need Lower Rate.
1t is evident, however, that existing
charges bear in many |
cases a disproportionate relationship |
to the prices at which commodities can |
De sold in the market and that existing |
labor and other costs of transportation
mus imposed upon industry and agri-
culture generally are burden greater
han they should bear. This Is especi.
Ally true of agriculture. The railroad |
are feeling sensitive to
md sympathetic with the distressing
and desire to do everything
o assist in relieving it that is compat-
bic with their duty to furnish the
which the public must
lave.
At the moment railroads in many
'ases are paying 10 cents an hour for
lnskilled labor when similar labor is
working alongside the railroads and
an easily be obtained by them at 20
'cnts an hour. The railroads Of the
country paid in 1920 a total of consid-
rably over 81 800 100000 to unsl;ilIed
abor alone. However desirable it may
'e to pay this or that schedule of
wages, it is obvious that it cannot be
'aid out of railroad earnings, unless
he industries which use the railroads
re capable of meeting such charges
The railroads. and through them the
e0ple generally, are also hampered in
heir efforts to economiZe by sched-
lie Of working rules and conditions
ow in force as a heritage from the ;
eriod CT federal control and upheld
V the railrnad labor hoard. These !
onditionS are expensive. uneconom.c
nd unnecessary from the point of l
lew of railroad operation and extreme i.
burdcnsome upon the public which
avs the bill. This schedule of wages &
nd of working cond tons prevents the
lilroadS from dealing equtably with
leir labor costs in accordance with
lpidly changing conditions and the l.
reat variety of local considerations
hich ought 10 control wages in dis-
rent parts of the country. The raj. r
'ads are seeking TO have these rules
Id working conditions abrogated. Z
The railroads will seek a reduction
wages now proposed by first re \
resting the sanction of the railroad
Dor board. The railroads will pro-
ed with all possible dispatch, and as
on rs the railroad labor board shall
we given its assent to the reduction
wages the general reduction in rates
II be put into effect