Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1922-02-01
OBS E r v A I'll ON.S
(Byzthe Cornfield Philosopher)

s+E} tE $50
(By the Cornfield Philosopher
why Favor Government Ownership
d III The consideration have given to
B farmers problems during the last half
century early led me to conclude that
/. the biggest and most important Of all
questions affecting the prosperity Of
the tillers Of the soil. was the cost Of
distribution or Of transporting farm
products from the point OF production
Il to the ultimate consumer wherever
Il he may be. + discovered that this was
/ largely done by the railroads. I had
y no difficulty In determining that the
farmer paid the freight and the high
er the rate the more he; had to ,pay.}I}.
It is obvious that the more freight
the farmer has to pay no matter what
his crops sell for, the less he will have
g left In return for his labors,g :i>4g .c&z<
Notwithstanding all the politicians,
nearly all the newspapers and about
everybody else told the farmer that he
was getting market price" for his
. products, yet instinctively knew that
he was receiving just about what the
4 big middlemen chose to allow him for
his hard labor
One Of the hardest jobs we ever had
on our hands was to teach the farmer
that he was little more than the hired
hand of big middlemen largely because
they owned or controlled the only
7 means he had to get the bulk of his
products to market-that is to the
final customer, .,... .-, -. >,.,..tz-5.. ;.
The railroads performed a neces-
sary service and it was natural that
they should charge for that service all
''the traffic would bear" that is, all
the shipper could afford to pay. Let
us take !. two commodities. hay and
butter. T.. .,.. ''s' -" ',''s
Now it is obvious that the actual
cost Of. transporting a carload Of hay
is. about the same as hauling the same
quantity OF butter, but the latter would
stand q much heavier transportation
tax" and accordingly it. was. slapped
on. The rate on butter has often been
double and sometimes treble the rate
greater and for the simple reason that
a carload OF butter was worth much
more than an equal quantity of hay.
Generally speaking the transporta-
ton company would be entitled to the
actual cost of the service plus rea-
sonable profit ON the money actually
and necessarily invested in the bust
ness.
But on their actual operation the
railway owners and managers de-
manded not only. enormous Salaries
for themselves and their friends as
part OF the cost Of operation, often
greater than even the President 6 Of
these United States receives, but they
insisted on capitalizing first all their
gifts and donations but their earnings
and finally their Watefed stock 50
that a. constantly increasing freight
and passenger rate must be adopted
which in the end under private ow:
nership would absorb every dollar OF
surplus wealth produced in this cotun-
try, But they have gone; beyond this:
Taking advantage, of a truculent and
subservient Congress the railway
magnates have asked and received
a guarantee. How would you like to
buy railroad stocks or bonds worth in
the market six cents on the dollar and
suddenly find them worth "by Act Of
Congress" at least one hundred cents
on the dollar? Would not that be
making money" faster than it could
be dug out of the soil.
Well that is practically what Con.
gress did by the passage of the in.
famous, yes, doubly Infamous, Cum.
mins-Esch Act. 49,,
You. my gentle reader, may like to
have your hard earned dollars legis
lated, out of your pockets into the
Golfers of an army Of SPECTATORS in
railroad securities, but ! don't. I am
opposed to such proceedings and that
,issWhy favor, such action as will rem
der such "a ,. thing. impossible in the
future. To be "held up by bandits is
surely bad enough, but to be "held
up by a Congress elected by the PEG
ple,* for the benefit Of the ..'other Eel
low" is infinitely worse. ~ Nv
3> Unless the voters OF this countr,
repudiate the sponsors Of the Cum
mins-Esch Act at the polls next Fall
!; agriculture in America is doomed: 1
can never be made paying business
under existing freight rates.
In future articles I will give othe
reasons why. Uncle Sam should go in
to the transportation business ant
answer some of the objections tina
may be raised against the assuming
of this function Of the government.
~ .-$s ~ 49, ------------ y,/ =
& / NORWAY. LAKE NEWS
Mr.. and Mrs. Norman Strand yer,