FARMER VITALLY CON
* CERNEDINjAILROADS
What the European War Means to
the American Farmer.
That every city of any size in the
country is full of thousands of idle
1 men at the present moment is a fact
* well known to every reader of news
papers—for hardly st day passes that
the press is not full of comment about
the hungry thousands who stand in the
“bread line” and patronize the free
“soup houses” in every large center of
population. Nor is this state of af
fairs due to the policy of any particu
lar political party, but rather the out
growth of conditions which have been
slowly but surely crystalizing for a
number of years. In the first place,
the Corn Belt—the great bread basket
of the Nation—has had a series of slim
crops in most sections, and this nat
urally has had a depressing effect
upon business conditions. Again, we
have been passing through a period of
industrial readjustment—of changing
from the loose methods which pre
vailed a dozen or so years ago over to
a policy of strict government control
of public service corporations and a
sharp inquiry into the conduct of all
other large corporations—and, in try
ing to stamp out the abuses of the past,
the pendulum has swung so far in the
other direction that so far as the rail
roads are concerned, at least, it
threatens to precipitate the most of
them which are not already in the
hands of ij^eivers upon the rocks of
That the depressed financial condi
tion of the railroads is largely respon
sible for the great army of unem
ployed was vividly demonstrated by a
prominent St. Louis newspapaer re
cently when it showed that nine
/ St. Louis manufacturing establish
ments which deal in railroad supplise
employed 14,673 men one year ago,
whereas now they employ only 4,503,
with a reduction in their pay rolls
amounting to $588,700 per month, or
over seven millioin dollars a year. If
the effect upon only nine enterprises
is as far reaching as this, what would
the figures show if they were available
for similar industries and the hundreds
of other enterprises affected in a
greater or less degreee throughout the
country ? Nearly all of these concerns
have on hand hundreds of thousands of
dollars’ worth of finished equipment
which was ordered by the railroads a
year or so ago, but which they have
not been able to pay for; in the mean
time, not being able to pay for goods
already ordered the railroads are not
placing any new contracts, and unless
they receive speedy assistance from a
Nation-wide standpoint the tendency
will be for labor conditions to grow
worse rather than better.
In last week’s article we referred to
the fact that the railroads are the
largest employers of labor in the
United States and that during the last
fiscal year they paid out over thirteen
hundred million dollars in wages to
the army of men and women who con
duct their business. We also referred
to the fact that they paid out almost
a thousand million dollars for steel,
coal, lumber and other supplies of
which they are the largest consumers
in the country, and therefore the chief
' support of the hundreds of thousands
employed in these great industries.
In view of these facts, is it not plain
to earn a reasonable income if the
millions of American laboring men are
to be kept proflitably employed ?
Does not any man know that if the
thousands who are this moment hunt
ing for work in Chicago, St. Louis,
New York, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and
other large cities were profitably em
ployed that it would mean a higher
price for what the farmer has to sell
and that it would be reflected in the
receipts of every merchant and the
output of every factory in the Nation?
In view of such a serious state of
things it must be clear to
any thinking man that it is of tre- .
mendous importance to the whole
country that the railroads be permitted
to increase rates and readjust their
affairs. Can the average farmer or
business man afford to oppose the
small increase in rates which is nec
essary to once more put the railroads
upon a sound basis ? Is not the
amount of passenger fare or freight
which the average farmer or other cit
izen pays out during the year a mere
bagatelle when measured against the
lucrative employment and the buying
power of the miliions of American la
boring men ?
ANOTHER SERIOUS PHASE.
Important as is the employment of
labor, there is another very serious
phase of this problem which calls for
profound thought at the hands of all
thinking citizens, and especially the
farmer. In last week’s article we cited
the fact that in their desperate efforts
to make both ends meet, many rail
roads are “burning the candle at both
ends”—that in order to bolster up
their securities and keep dut of the
hands of receivers the rolling stock
and roadbeds of many lines have been
deterioating rapidly for a number of
years and hence are in no position to
handle a big season’s tonnage, should
the strain of a heavy crop year sud
denly descend upon them. That the
great foreign war will produce the
highest prices ever known for the
foodstuffs produced by the farmer is
admitted on all hands, and if there
ever was a time when he will need ade
quate and efficient shipping facilities
it will be during the next two or three
years—and yet we are actually facing
perhaps the most prosperous period
the American farmer has ever known
with many American railroads in a di
lapidated physical condition. No sooner
had the great European war burst
upon the world than Congress realized
that our merchant marine was utterly
weak and inefficient. Steps were at
once taken to make the best of the sit
uation and to repair as speedily as
possible our neglected shipping facili
ties upon the high seas—and that the
handicap has already cost the Ameri
can people million of dollars during
the last few months is so patent that
it requires no extended comment. It is '
one thing to have markets in all parts i
of the world which have heretofore i
been supplied by the great warring na- 1
tions begging for American goods and i
foodstuffs—but it is quite another i
thing to have American ships in which 1
to deliver these cargoes. ]
Will we now add to the neglect of 1
an adequate merchant marine the fur- 1
ther folly of permitting our railroads i
to get into such a weakened physical ]
condition that they will break down 1
under the strain of delivering the pro- |
ducts of the farmer and the manufac- 1
turer at our ocean ports and thus j
largely waste the great opportunity for (
profit which the foreign war will un
questionably bring to us? This is a
phase of the present situation which
commands the serious thought of every
farmer in Nebraska and the Corn Belt
generally—for here is where the lion’s ]
share of the nation’s foodstuffs are
produced and here is where farmers 1
cannot afford to be hampered by inade
quate transportation facilities if they I
are to make the most of favorable
market opportunities. (
There is not a single manager of a
Central or Western railroad who will J
not admit that the present supply of
first-class freight locomotives and box I
cars could not successfully meet the
requirements of several bountiful crop
pears—and yet they haven’t the funds
with which to supply this equipment
and thus be prepared for the emer- J
?ency when it comes—as it undoubt
edly will.
FARMERS WILL PROFIT.
In this connection, it is opportune
;o say that the American farmer is cer- I
;ain to reap a larger profit from the
chaotic conditions which exist in
Europe than any other class of trades
men or citizen. So far as our manu- J
Facturers are concerned, while new I
markets are undoubtedly beckoning to
;he United States, yet on the other i
land, for several years to come, the
splendid trade which we enjoyed in j
Germany, England, France, Austria
ind Russia on our manufactured prod- j
lets is certain to remain demoralized
—and thus we will be fortunate if we /
lo not lose more than we can hope to
?ain in new fields, with whose needs j
we are not yet familiar, and to which
t is certain to require some years to j
idjust ourselves.
It is the American farmer, however, j
who has no complications ahead of _
lim, and whose flour, pork, beef, mut
ton and other foodstuffs must be de
pended upon to make up the shortage
which is already looming big in the
listance because the harvest fields of
the most fertile sections of Europe p
have been converted into shambles s
For the contending armies. Exports of ^
oreadstuffs from the United States in j
November were valued at $40,250,000, ^
or almost four times as much as in ^
November of last year, while meat and q
lattle exports amounted to nearly $14,- j
000,000, or a gain of over 20 per cent j
over last year, and this despite our j.
miserable shipping facilities on the c
high seas. v
In the light of these facts, was there d
ever a time when the farmers of Ne- g
braska and other Corn Belt states can ^
view the future with as much assur- £
ance, or when they can so well afford
to treat fairly every other great in
dustry in the nation as now?
Putting it in the terms of sound busi- 1
ness policy, was there ever a time ]
when they should do their part to the r{
ertd that American labor may be profit- (
ably employed in all the great chan- t
nels of industry, and that our trans- (
portation systems may be kept up to a '
high point of efficiency, so that it may )
adequately discharge the heavy ship- ]
ping burdens which will undoubtedly |
descend upon it in the not distant
future ?
MORE RAILROADS NEEDED. \
Nn other single agency in the Nation ■
has had more to do with the advance- ,
ment of land values than have the
railroads, and as evidence of this fact, •
the proximity of a farm to the market ,
almost invaribly fixes its selling
value. Nebraska and every other Cen- ;
tral or Western state is still in dire ;
need of hundreds of miles of addi- i
tional railroad mileage, and these new
lines will not be built until American
railroad securities are re-established
as a paying investment—and this, on
the basis of present railroad earnings,
is out of the question. Nearly all our
present lines were built years ago,
when railroad investments were looked
upon with favor at home and abroad,
and hence, if there is a class of citi
zens in the land who should be vitally
interested in rescuing the railroads
from the pitiable plight in which they
find themselves at the present moment
it is the farmer. As a matter of fact,
were it not so tremendously far-reach
ing in its effect, the controversy over a
slight increase in railroad rates in any
<reat agricultural state would largely
resemble a tempest in a tea pot—a
matter which should be settled in the
arief space of time required to apply
;he remedy. When a private industry,
?reat or small, advances the price of
ts commodities we take it as a matter
>f course and say nothing about it—
md in the past we have opposed a
square deal for the railroads largely
because the people did not understand
heir importance to the nation, be
:ause they were angered at occasional
ibuses which strict governmental reg
ilation has forever eliminated and be
ause for some years designing politi
:al opportunists have found abuse of
he railroads an easy road to public
preferment. That public sentiment,
lowever, is changing rapidly and that
ve will soon reach a sane understand
ng between the people and the rail
oads, which are so vitally essential to
he agricltural and commercial pro
cess of every community in the na
ion, is becoming more and more ap
parent every day. (Paid adv. To be
ontinued.)
Supervisors’ Proceedings.
(Continued from last week.)
[ettle, Henry .
...'.from 2-1-90 to 7-1-90 234.02
'wohill, Michael .
...from 3-25-90 to 6-8-90 31.72
Idgerton, Emma.
_form 3-1-90 to 4-6-90 15.43
fleason, Dolla .
_from 3-4-90 to 8-1-90 63.87
udd, Philip.
. .from 7-13-90 to 10-28-90 45.43
aker, Winnifred .
...from 9-25-90 to 7-8-91 44.58
Total.. $2,289.19
Hastings Hospital.
udd, Philip.
..from 10-29-90 to 7-3-91 118.29
Total. $118.29
Totals. $3,587.01
ec. 31, 1899, interest. $ .52
Grand Total. $3,587.53
Credits.
eb. 15, 1892 . $ 169.10
ec. 21, 1888, by Treasurer
receipt No. 14210. .27
ec. 29, 1888, by Treasurer
receipt No. 14253. .65
eb. 10, 1900, by Treasurer
receipt No. 14904. .13
eb. 14, 1900, by Treasurer
receipt No. 15094. .94
pril 7, 1900, by Treasurer
receipt No. 15671. .83
une 8, 1900, by Treasurer
receipt No. 16330. .22
ec. 12, 1900, byTreasurer
receipt No. 17877. .17
iov. 23, 1905, by Treasurer
. receipt No. 44036 .29
Total.$ 172.60
Amount due. $3,415.93
Mr. Chairman: Your committe ap
ointed to check over the statement
;nt to this board in regard to the
laintenance of insane patients from
[olt county, find that the records in
le office of the Clerk of the District
ourt show that all patients except
ne Wm. H. Wilbert, said patient
eing a Brown county charge from
•ecember 7, 1885, to March 18, ’87,
lerefore the amount charged to this
ounty for the said Wm. H. Wilbert,
rhich is $202.74. This should be de
ucted from the amount as shown in
aid statement from the state auditor
rhich is $3,414.93 which should be
fter deducting $202.74 be $3,212.19.
Respectfully submtted,
M. P. Sulivan.
January 12, 1914. Hon. M. P. Sul
ivan, O’Neill, Nebraska. Dear Sir:
teferring to yours of January
th, in reference to insane ac
ount of Holt county, will say that
he patient Wm. H. Wilbert was first
ommitted from Holt county on June
, 1882. Commitment papers signed
,y Sanford Parker, Clerk, F. M. Ben
ter, exemining physician. She was
irought to the asylum by Barnabus
Velton, sheriff of Holt county.
Holt county paid for the care of
his patient up until Brown county
vas organized and the charges on
mr statement for this patient is from
December 1, 1885, to March 18, 1887,
ind it would appear that this entire
harge of $202.74 during this time
vould be a proper charge against
Drown county instead of Holt county
ind it will suit this office if you de
luct the $202.74 from the itemized
statement mailed you, for the reason
that same should have been rightfully
charged to Brown county.
In regard to patient Winnifred Ba
ker, I beg to advise that our statement
was not entirely clear. From the
statement charge appears to cover
from September 25, 1890, to July 31,
1891, which latter date was corrected
by my letter of January 9th to Jan
uary 6, 1891. This patient was away
from Norfolk during this period and
the charge for her covering the fol
lowing dates.
From 9-25 to 11-30-90.$28.72
From 12-1-90 to 1-6-91.$16.86
The records seem to show that she
left the asylum on January 6th al
though she was not offically dscharged
until May 1, 1891, and charges are
made only until January 6th.
We believe the Winnifred Baker to
be correct, and are enclosing herewith
letter from Dr. Guttery in regard to
hre.
We hope to receive notice of favor
able action on this claim, less $202.74,
and hope same may be taken tway to
morrow.
Very respectfully,
W. B. Howard, Auditor.
By W. L. Minor, Deputy.
Mr. Chairman: I move that this
board may make the necesssary levies
in the year 1915, to pay off the amount
due the state from Holt county for the ,
care and maintainance of Insane pa
tients from December 1, 1885, to July
31, 1891, amounting in all to $3,212.19. 1
M. P. Sullivan.
C. A. Fauquier.
Motion carried. *
Upon motion the board continued ^
auditing claims against Holt county. *
Upon motion the following cdaims *
were allowed against the general fund: 1
R. L. Arbuthnot.$ 19.50 *
R. L. Arbuthnot. 12.15 !
R. L. Arbuthnot. 12.00 1
R. O. Anderson. 4.50
The Atkinson Graphic. 32.40 1
Chas. Brown. .*. 7.60 1
H. J. Benjamin. 4.00 '
James A, Butler. 4.50 1
W. B. Baxter.. 15.80 1
E. J. Gild. 22.26 1
W. H. Griggs. 47.50 <
Lee Baker. 131.50 1
Lee Baker. 19.50 J
D. E. Beck. 4.00 J
W. B. Cooper. 10.30 r
Chambers Bugle. 1.65 "■
P. J. Conley. 14.00 1
Frank Campbell. 7.00 1
D. H. Cherry. 7.50 1
Charlie Clauson. 10.00
Geo. Crawford. 4.00 '
Chas. Crosser. 4.00 (
J .
The First Time at Popular Prices—the Play Dear to Millions
[ “The Everlasting Success” v Not a Moving Picture
I
Porn Coyne. 200.00
i. A. Conrad. 4.00
rames Carman. 25.55
Imos Davis. 12.00
Jeo. W. Davies. 7.50
)r. W. J. Douglas. 25.00
ames Davidson. 16.05
!. F. McNichols. 1,000.00
lert Fried. 7.70
3. M. Fowler. 7.00
!. F. Famer. 4.00
1. G. Garnick. 12.00
\ H. Griffith. 4.35
4. Gill. 18.85
4ort Gill. 18.80
!. W. Green. 4.60
t. A. Greenslit. 4.00
^rank Howard. 38.50
''rank Howard. 16.45
Jeo. M. Henry. 1.00
I. C. Henning. 2.00
. W. Holcomb. 4.00
. V. Johnsoin. 18.60
'heo. Kubart. 113.32
'heo. Kubart. 4.00
Vm. Kidd.. 14.00
’. J. Keyes. 3.00
imma Kunz. 5.00
ohn Leinhart. 5.56
V. K. Hodgknsi. 20.22
ieo. A. Miles. 467.10
T. F. Mathews. 6.00
A. W. Miller. 5.00
Mable Meredith. 45.00
James O’Donnell. 2.00
Ralph Pinkerman. 8.00
H. L. Page. 4.00
Nebr. Tel. Co.. 41.66
Trussell & Binders. 4.80
E. L. Twiss. 7.00
H. F. Rakow. 16.00
H. F. Rakow. 4.00
James Root. 1 11.40
Brook & Richards. 28.85
L. W. Roberst. 95.<j)0
William Stearns. 22.60
A. A. Santo. 4.00
Frank Solyemoser. 3.90
H. D. Snyder. 10.00
Fred Snyder. 4.00
Cchool Dist. No. 211.... 3.00
Th. D. Sievers. 42.10
D. M. Stuart. 36.75
J. C. McDonald. 7.00
Chas. Vequst.. . . i. 7.00
Frank Porter. 5.00
I. O. O. F. Lodge, Inman. 12.00
Lewis Stubenr. 10.00
Chas. Bigler. 11.70
Dan O’Sullivan. 3.00
J. F. Donero. 9.00
Joe Bigler. 15.00
H V'-f
a
[public sale]
m As I am leaving the county, I will offer at public sale m
1 on the John D. Kelly farm 2 miles north and one and ■
m one-half miles east of O’Neill, the following property, B
H commencing at 10 o’clock a.m„ on FI
|1 Tuesday, January 12th f
62 HEAD OF CATTLE j||j
Twenty-two good mileh cows, 3 fresh now and balance fresh in spring; b ||||
2-year-old heifers; 6 yearling steers and 5 yearling heifers; 20 spring calves;
3 fall calves. ||||
17 HORSES AND MULES
One team of bay mares, 10 and 11 years old, both in foal, weight 2,600; |||l
1 black team, gelding and mare, 8 and 9 years old, weight 2,300; 1 bay team, ||||
gelding and mare, both 6 years old, weight 2,500; 1 3-year-ol(f mule, weight ; j
1,100, well broke; 1 black mule coming 2 years old; 1 buckskin spring mule; 1
1 bay spring mare colt; 2 geldings coming 4 years old, weight 2,300; 1 gelding
coming 3 year old, weight 1,100; 1 bay geldmg, 5 years old, weight 1,300; 1
bay mare coming 2 years old; 1 bay mare coming 1 year old; 1 black mule com
ing 1 year old. __ III
I j .. ~...~ . FARM MACHINERY, ETC.
One 8-foot McCormick binder; 2 6-foot cut mowers; 1 McCormick stacker;
llll 2 sweeps; 1 Moline riding cultivator; 2 double-row cultivators; 2 riding lis
|| ters; 2 walking plows; 1 Moline gang plow; 1 3-section harrow; 1 disc drill, 1
i broadcast seeder; 1 disc harrow; 1 grinder; 1 grindstone; 1 fencing machine;
1 fanning mill; 1 steel truck wagon with hay rack; 1 farm wagon; 1 top b
m uggy; 2 sets of work harness; 1 goodsaddle; 800 bushels of corn in crib; 1 st ^
W ack of corn fodder; 7 stacks of No. lhay; 1 kitchen range, nearly new; 1 2-h f f
w J ole burner oil stove; 1 kitchen cabinet;1 wardrobe; 2 heaters; dresser, and nu W1
U merous other household articles. % 15
A PLENTY OF FREE LUNCH SERVED AT NOON I
A TERMS:—One year’s time on all sums of $10.00 and over with 10 per cent
W interest and approved security. Sums under $10.00, cash. All property to be M
A settled for before removal from the premises. A
| JOHN GENNETTEN, Owner |
