Deposits in this bank have the additional security of the De
positors Guarantee Fund of the State of Nebraska.
ONE OF OUR GREAT
WRITERS
says: “The difference between a^ great man
and an ordinary one may not lie so much in
the size and quality of the brain, but in the
way it is used—whether to full capacity or
only in part.”
Just the same with our bank account
plan. The more intelligent the use you make
of it and the opportunities it brings you the
larger will be your accumulation.
Loup City State Bank
Loup City, Nebraska.
We pay 5 percent interest on time deposits
KEYSTONE LUMBER CO.
Get the best fence anchor from
The Keystone Lumber Co., for 5
cents.
Yards at Loup City, Ashton. Rockville, Sehaupps and Arcadia
When in
Need of
i COAL
or first-class
LumlDer
of all dimensions,
We also have a car of Coke.
We also have a good line of Fence posts, range*
ing in price from ten to fifty cents.
Phone Red 29 and you will receive prompt attention
LEIN1NGER LUMBER COMPANY
Get AH the Facts About
THE
Panama Expositions
You need not spend a fortune to visit California and
its Expositions in 1915. Anyone in moderate circum
stances can go—and it’s a wise investment in pleasure
and education.
Simply sign and mail coupon below, or if you prefer
drop a postal asking for Book Number 108 and you will
receive free a profusely illustrated 04 page booklet con
taining valuable information about hotel and restaurant
rates, Exposition admission fees, railroad and pullman
fares. Out lines how to vary your trip by going over one
line and returning over another thereby gaining a more
comprehensive idea of the great west; describes many free
side trips en route as well as stopover points of particular
interest: tells how to see both Expositions and practically
the whole state of California for a single Exposition fare:
in fact it is a guide book giving just the information you
require to form complete plans for your Western tour and
«t a vast saving in cost. You know before starting just
what the trip will cost. Begin laying your plans now.
i
Get This Book Today—It’s Free!
Return this Coupon Today
OERRETT FORT, Passenger Traffic Manager
UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY
OMAHA, NEBRASKA,
I would be glad to receive FREE your illustrated
‘•California Exposition Book” No. 108 and other informa
tion of assistance in planning a Cullfornia trip.
Name.
Address
Let the Northwestern visit yoHr
home during >1915. You will like it.
THE NORTHWESTERN
Entered at the Loup City PostoGice for transmission through the mails as second class
I matter.
; Office Phone. Red 138. Residence, - Black 138
| J. W. BURLEIGH.Editor and Pnb. J. R. GARDINER Manager
Every subscription is regarded as an open account. The names of
subscribers will be instantly removed from our mailing list at the expiration
of time paid for. if publishers shall be notified; otherwise the subscription
will remain in force at the designated subscription price. Every subscriber
must understand that these conditions are made a part of the contract
between publisher and subscriber.
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Will Maupin, late democratic candidate for rail
way commissioner, who did not land, has sprung a
surprise upon the democrats of the state, and incident
ly upon an unsuspecting public as a whole It was
said that the democratic state candidates who were
successful would provide official pie for the defeated
ones, and in compliance, Eastham of Broken Bow, de
feated candidate for land commissioner, is provided
for with the deputyship in the state auditor’s office,
while Whitehead, democratic candidate for state
superintendent of schools is given a place in the state
superintendent’s office. That leaves only the great
grandstand player, Billy Maupin, to be cared for, and
he shines as an unparallelled instance of a democrat
refusing to be “cared for” in that way. Oh, Bill, Bill,
side pard of that other greatest democratic mounte
bank, outside of Billy Bryan, one Jidge (?) Telegram
of the Columbus Howard, how could you so ruthless
ly destroy democratic precedents?
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It is confidently expected that President Wilson
will veto the illiteracy clause in the immigration bill
passed by both houses of congress. By a vote of
47 to 12 the senate favors and refuses to strike out the
offending clause. This was all threshed out when
Taft was president, and he also refused to sign the im
migration bill with illiteracy clause. The senate at
that time passed the bill over Taft’s veto, but the
house got cold feet and failed to pass the measure
over. This time it is believed that both houses will
pass the whole bill with the illiteracy clause inserted
over Wilson’s veto, if he follows Taft’s action. Just
what good reason Wilson will assign for his promised
veto is not yet made known.
All reports of possible trouble with England over
the protest of the United States against that country
for interference of our shipments of merchandise to
the belligerant countries, is being quelled. It is hard
ly probable that Johnny Bull wants to take on more
than the present enemies. The contemplated scare,
then, over Uncle Sam having Canada and England on
the north and east and Japan on the west to fight will
not take on reality.
Did you notice that everybody has a so-called
cure for the European war except the Germans and
allies? This country is flooded with orators who are
using their mouths to show the cure. Talk is the
cheapest thing on record.
A late report is to the effect that Stone of Missouri
is to succeed Bryan as secretary of state. Don’t be
lieve it. You could not pry Billy loose from that job,
unless it be understood by him that he could still run
the adminstration from the outside.
A cabless locomotive has now been invented that
will halt a train going 60 miles an hour within 2,000
feet. It is said that nature has always a way of stop
ping any train within 50 or 100 feet, by simply provid
ing an unforseen accident.
A report having been made current that the Japs
are sending an army through Siberia to join the Eng
lish in the fight on Germany, the Japanese authorities
deny doing so or having such intention.
The latest: France is said to be building two great
fleets of aircraft armed with cannon and boombs, with *
which to invade Germany in the spring.
It is now over five months since the European
war started. And the end seems as far in the future
as ever.
■a---—
WHY THE COST OF OPERATING
RAILROADS HAS BEEN INCREASED
Struggling Against Increased Cost of Labor, Sup
plies, Ete., On One Hand-Reduced Rates on
The Other.
During the last few years the advo
cates of governmeut ownership of
railroads have been somewhat per
sistent in the public press and the
matter is referred to here not with
any idea of combating this propagan
da, but merely that the people may
briefly see both sides of the picture.
So long as a lot of men welcome ,the
wreckingof the railroads on the theory
that the government will take them
over and that such a state of affairs
would be preferable to private owner
ship, it would be impossible to obtain
from them a fair judgment of the
latter system which now prevails in
the United States. It is impossible to
go into this great question at any
length at this time but, here are a
few things worth thinking about.
Much has been said in recent years
about the “water” contained in
American railroad securities, and in
this connection the valuation of the
government railroads of Europe is
very interesting. In Germany the
state owned roads are valued at $114,
185 per mile, in Austria at $120,692, in
Hungary at $69,210, in Italy at #136,
886, in Belgium at $190,914, in Swit
zerland at $102,950, in Roumania at
$90,113, in Japan at $88,104, in New
South Wales at $11,391—while the
privately owned lines of the United
States, regardless of what water may
have been forced into them in specific
instances, are valued at only #63,944
per mile. Whatever inflation may
therefore have been put into their
properties in the past,the fact remains
that their present valuation is much
lower than that of the government
owned railroads of Europe, and what
is still more important, rates charged
are the lowest and the service render
ed admittedly the best in the world.
It is also pertinent to remember that
the charge of watered stocks,after all,
can be made against but very few
American railroads—the lion’s share
of them having been managed with
out a breath of scandal or criticism.
Id this connection, a statement con
tained in the last annual report of the
Deutsche Bank of Berlin, which has a
paid-up capital and reserve fund of
$75,000,000 is Interesting: “American
railroads need higher rates. The pres
ent rates are the lowest in the world—
representing but a fraction of the
English railway rates, for instance—
and this in the face of the fact that
wages in the United States on the av
erage are fullv twice as high as in
Europe.” Certainly this view of the
privately owned lines of the United
States, coming from Germany, which
has the most successful state owned
system of transportation in the world
is worthy of grave consideration.
In furtliercontirmationof this state
ment we quote the following statistics:
It costs 7 mills per mile on an average
to haul a ton of freight in the United
States while in England it costs an
average of 2.33 cents, in France 1.41
cents in German y 1.42 cents. The
average daily wage paid to American
railroad employees is $2.23,in England
it is $1.35, in France 88 cents and in
Germany 81 cents. Are American
railroads therefore entitled to the
wholesale abuse and denunciation
which has been heaped upon them
from all sides in recent years?
Letting well Enough Alono.
In view of these facts, the average
citizen may well ask himself whether
it is not best to let well enough alone
rather than toinvite other ills we know
not of—whether it is not wiser to cure
such defects as may encumber the
present system rather than run the
danger of plunging this mighty indus
try into the whirlpool of party politics
for all time, with its attendant oppor
tunity for evil of which the past affords
such rich variety of experience. The
United States is still a young country,
and in many sections only partially de
veloped. Many new lines and exten
sions are needed here and there to give
a wider opportunity to expanding agri
culture and commerce, and nothing
could be more unfortunate or disas
trous than that these favors could
henceforth be obtained only by leave
of the dominant political factions
which will reign at the national capi
tal in the years to come. Political
parties are intensely human institu
tions, and the average cautious citizen
will prefer to leave the railroad ex
pansion of the future to the economic
law of supply and demand of the dif
ferent communities rather than to
place such a temptation for power in
the hands of those who rise and fall in
the field of politics. Futhermore,
should the time ever come when the
government takes over the railroads,
It means that the people will have to
forego the millions of taxes which
they now pay and which help to sup
port the public schools, public high
ways and other public expenses—and
that henceforth these millions of re
venue would have to come out of the
pockets of the people.
Many other thingseouhl be said up
on this phrase of the question, but
space forbids. For some time, the
government, through the Interstate
Commerce Commission, has been en
gaged in making a physical valuation
of all our railroads as a matter of
guidance for future rate adjustments.
Again, we repeat, since the people ab
solutely control and regulate the rail
roads, is that not enough? Will it not
be better to let well enough alone—to
cling to that which isnood and elimi
nate that which is bad in the present
system which, with all that has been
said against it, furnishes the best and
cheapest transportation service in the
world?
Increased Cost of Operation.
We now wish to refer briefly to an
other phrase of the problem. For a
number of years the cry of the “high
cost of living’’has been everywhere
abroad in the land. Time was, notso
many years ago.when the farmer sold
his corn at 25 cents per bushel. Now
it brings from 50 cents to 75 cents.
So, too, he sold hogs at 3 cents per
pound, which now readily bring from
7 cents to 10 cents—while a good steer
calf which used to bring from $10 to
$12,now sells for from $20 to $25. No
body who knows auy thing about pres
ent land values or the farmers’cost of
production will contend that he is not
entitled to these increased prices. As
a matter of fact,unless he is an exceed
ingly good manager and utilizes the
best of modern agricultural thought he
is by no means getting rich at present
prices—high as they may seem to peo
ple in the cities who do not understand
the cost attached to present-day farm
ing. To go back to to the old prices he
used to receive would bankrupt, in a
little while every farmer in the
country—and the tendency of the fu
ture will be for the prices of farm
products to go still higher rather than
lower. Agriculture is the nation’s
greatest fundemental industry and so
ciety must make the farm game sufli
ciently profitable to justify the man
who is on the farm today and the far
mer boys of the future to stay by the
plow. Much has been said recently
about the fact that the farmer does
not receive enough for what he pro
duces—that there is too biga waste in
the channels through which his pro
ducts must pass before they reach the
consumer, and that he hassome cause
for complaint in this respect is un
doubtedly true. However the railroads
can face such an inquiry with a clear
conscience—for an exhaustive investi
gation conducted by the Lehigh Valley
Railroad some time ago shows that the
farmer gets 501 cents out of the aver
age dollar’s worth of products he sells;
the packers,local shippers,distributors
and retailers get 441 cents between
them while the railroads receive only
5 cents,or one-twentieth of the dollar,
for tne transportation services they
render.
So, too, there has been a steady ad
vance in practically the entire realm
of the merchandise and manufactured
products, whatever their nature, and
the ever increasing toll in the cost of
labor,steel products, lumber ears,loco
motives, and other supplies has levied
a tribute of untold millions upon the
railroads, which have not only been for
bidden to increase their rates, but, on
the contrary, in many instances, com
pelled to lower them.
Big Increased Cost of Labor.
To give the reader an extra idea of
how the cost of labor lias advanced in
the operation of railroads we Quote
the following in the daily wage from
1900 to 1914—a period of only fourteen
years: In the case of engineers it in
creased from $3.68 per day to $5,76 or
an increase of 56 per cent; firemen
from 12.21 to $3.62, or 64 per cent;con
ductors $3.31 to 84.83, or 45 per cent;
station agents from $1 98 to 2.itt, or
pjr tcut;,other station men from -1
to $1.90, or 17 per cent;ordinary trai^fc
men from $1.97 to $3.36,or 70 per
macliinists from *2.72 to 3.52, or
percent;carpenters from *2.31 to
or 12 per cent; other shopmen fr i
*1.03 to *2.20, or 15 per cent: section
foreman from *1.51 to *1 83, or 21 per
cent: trackman from *1.15 to *1.42. >>r
32 per cent; telegraph operators ana
dispatchers from *2.25 to $2.05. cr 17
per cent. This means a general aver
age increase in wages of 52-29-100 per
cent—and all other classes of railr id
operatives and employees in a more
less similar degree. While these a :
vances have proven a great boon
the nearly two million men employt i
in the railway service and increa> I
their capacity to buy from mereliat.’
and farmer, they have exacted mats ,
millions annually from the railreao
themselves—all of which made tl
general public richer, but tlie roa N
poorer. In 1900 the railroads paid
$1.44 per ton for coal. Now they pay
*1.81. Then they paid 38c for tie'.
Now they pay 52c.
Other Increased Costs
But there are many other items
which have enormously increased the
cost of railroad operation which we
cannot go into because of a lack of
space. The public is constantly <h
manding a more efficient and a safer j
service, and hence the railr <ds ■ I
had to spend vast sums in insta^®
block signals, steels passer... ;
doing away with grade cros>^^^B
straightening lines, heavier loo^B'
tives, better roadbeds, and supp ;■
many other precautions proti
both their operatives and the \
—all things very necessary, yet \ i
costly. So. too’numerous states i a e
passed “Full Crew" laws which '
out benefiting the public have
pelled the railroads to pay a t
millions to useless employees
Now, while labor, farm proti.
merchandise and manufactures .c
supplies of all kinds have steadih m
creased in price, tlie railroads,
stated before, have been compel.ed
reduce tlieir rates in the face of t: -
avalanche of ever-advancing f
operation—and that all but the :u
powerful lines tind themselvo in an
exceeding critical condition is r
be wondered at. The farmer, the mere
chant, the manufacturer and the uS
borer justly insist that they w, i
not be able to get along on the pn -
they received ten or tifteen \ear> ..
How, then, can tlie railroads, wl .
are the largest employers of labor an.I
buyers of material in tlie United
States, be expected to exist mi
tlian they received ten or tifteen y irs
ago? In view of these facts, it is no
wonder that President Wilson an!
other patriotic and careful sindt nt>
of the situation are speaking words
kindly admonition to t.i
public, to the end tha
through whose giant ar
the very life blood oi tlie
not be wrecked and destr
The Public and the Manner
On the one hand.forthe last t». •
live years the public lias deman :
tlie best and highest efficiency in - -
vice and lower rates in one ,>im • .
same breath. On tlieotlierliand ,-ta> i
the thousands of men and women w
have invested their money in rai -
securities and who, in com»on
the farmer, the manufacturer an I •
merchant,believe they are entiled
a fair profit. Then come the bundj» ■,
of thousands of employees who a
continually clamoring for an inert a
in wages, as well as the cost of ail
manner of railroad supplies which
constantly advancing-and betw. i
them, as arbiters,stand the man i_ . -
of the road—the big "hired u n
struggling with might and main t*
reconcile all these conflicting inter
in the face of reduced rates on e'»".
hand. That they have at last read • i
a point where they can continue the
unequal struggle no longer,should n t
be a matter of wonder—and in the
face of harsh and unfriendly criti
which has descended upon their lo ads
from every quarter they find them
selves in the mental attitude of the
fiddler in the Western mining ca ip
when he yelled out. “Please don'r
shoot, boys; I am doing the be^t 1
can.” Paid adv. To be continued
next week.)
iJ. G. F*agele]r
AUCTIONEER
Loup City, — Nebraska
All Auctioneering business attended to
promptly. Satisfaction Guaranteed. Give
me a trial.
Notice
THE MOVING PICTURE SHOW
At the New Opera House
Will Run Every Other Night in
Week Hereafter
A 4-Reel Show
Every Tuesday,Thursday and Saturday
Ghange of Program
Nothing but the best pictures will be shown here.
Everybody is cordially invited to attend.
THOMAS DADDOW
