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A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO
POLITICS, AGRICULTURE AND HOME LIFE
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Twentieth Year.
ARE RAILROADS ABUSED?
Thomas F. Ryan of Wall street
has just come from a long interview
. with President Roosevelt. The sub
ject of the discussion is not officially
made known, but it is understood to
have been an effort by Mr. RyaD to
convince the president that the wel
fare of the country demanded a let
ting up on railroad regulation and the
present severe enforcement of the
laws. W. C. Brown, senior vice presi
dent of the New York Central, recently
wrote a latter saying, "I do not think
you or any other man of ordinary
prudence would for a moment think
of investing money in a business
against which every man's hand,
from the pres'dent's down, seems to
., lie raised." A press bureau bulletin
' which the newspapers of the country
have lately received makes u plea that
the past be forgotten and forgiven.
"It matters not what may have been
the shortcomings of the railroads
heretofore," says this appeal; "abuse
now only makes vvorse tlv. situation.
Self preservation now demands that
both '. press and people stand by tiie
'iiroads."
This apparently preconcerted appeal
takes for Iih creed the freight blockade
and for its text an alleged difficulty
exirif t- ed by the railroad financiers
to -. funds to extend their trans
portation facilities, - -
Suspicion has not beer lacking that
the freight blockade of the l?.st four
months has been welcomed ty forae of
the railroad magnates as r, possible
means of descrediting railroad regu
lation by the government. It i3 net
necessary co believe this in order to
see that whatever embarrassment the
railroads now suffer does not come
originally , from public hostility to
railroads, nor from railroad legisla
tion or the enforcement of interstate
commerce laws. The railroad repre
sented by Mr. Brown was convicted
but recently for giving rebates to the
sugar trust. If public hostility arises
- from knowledge of tiiis fact, and the
linancial credit of the railroad mffevs
thereby, it is hardly Lhe public's III
temper that is to blame. When the
people are asked ;o for&2t and .forgive,
they can not iovgtt that railroad man
agers and their attorneys were a year
ago solemnly assuring the people that
the rate bill wad noi needed because
the abuses it sought to remedy had
all been eliminated. "Rebates are now
a thing of the past," said Attorney
Peck of the Milwaukee road just be
fore the greatest period of rebate ex
posures and prosecutions the country
has steii. Ii is but a Week since the
interstate commerce' commission re;
ported that the .Standard Oil company
it yet favored by the railroad in way
so intricate and voluminous' that there
Is danger new discriminations um be
devised as fast as old ones can ho
Uprooted.
Which spectacle Is better utkulatcd
to Keep (!' Imestnr tvom bu lag rail
road si etiriil. s. a Roosevelt at Wnh-
ini,'t"H tiylntf l ' ur Ju li e to the
put. If.- frm tin' rUlroiuK r a llarrl
iirin In Wall street m iklnw n football
of a nival railroad ystt fu tn onier to
mveep Into hi mvu pocket a down
mlliiuii that ;hyuld have Ku to the
j. nl. lie and to holder of miliojid
t ill ItU" Who M to blame for lit-'
i t t o of tli" l' nn Ivatst.k ritlro.nl.
t't. nubile wiibh unYp by aJ re
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA,
sents, or the railroad which fostered
a coal monopoly behind the bulwark
of railroad discrimination?
So far as this campaign bears upon
President Roosevelt, there is no reason
to " fear that he will , be misled. But
the same arguments will be used with
state legislatures and governors where
the railroads are not yet under state
regulation. There is but one answer
for the states "as for the nation. If
our prosperity rests on so flimsy a
foundation as railroad irresponsibility,
discriminations and abuses, it is time
we try to substitute a different foun
dation, even though a few chunks of
plastering should be jarred loose in
the attempt. But that is not the case.
The answer to the worried railroad
magnates is, try running your roads
without practicing the abuses which
are now thorns in the side of the pub
lic, and see whether press and peo
ple do not then stand by the railroads.
Meanwhile the public will try by law
and law enforcement to bring about
this conduct, whether" or no, thus pro
tecting the honest and law abiding
railroad manager from the unfair com
petition of the unprincipled railroad
manipulator.
A MINOR IRRITATION.
To insure themselves against loss by
the failure of conductors to take up all
tickets, the leading railroads in Ne
braska sell local tickets stamped with
the date of sale, and marked not good
after that date. If a person buys a
ticket and for any reason does not use
it lis he intended, his recourse is to
make application at the office where
the ticket was bought for a return of
his fare. In order to get this he must
answer a question like this: "Did you
ride on this ticket?" In other words,
did you steal a ride and have you now
come to collect the saving? A second
question requires the man in the sweat
box to tell his reasons for not using the
ticket. Having stated positively that
he is not a dead beat and having
proved by a full showing of his private
affairs that other motives than crimi
nal aims governed his possession of
the ticket, the citizen gets his money
back and goes on his way rejoicing un
less Ije has a shred of self respect left
This is one of the minor irritations
inflicted on the public by the Nebraska
railroads, one comparatively so unim
mutant that the senate committee will
he fortriven for smothering: the bill
aimed to remedy the case, if only the
greater measures needed by the public
are passed in proper form. But it is an
irritant tint the railroads in their own
interest could perhaps afford to re
move. The railroad managers will find
roads" in just such petty tyrannies as
this.
It would be interesting to have tho
matter put to a legal test. The statutes
permit no charge above three cents a
mile for earrylng passengers, and for
bid a railroad to expel from a coach
any passenger who tenders tho regular
rate of fare. The regular rate of faro
might be held HUttleh nt whether paid
today, yesterday,, or last week. On the
nth. -r hand the trouble and Indignity
to which persons are mibjected In or
der to get the price of a ticket re
funded inljjht by no great stretch of
the Imagination be considered ttit Jm
position over and nhove the legal rate
of three erts ,i mil.'. Further It mlgh
iii'i.niar that a railroad has no right
to punish the public for I In hypotltett
i cil nhotuotuliig f U u isuntfl
FEBRUARY 14, 1907.
ATTITUDE OF EMPLOYES
An admirable example of the politi
cal methods of the Burlington railroad
is given in the deceptive fight it Is
making upon; the employers' liability
bill before the legislature. It Is not
a question in which the general public
Is vitally Interested, but which is of
grave importance to the men who work
for that railroad. The Burlington has
for years practically made it a con
dition of employment that men should
join the relief department, and a con
dition of his joining it is thai he must
agree not to sue the company for
damages, in case he is injured, if he
elects to take the insurance he has
paid for. 'If he chooses to sue for
damages then he cannot collect his in
surance. There certainly cannot be
any justice in requiring a man to pay
full value for insurance and deny him
he right to collect it if- he chooses to
exercise the legal right to sue for dam
ages; nor to compel him to sign away
that legal right In consideration of re
ceiving the insurance he has himself
paid full value for.
The assertions made to the effect
that the Gibson, and McMullcn em
ployers' liability bills are aimed di
rectly at the Burlington relief de
partment and that the passage of
either of the measures would destroy
that mutual insurance company and
deprie old employes of insurance
after they have reached "an' age when
it would be imposfcible for them to re
place it are without foundation, as
can "readily be seen by anyone who
'ill take the trouble to' examine the
measure. llie Burlington d-.es not
object It these bills on account of the
effect they will have on the relief de
partment, but on account of the ef
fect ihev will have upon tho road
itself. Section 3 of the Gibson bill
says:
Sec. 3. That no contract of employ
ment, insurance, relief benefit or in
demnity for injury or death HERE
AFTER entered into by or on behalf
of any employe nor the acceptance of
any such insurance, relief benefit, or
indemnity by the person entitled
thereto, shall constitute any bar or
defense to any action brought to rer
cover damages for personal Injuries
to or death of such such employe;
Provided, however, That upon the
trial ol such action against any rail
way company the defendant may set
off any sum it. has contributed toward
any such insurance relief benefit or
indemnity that may have been paid to
the injured emplce or, In case of hi
death, to his personal representative.
Under the present rules of the relief
department, when money Is paid to one
for personal injuries, the lierson receiv
ing the same must sign a receipt re
leasing the railroad comjany from all
liability. The relief department Is a
mutual Insurance company supported
by the employes and at present has
thousand! of dollars In its treasury.
Should a member carrying a 11.000
policy be killed and the widow accept
the amount of the policy, she could re
cover not a cent more, no matter If it
should b hown that the mats' death
were due to the rankest kind of care
leKsncM. The nilwon bill provide that
the money paid by the railroad com
pany to th relief fund phall his de
ducted from the Judgment which n
rendered and it would eeti that this
would b pei fe lly fair. Ther Is tnHh
ln; wrotiK with th" relief department In
IH pufoiin.uui of 1U piotei' functions
Subscription $1.00
as a mutual Insurance association, fend
the measures which are being attacked
will not affect it in the least. They
will, however, render the Burlington
liable for damages for personal Injuries
and that is the secret of the entire
fight ugalnst them.
Under the pretence that the bill will
put the relief department out'of busi
ness, a largo number of employes' sig
natures have been obtained to protests
against their passage. A remarkable
coincidence is that the men who circu
lated these petitions among the em
ployes are the identical men who are
invariably called upon bythe company
to do political work in Tjuni afiter
county.
It is inconceivable that Burlington
employes do not wish to receive-, In
case of injuries, all that exact justice,
would give to them. The fact that ''they
have signed protests against blirs In
tended to give them that Justice, Voiild
indicate that they did not knowvwhat
they were really signing.
A HOCK'KFKLI.EIt ItKllVri:.
Mr. Rockefeller gives the general
education board $.'12,000,000 to he spent
as he or his son may direct in educa
tional work. Could the sum have been
three millions more it would have
amounted approximately to a rebateof
one cent on every gallon of kerosene
and gasoline bought, last year by the
people of the United States, This
should be borne in mind by the Ne
braska legislators who have joined in '
the Kansas movement to chain the
wheels of Mr. Rockefeller's enterprise,
which the returning delegates report
"has perfected and maintained an ab
solute monopoly in the commerce of
those staples," meaning petroleum
products. It . should bo borne in mind
by the Texas people also, who are try
ing to oust the Standard from doing
business in their state, and by tin
South -Carolina people who are Intent
on the same performance, for be It
noted, if is southern education which
Mr. Rockefeller's donation is Intended
mostly to endow. When we pay our
twenty cents for a gallon of kerosene
which, according to the estimate of the
interstate commerce commission, could
bo sold profitably at leas than half
that price, let us give Mr. Rockefeller
credit for giving one cent of the excess
back; that is, if he Is to give another
$32,000,000 every year. Mr. Rockefeller
will b' pained to find some people so
uncharitable as to resent having to
pay him ten cents in order to get one
cent back, but he can console himself
with Chancellor Day's assurance that
if these people did not have their
money taken away from them thejr
would probably spend It for drink.
Some who are well enough satisfied to
get their cent back will bo mean
enough to think they ought theiuselveii
to be allowed to say what should be
done with it, not Mr. Rockefeller pater
or fils. Here again let Mr. Rockefeller
bo firm. Some people must lie protected
from themselves.
MR. l'OM.AIII) AM Till: HIIISIIIY.
There Is something to he said on
both sides of the h!p subsidy ques
tion, as of most question. Congress
man Pollard Is entitled to hh view,
and It will not neces-ifirUy follow thit
he will be "pounded pretty hard" for
voting In favor of the subsidy bill,
as ho write that he expwtn to do.
Mr, Pollard favorn the wubsddy becaun
he thinks It In lu harmony with th
principle of protection, became U will
1 tnako A dnuut J for labor la fthlp