, 1923-09-23

which we have to In a greater de-
| gree meet alone. Tho first Is the
tax question. something that has
been touched on here today. which
has been a very serious question
with tho railroads; and they have
Increased upon the Union Pacific
railroad since 1918 considerably
over 100 per cent. And when one
remembers hal the taxes paid by
this single railroad aggregate over
S56,250 a day, you realize what st
means.
"rhe other Is that railroad en-
penses are as high as they have
evor been: hat the cost of coal is
more than II has ever been; that tho
tie which we would buy for so cents
when we went into this war now
costs us $3.50. and we use 5000, 900
Of them every year; that the steel
rail costs no about 60 per cent mora
than It did in pre-war times; and
that al the other things which we
use have that relationship. with tho
single exception OF fuel oil. which
only n few railroads use.
Expenses in these circumstances
can only be reduced by the intro.
ductlon OF economies other than on
materials and labor; through pur.
chases of larger locomotives and
larger cars. and in improvements
which reduce grades and give better
facilities for handling business ex.
peditiousiy. The reductions which
have been made In the rates on i've
stock n grain, and upon oil COM.
modities, have very greatly in
creased In the last eighteen months.
But no railroad man would be can
did, nor would he be fair with him.
self. II he let anyone think that
there are material reductions pos
siblo until these expenses can be
gotten into limo.
All that we want IN the railroad
business is a fair deal. During the
war there wal n good story came
into Washington. and I am going 10
close with that story. There was n
darkey and his wife down at
Savannah, and they were we'll
known, and they fought a great
deal. and about half OF the time
Mandy licked Eph, and the other
half Of the time Eph licked Mandy.
Eph was drafted ana sent overseas,
and after he got over to France he
wrote a letter to Mandy. and he
snidi Dear Mandy; They shoot
stuff in your arm over here that is
calculated to make a negro fight a
cannlbal. I am chuck full OF It,
and when I come home, II YOU
haven't been behaving yourself. I
am going to treat you rough And
Mandy wns a little worried over
that letter. and she went to m at.
torney and she showed him the lot.
ter. and since he knew both of the
parties, and he said: We'll Mandy,
what do you var TO dor And she
said; There is n of two things
got to be done. Either I got 20 have
a divorce from that Niger, or some
of that juice
Personally I only wish that OF
the 10000 employees of tho Union
Pacific all Of them could be stock.
holders. Where they are making
efforts TO have their men become
interested in their proposition thoy
seem to be making n great success
1t is certainly plain to each and
every one that the transportation
system has vustly improved over a
year ago. We notice this, because
passenger trains arc on time, and
because We receive our stock cars
on the dates that we expect them:
and furthermore all tho railroad
employees. from bralSemen on up.
cndeavor to treat customers with
courtesy and consideration. I think
that Is one OF the big factors In any
business. to get shat real spirit of
service, from the highest to the
lowest"