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About The Omaha morning bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 23, 1923)
SENATOR NORRIS ON HELPING FARMERS’ PROSPERITY High Rail Kates Fatal % to Midwest Nebraska Member of Upper House Declares More Than Credit Facilities Are Needed. • ——— a Praises Omaha’s Efforts By (IKORC.E W. NORRIS. Inited States Senator from Nebraska. It is common knowledge that the ■roducer gets too little and the con -uimer pays too much. In the con ■umer's purchase price there is a iarger item for transportation than there is for production. Everybody knows that the cost of transportation is unreasonable and much of it un necessary. Middlemen are growing rich while the producer is growing poorer, and the consumer at the other end of the equation, is in many cases, struggling to make both ends meet. The great war has left the consum er and the producer much farther apart than they were before. All this machinery between them, much of it unnecessary, and most of it extrava gant, must be lubricated and kept in >rder by the sweat and toil of the meat common people. Taxation of the People. The greatest one item making up his enormous cost, is the cost of ransportatlon. The railroad, after ill. is nothing but a great middleman. All of its income consists of the levy it makes upon the products of the country from the time thoee products cave the producer until they reach — lie consumer. It is a middleman, it s true, that cannot be eliminated, it Is one that makef its levy upon Y. W. C. A. CAFETERIA SPECIAL PRICES every WEDNESDAY i Beginning Sept, 26 jj Come and Try Us everything that we eat. drlrk. wear and use. It taxes all classes of peo pie. Even those who never hear the whistle of a locomotive and who never see its gorgeous trains speed ing across the country, kre not ex empt but must pay their tribute up on everything they' eat and upon ev erything they wear. With a heavy hand it levies its tax upon the c.radlo In which the little child is lulled to sleep, and likewise it taxes the cof fin In which the old and aged are laid away in eternal rest, and be" tween the cradle and the grave, no where does the human being in civil ized society escape its exacting de mands. It is a tax upon civiliza tion just as fully and completely as though it were itemized in the tax payer's receipt which he receives from the county treasurer. Since we cannot and do want to escape its ex actions, it Is important that we re duce its levy ns nearly to cost as pos sible. I.oss Eri.m Watered Storks. Every Illegal Issue of stocks or bonds, every manipulation of railroad earnings, every watering of capitaliz ation, and every issue of stock divi dends from surplus earnings, are paid for by the people who wear clothes and consume the products of the farm, just as completely as though they issued the bonds of the state or thfe municipality to rum the water of these unholy manipulations into gold. Regardless of how we may disagree as to what should be done with the railroads, everybody knows that the freight rates are too high, and every body knows that a large proportion of the capitalization of these railroads is watered. Everybody knows that un conscionable manipulation of stocks and bonds in the management and control of railroads, has been indulged in for years by the money sharks of Wall street. In defense, however, It is said that all these things are past, that they happened years ago, and that therefore they should be forgot ten and not discussed. Waiving for the moment the claim that no manipulation of this kind Is taking place now, or has taken place recently. It Is still fundamental that every sin of this kind that has been committed In the past, is still making Its unholy levy upon the producing and consuming public. An Illegal U sue of stock 50 years ago is as harm ful today as ever before. The Issue of $100,000,000 of capital stock 50 years ago is costing the consuming and pro ducing public Just as much today as the Issuing of $100,000,000 of legiti mate stock. There Is absolutely no difference as far as the public Is con cerned. We feel It now more than we did then because It has been going on for so many years, pyramiding itself upon Itself until the burden has become too great for our civilization to stand. 0 It has been only about two years £^'.4 Typewriter *^}| (ANY MAKE) l Lowut Rate* in City Free Delivery All Makes Typewriter Go' 1NCORPOIJATED 205 S. 18th St. AT lantic 2414 Omaha’s Pay Day Bandit Squad Ready for Action Here is Police Inspector Jack Pszanowski and the police payroll bandit squad, armed with sawed off shot guns. Members of the squad hold them selves in instant readiness on Satur days, the day when most of the Omaha rash payrolls are delivered, to answer all rails. They ran be in any part of Omaha within seven minutes of the time the call is received. From left to right, the picture shows Police Inspector Jack Pszanow ski and Detectives Davis, Killian, Buglewicz and Miklas. ago since one of the large railroads of the country Issued $60,000,000 gf stock dividends. During all the years that this enormous sum was being accumulated, they paid .annual divi dends that were in excess of what anyone would term reasonable. Dur ing the three years preceding the war. the annual dividends of this railroad average over 22 per cent on its capi tal stock, and during the time that the government had the road, it paid this railroad company annually over 22 per cent on its capital stock. The question arises: To whom did this $60,000,000 rightfully and hon estly belong? It was paid in by the public in excess of a reasonable profit for this railroad company. If in such cases, a railroad company, as was dqne In this case, is permitted to dis tribute this money among its stock holders In the way of stock dividends, thus increasing the stock upon which future generations must pay a tax. how long will it be until the cost of transportation alone will become 30 heavy and burdensome as to absolute ly break down our civilization?' What would have been fairer and what would have been honest as be tween the public and this railroad, would have been\ to use this $60,000, 000 to pay*off some of its bonds or cancel some of its stock, instead of paying it to the stockholders who had alrea’dy received more than a reason able profit on their investment—thus reducing Instead of increasing its capitalization. In the future, the pub lic would have then received the ben efit of the over taxation of the past. Revise Freight Kates. We cannot get back tonormal con ditions until the freight rate prob lem is settled. Our transportation system is the growth of nearly a cen 'tury. It has grown with the busi ness of the country. It has become part of our business system—a por tion of the framework of our civ ilization. Business has grown up around It. The great west has settled up and become peopled with Indus trlous farmers on the basis of then existing conditions. You cannot ele vate one corner of this great super structure without weakening the ern tire edifice. You cannot raise the foundation of one side of this great building and expect the other side to remain plumb. We must either re Clean, Even, Dependable Heat in Your Home With a LILLIBRIDGE Oil Vapor Burner • The Day of Coal for Heating Homes is Going OIL is Taking Its in ’ Place With the Oil Burner The Lillibridge Oil Burner is based upon p riliciples which have proved coVrect through years of experience, and the leading combustion engineers. We are sole distributors of the Lillibridge Improved Burner in Omaha. Our service department Is always ready to serve the 350 Lillibridge burners now in Omaha. Phone AT 4289, day or Appliance (o. 411 South 15th St. Opposite Orpheum. in Sunderland Bldg. 1 ' # 1 See Our Booth at Food Show This Week duce the rates or we mint use ex isting rates as a basis to rebuild our civilization; and If we do the latter and permit the evils of the past to still be continued, It will be but a few generations until the same thing will have to be gone over again. The pyramiding cannot continue without destruction and rt^ln to those who produce and those who consume. The farmer who produces the wheat from which bread, the staff qf life, Is made, lives, as a rule, far (rum the large centers of population where his product Is mostly con sumed, and therefore the transpor tation question strikes him with ruin ous force. The ordinary business man can add the freight to his prod uct and the consumer pays it In the Increased cost of consumption. It may be burdensome and it may be unrea sonable, but still business has a legf* imate right to Its profit, and It can pass the cost on to the ultimate con sumer. The farmer is denier} this privilege. Whether it would be pos sible for him to do this by proper or ganization, Is a debatable question It Is sufficient to say that he is not so organized and Is not able to fix the price of the product which he sells to the middleman. On everything he buys the freight Is added. From everything he sells the freight Is deducted. It cuts him like a two-edged sword. He toils early and late, winter and summer, and sells his product at a loss. Other things besides freight properly enter into his problem, but freight alone, In thousands of cases, has changed a profit Into a loss. Freight alone would In most cases. If properly ad justed, make his venture a profitable one Instead of a losing game. Praises Omaha Movement. There Is no doubt but that all classes of business men sympathize deeply with the farmer, especially the wheat farmer, In hts present predica ment. The leading business mee* of Omaha moved by this sympathy,* re cently organized and sent a commit tee of their best representative men to meet with the presidents of the leading railroads and beg of them to make a‘temporary reduction of the freight rate on wheat for export In order to enable the farmer to get some additional return for hla wheat In the markets of the world. This was an exceedingly commend able thing for these business men to do, but after all, they were not strik ing at the fundamental difficulty. They went to Chicago and approach ed the throne of these railroad presi dents, and there figuratively speak ing. on bended knees pleaded for re lief for their down trodden brother, the farmer. They were making no threats, they were claiming no right. They were simply begging for mercy; pleading that those who control the situation give Justice to the farmer. There are many honest citizens In our land who felt humiliated that the necessity should ever arise for such a remarkable occurrence. There are those who really believe that Instead of asking, there should be legal au thority for the proper officials to rfe mand; that Instead of pleading before those who really rule, for mercy, there should tie power vested In the proper officials to fix a rate to meet such an smergency. These represen tative citizens of Omaha, we learn from the public press, were treated wltih great respect by the railroad ex ecutives who hold In their hands the prosperity of the country and rule with unlimited away over the great transportation systems that form the necessary network between those who toll In the flelde and those who toll In the shops. rie* Refused. This great committee did not believe In government ownership. They are satisfied apparently with present con ditions. Many of them would un doubtedly look with horror and sus picion on anyone who dared to sug gest that If the wnter had tieen taken out of the capitalization of the rail roads, and the proper officials of the government did their duty In the rate question, such s scene of suppllan tlon and begging for .mercy would have been unnecessary. Most of them, perhaps all of them, would be shocked If someone dared to suggest that such s condition would not have ex isted If the railroads were owned and operated by the government. If this pathetic scene did not Illus trate the advisability of government ownership of railroads, It did at least demonstrate the existence of mllrosd ownership of government. The rail road executives, after treating the committee .With greHt respect and honor, most respectfully and gracious ly declined to grant the relief for which they prayed, and the commit tee will always be able to remember that pilgrimage to the seat of power with the most pleasant of recollec tions, although they may not be able to feel that they accomplished any great results. They have at least shown their willingness, their anxiety, and their desire for Justice, even though the ordinary citizen may feel that all the time they were on the wrong track. A Kejected Hill. Some way or other this episode brings back vividly the great fight that was made in the senate of the United States a little over two years ago, In an attempt to Increase the profits of production and to reduce the costs of consumption by the elimination of some of the unneces sary middlemen and the reduction of transportation. The bill over which the fight took place came from the agricultural committee of the senate. It had been given extended considera tion by that committee. The commit tee had heard not only some of the leading economists of our country, but had witnesses from Australia and from parts of Europe. The bill upon which these hearings took place had been drafted by th^ chairman of the committee after several months of work and consultation with many of the leading citizens of the country who had made a study of production, consumption and transportation. In brief, this bill set up a giant middle man between the producer and the consumer. It encouraged co-operative organization among producer* and also among consumers. It provided that this corporation should buy of | one and sell to the other, with no profit in the transaction except suf ficient to pay the costs of the busi ness. It was authorized to do an ex port business and to set up its agen cies in foreign countries. The bill provided for a reduction of freight upon these transactions. It likewise provided for the turning over to this corporation of some of the ships owned by the government, which were then and still are tied up at docks doing no service and no good. The bill provided that these ships | should be turned over to this corpo ration without charge except the cost of keeping the ships in repair and paying the expense of their opera tion. It likewise provided that the government in case of war or threat- i ened war should have the authority to take over the ships upon demand. ! without the payment of any damages 1 or other costs. It therefore helped i to settle thg merchant marine ques- ! tlon as well as the transportation 1 question and would have kept the government, without expense, In con stant readiness for International dan ger with ample merchant marine. The bill excited Intense opposition on the part of big business and big politicians. After a great deal of maneuvering, manipulation and secret conferences a substitute bill was proposed. For days before the substitute came out It was known something of the kind was in the air. but it was only about i a half hour's notice that was given | to the chairman of the committee as to what the real procedure was go ing to be. Two members of the ag ricultural committee who had been staunch supporters of the committee blit, after a private dinner at the White House, came back to the com mittee and voted to make the sur render. When the smoke and nolsa of the political bAttle had cleared away, and the real friends of the producers and consumers of the country had gone down to bitter defeat, and the substi tute hail passed the senate, it was found that the author of the bill, the leadpr of the fight, broken hearted at the desertion of his fellows on the committee and worn out by constant toil, had been carried from the acene of the fight a physical wreck, riot to return to that chamber for many months. A leading member of the committee who had originally been exceedingly active in aupport of the committee bill, but who eurrendered In order to be regular, was found clothed In Judi clal ermine, occupying a life position at an Increased salary. Rtill another member of the com mlttee, who at the beginning was an ardent supporter of the hill, but who voted for the administration substi tute, was elevated to the hestl of the famous "farm bloc," which position FOR RENT Double store, ground floor Peters National bank, with large basement, vault and storage space. Inquire Treas urer, Bee Publishing Co., Rm. 204, Peters Nat’l bank. became at once the greatest political advertising asset of the age. And the farmer, the man for whom this struggle had ostensibly taken place, the man In whose Interest these famous patriots were willing to suffer and die—the farmer whom all these politicians so loved and revered —had been given by this famous sub stitute the right to borrow some more money, to mortgage his property and his crop for the payment of more in terest for another loar) made by the government—not to him—but to a middleman who must necessarily have hiH profit, and to whom the farmer must give security upon what he owned. This substitute, while It admittedly contained some good, re luctantly given, was by no means a cure, and time has sliown that it did not bring relief. In fact, it was ap parent to thinking men that it Is but little If any advantage to the farmer to loan him more money and compel him to pay more Interest in order to hold his crop unless there is some reasonable assurance that at the maturity of the loan he will he able to sell his, product at a figure suffi ciently 'Enhanced to make him a profit out of the transaction. Another Substitute. Relief did not come except to the middleman and the trust comi>anies. The farmer was still producing at a loss. About two years passed and it became evident that this substitute was not meeting the situation, and additional legislation was necessary to prevent the farmer from getting into a fighting mood. Substantially the same committee bill was again reported to the senate. Again it ap peared that the bill would become a law, and again the forces were lined up to defeat it. This time another bill to sidetrack the committee meas ure was brought forward. Tdke its predecessor, it was a loan proposition —an Improvement over the one that had passed two years before, but/still a loaning proposition. Again mem bers of the committee who had helped to report the original bill to the sen ate. and who protested that they were heartily In favor of it, voted for the administration bill instead, and it be came a law. That It contains merit is conceded. That it will accomplish some good there is but little if any doubt, but as a remedy for the situa tion It I* utterly and entirely futile. Freight rates are still untouched. And the farmer Is still producing at a loss. It Is no wonder, therefore, that others than the farmer should begin to sympathize with him In his pre dicament. It Is no wonder, therefore, that committees from the commercial organizations should bow the head and bend the knee before the great magnates who control the transporta tion systems of our country, and there beg for mercy, plead for concessions to the farmer, to be given as a favor and not as a right. A few years ago this committee would have been driven from the presence of these powerful magnates'and scourged to their palatial offices. It Is a source of great gratifica tion, no doubt, that In our present high state of civilization they were treated with great consideration, while their prayers and supplications were respectfully denied. We have, there fore, reached the stage where -those who plead and those who pray for mercy for their fellow-men have their prayers and requests denied In a re spectful and gentlemanly manner The farmer now has the blessed privilege, while he tolls and sweats to pay the interest on the money that a munificent government has loaned him through the hitrumentallty of a middleman, of knowing that while he still produces at a loss he has the friendly symi>athy of all classes of citizens, and that those who plead for him before the throne of power, al though they accomplish nothing in his behalf, are at least treated with con sideration and courtesy by our mas ters. Constitution Day Sermon at Latter Day Saints Carl T. Self will speak at the morn ing services today at the church of the Reorgan zed Latter Day Saints, Thirty-sixth and Burt streets, on‘the subject, "Is the Constitution Obso lete?” His talk will be in connection with the nation-wide observance of Consti tution week. Members of the church Friday night celebrated the 100th anniversary of the founding of the denomination at Manchester, N. Y. Talks were made by B. M. Ander son. 5020 California street, and Elder p. R. Burton of WaJthill, Neb. The celebration was observed at I n-^ dependence, Mo., by a pageant Sating^ day night on the college campus. BUY COAL NOW Best Grade Lean Lump for .30.50 Briar Hill Lump.30.50 Colorado Lump.30.50 Franklin County Lump for .311.50 Glendora (Wonder Coal) for ..311.50 Best Gradt Screenings for Very Low Prices Lion Coal Co. 22d and Nicholas WE 260S FINEST IN THE MIDDLE WEST One of the Beatty Co-Operative System BEATTY’S Henshaw Cafeteria In Henshaw Hotel. When in Omaha See BRADLEY, MERRIAM & SMITH Mai! Order Merchants Goods Shipped or Delivered in Person Catalofs Sent on Request „ ADVERTISEMENT. Would You Like to Increase Your Vigor In 24 Hours? 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