Gunnison news-champion., 1922-02-10
FARM CONGRESS
At MONTROSE
LAST WEEK

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na.a-,. r..e., a-r.g rho war settIet
tn uls-rlur. have 'aa,1 'g 20 deeply
enough IaL. u t,..rrwrrt manage
mont 81. ..ar t.r.. sos not esp,ctrG 20
b, rr1urlh.a and could go, possibly b.
50 Tn railroad men a- a. class believe
iu E...rHmrr, u"-ar-Alp hrcau-@ II
brr.grt So them many benefits. Thor
VIE point ... u' cuITz'. q prrgualccd
ou. bu. nevertheless cuti.ed 10 con.
EarTatID4.
IrrIr opinion of The prr-crr railroad
cus.-. H. Cal-s. and cure. aU -ct
form ia an able address given at the
Montrr-" conference" last week bI
D
spr.r, the Mputrp-' Enterprise AYE
"Urn 0f H.. urslaudIug f,u-ur,a
o. The Thursday Afternoon s's.lon Of
tie Farm Norgrr-. ua. ,., aidrr-a ~
Carl H. ThUmp.or. uf Chicago. repre-
acntug thr Railroad Brotherhood.
who handed tho railroad question
wlth.u, g'D,u. frum tt, -tandpYln, uf
jhr railroad labor. H. pointed out
hs, Was FOR reducing freight rates
which n" considered mon. Iu-' than
tha' r. reducing the wage uf the rail-
roah u~u. Ih.J ",r" pointed out a.
fuIlo~s.
"F.r.t TIA, the railroads repair
their p~r rar- instead Of letting il out
10 prsa'. shops At three or four
ttmca III" prlc".
"Secuml Instead of debating the
railroad labor and tho farmer. do
p~ohrr"r. a.. .ad II would do some
N.lir un toe. .Ed coal and the other
Of thee prunl."r, good 10 BE- debated.
"Ihrd Iha, the railroad com
panic Stabilize their purchases, Do.
stead u .t,'" at time nj greater
cost
Fourth. Eclur" III" cost Of ir,cn.
sI.c -ur"r 0oH, giving as an "NawPI"
The puuuE uf having AN auditor and
coudurlnr ON the same trains. He
SAID '-. h-t fJurd that u no" took
ll5 - l-ur. ln DO - work formerly
done by II
FIFTH We urge that the capital
account Of the railroads be reduced
claiming that the present valuation Of
$lSyDO. 900 900 Is entirely too high.
He then gave many example, Of how
the capital accounts arr padded on an
lucrra I'D basis for demand for earn
ilgs. OF this amount he claimed
that there I- ~ least eight billion dol
lars Of this amount which had no
tangible basis
IN beginning his address. Mr
Thompson said the first thing had to do
with freight rates, into which many
elements enter. H." said that wo must
have reduced freight rates. The
higher the freight rates, tn" greater
the cost of living and the less the re-
turns 10 the wage Gamers. As ar
example he referred 20 the fact that
4 few yrars ago 90 bushels Of corn
would pay for gang pillow. Today
IT takcs 3O2 bushels Of corn TO pay
Tor the same plow
He pointed out other ways in which
high rates affect the farmers.
il told Of seeing a placard on q steer
IN q parade Ir Missouri which read:
Cost Of producing this steer, $500;
present market price. $500.
"Nr Thompson told how the end
les circle of higher rates entails
higher cost of living and the necessity
OF higher wages and so on and so on
He told VI IN" railroad program Of
reducing wages on the promise TO re-
duce rates. The wages are reduced
but the reduction OF rates are not
forthcoming.
MIR. Thompson then proceeded in
the effort to show that wages are low
now and 20 point out a better way.
He also quoted figures 10 prove that
railroad wages are not as high as
people seemed to think. Before the
reduction last summer. the average
wage was S5iS. Since that reduction
the average wage is Si.3S. He also
contendcd that the cost of living has
not been going down as is claimed by
some. He gave figures to show that
at the time of raising wages the cost
of living increased to a greater ex-
tent than the wages. In other words.
the wages at their peak did not buy as
much food as the wages in the time
of low wages.
He said the proposed reduction in
wages would curtail the purchasing
power of these people to the extent
of more than $500, 900, 900. He closed
his address with a plea for public
ownership of railroads.