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About The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 16, 1908)
o i LP n a b lT If RAILROADS AND PROSPERITY Our prosperity came with the pros perity of the railroads It declined when adversity struck the railroads We do not believe we can have the full measure of prosperity again until the railroads are prosperous The prosperity of the people and that of the railroads Is so Inseparably Inter woven that neither can suffer advers ity without harm coming to the other nor can either hope for continued prosperity unless the other shares therein Each must hear Its share of adversity which comes from natural causes common to both Each must be willing to accept some part of any burden which comes to the other from causes beyond Its control and from which the other Is happily exempt No better Illustration of what I mean can be given perhaps than to recall the years when the crops of the states of Nebraska and Kansas were almost totally destroyed by the scourge of grasshoppers and later when for several seasons the destruc tion by drouth was -almost as univer sal Thousands of carloads of corn provisions clothing and other supplies were contributed by sympathizing friends throughout the middle states and were hauled free by the railroads and distributed -all over these two states The railroads accepteu their part of the adversity conimon to both and gave their services freely to the amelioration of the suffering of the people of Nebraska and Kansas mak ing it possible for them to remain on their claims which otherwise they would have been forced to abandon And more recently when the great earthquake befell the city of San Francisco the railroads accepted their part of the adversity and haiiW free provisions from all parts of the coun try and rushed it with all speed pos sible to relieve the suffering of the dear people also carried the ponle free from San Francisco to places of safety and comfort In the great march of industrial progress of the nation during the past three score years the manufacturer and the railroads have kept shoulder to shoulder each contributing much to the other and both making contri bution to national prosperity and growth without which the hands on the dial of progress and development of the country would be set back fully fifty years Today the railroads of this country with their equipment repre sent approximately twelve per cent of the -wealth of the nation Their mile age exceeds 222000 miles over S15 000000 passengers are carried per an num at lower rates of fare and with better service than is furnished in any other country on the glorbe Much has been said about the over capitalization of the railroads about watered stocks And without attempting a defense of isolated instances of stock jobbery I want to say just a word upon this gen eral subject The interstate commerce commis sion recently published its statistical statement for the year ending June 30 1906 and this report shows that the total capitalization of the railroads of the United States on that date was 14570421470 or 67930 per mile of line According to the table shown on page 63 of the report however the above amount includes a duplication of 2S9S4S0S29 covering stocks and bonds owned by other railroad com panies Deducting this amount from the gross capitalization of American raiiroads shows that the net actual capitalization of the railroads of this country on June 30 last was 11681 940649 Prof Adams statistician for the commission also shows in the report page 105 that the cost of construc tion of these railroads was 115S8 922421 with S31365517 additional for equipment making a total cost of 124202S993S These figures indi cate that the railroads of this coun try are capitalized for an aggregate of 73S3472S9 less than their actual cost The capitalization of the rail roads in the United Kingdom in 1905 which is the latest data available was more than 273000 per mile that of the railroads of France 132000 per bile and the cost of construction of the railways of Germany was some thing more than 101000 per mile The average capitalization of all the railways of Europe is over 110000 per mile or about double the actual capitalization per mile of the rail roads of the United States These statistics are from the high est and most reliable authority and are undoubtedly correct They refute in the most conclusive manner the charge of watered stock and indicate thp vnliie of the railroads of the f United States taken as a whole and giving no consideration whatever to the tremendous increase in value of the vast terminals of the railroads exceeds their total outstanding stock and bonds by nearly three quarters of a billion dollars and that these se curities rest on a basis which should be with fair treatment as safe and as dependable as a government bond No stronger confirmation of these facts and figures is possible than that given by President Roosevelt in his speech at Indianapolis on May 30 1907 No person will claim that the president has been Inclined to espe cially favor the railroads but he Is as fearless in defending them when he believes them to be In the right as In condemning them when he thinks they are in the wrong And no one will deny that he says exactly what he means and means exactly what he says I know that his conclusions in thiB important matter were the re sult of the most borough study and Investigalon The quotation Is as follows There has been much wild talk as to the extent of the over capitalization of our railroads The census reports on the commercial value of the rail roads of the country together with the reports made to the interstate com merce commission by the railroads on their cost of construction tend to show that as a whole the railroad property of the country is worth as much as the securities representing it and that in the consensus of opin ion of investors the total value of stock and bonds is greater than their total face value notwithstanding the water that has been Injected in particular places The huge value of terminals the immense expenditures in recent years in double tracking and improving grades roadbeds and struc tures have brought the total invest ments to a point where the opinion that Ihe real value greater than the face value is probably true While there have beep many in stances of gross and flagrant stock in flation and while of course there re main cases of over capitalization yet when the statistics of the weaker roads the over capitalized roads are combined with those of the stronger roads and considered in the aggregate in my judgment they will not be found to impair the wholesome financial standing and position of the railroads as a whole and while those railway owners and managers who have en riched themselves by loading their properties with securities represent ing little or no real value deserve our strongest condemnation on the other hand our hearty commendation is due those owners and managers repre senting I believe the large majority who have year after year worked faithfully patiently and honestly in building up our great systems of rail roads which have knitted together in close commercial and social inter course widely removed sections of the country and stand second only to the great business of agriculture itself in contribution to national growth and development I beg your indulgence while I at tempt to make clear some of the spe cial burdens which have come to the transportation interests of the coun try aside from and in no way the result of the general depression from which all interests are suffering but which in my opinion have been an im portant factor in producing and in continuing the depression I also want to refer to some of ithe effects of these special burdens not only upon the prosperity of the railroads but in my opinion upon that of every business interest of the nation Becoming effective during the early months of 1907 increases in pay of railroad employes approximating one hundred million dollars per annum were made This increase was not voluntary on the part of the railroads but was the result of conference be tween representatives of the roads and those of the employes the settle ment was on a lower basis than the men thought they should have but the settlement undoubtedly averted a strike which might have cost the coun try a thousand times the amount in volved Following this tremendous in crease in wages legislation by con gress and by a number of the states restricting the hours of labor of train men enginemen telegraph operators block signalmen employes of inter locking towers and others made a further annual increase of approxi mately 25000000 in the pay rolls of the railroads of the country By leg islation passed at the last two sessions of congress and by subsequent rulings of the postmaster general reducing compensation for handling United States mail approximately 10500 000 per annum has been taken from the revenues of the railroads And railroad rates in the United States for the last thirty years have shown al most a continuous and uniform reduc tion The average rate per ton per mile on all classes of commodities 6hows a reduction of between 38 and 40 per cent since 1SS2 and at the same time the average cost of almost every class of material that railroads buy has increased from 50 to over 100 per cent Taxes have increased from an average of 179 to an average of 349 per mile of road or 95 per cent while the cost of railroad right-of-way and additional property neces sary for increased facilities in many instances is from 500 to 1000 per cent more than it was at that time The effect on the railroads of the conditions I have attempted to de scribe is exactly the effect similar conditions would have on any other manufacturing or mercantile business The railroads bear no charmed finan cial life They are subject to the same conditions and must survive losses in the same manner as any other business Increased expenses of production means Increased price for the articles produced or in some manner reducing the cost of produc tion Bulletin No 69 of the bureau of labor Issued in March 1907 -which contains a record of wholesale prices of all commodities from 1890 to 1905 shows that during the ten years end ing in 1905 the following increases in price occurred per cent Farm products 242 Food etc 87 Clothes and clothing 12 Fuel and lighting 288 Metal and Implements 225 Lumber and building material 277 Drugs and chemicals 91 House furnishing goods 91 Miscellaneous 1 28 All commodities 159 During substantially the same per iod the average freight rate received by the railroads for handling the above commodities shows a reduction from 941 1000 of one cent per ton per mile to 766 1000 of one cent per mile or over 18 per cent Let me say that these figures and the condition they reflect are even more serious than they appear Let us glance briefly at the effect upon the prosperity of the country at large During the year 1907 the New York Central lines paid to manufacturing concerns located in Detroit approximately 2500000 for material and equipment this year not a dollar has been thus expended During the same year those lines paid out to car and locomotive manufactur ers in the United States more than 30000000 almost every dollar of which was paid out for labor in some form or other During the year 1908 with the exception of a comparatively small number of locomotives not a dollar will be expended for this pur pose and this record is being repeat ed by almost every railroad in the country The plant of the American Car and Foundry company in Detroit is practically closed down over 7000 men are thrown out of employment and the retail trade of that city is losing more than 450000 per month which this company distributes when in full operation And this picture bad as it is depicts only a portion of the whole truth The closing of these great car works stills the sound of the axman in the woods calls the miner of iron ore and coal from well Daid employment to unprofitable un welcome idleness closes the great rolling mills and the steel foundries and sidetracks the thousands of cars and engines which were required to handle the raw material and the fin ished product Study the picture multiply it by the number of similar manufacturing enterprises all over this broad land note the thousands of idle locomotives the hundreds of thou sands of sidetracked cars the of idle workers and then ask yourselves if it is not time for every man for every interest to join in some concerted movement looking to the return of the glad day of the full dinner pail The effect of a moderate increase in railroad rates accepted by the pub lic and approved by the interstate commerce commission in restoring confidence in railway investment would do more to put in motion the wheels of industry and start the coun try upon a new era of prosperity than anything else that could possibly be done I sometimes think that the question of freight rates and their ef fect upon the price of commodities to the consumer is not very accurately known We are prone to jump at conclusions instead of carefully an alyzing figures and thus arriving at conclusions which are exact I hap pened to be in a general store in a prosperous county seat town in Ne braska some time ago when a box of ladies cloaks was received The cloaks cost in Chicago from 10 to 13 each the average being about 1080 the box contained 30 garments and the freight on the box and contents was as I recall it 10S Instead of carefully figuring out the exact amount of freight chargeable to each garment the wide awake and enter prising merchant jumped at conclus ions and added 10 per cent to the in voiced price to cover freight The freight paid the railroad was approxi mately 10S the little item of freight charged the purchasers of the gar ments amounted to approximately 3240 I appreciate the fact that the 10 per cent covered drayage from the station to the store and other inci dental expenses but the fact remains that the railroad received a very small portion of that 10 per cent and I realize that the term freight like charity covers a multitude of things The question of freight rates in order to get a fair perspective and to reach an absolutely fair conclusion must be followed to its last analysis which is its application to and effect upon the individual consumer The consumer buys what his family con sumes flour butter meat sugar tea coffee and the like by the pound he buys his kitchen stove or range and his heating stove or his refrigerator once in ten or fifteen years according sd a to the quality of the utensil and the It be by making the extremely uncer are given it in its use Let us con- tain -attempt to make a general reduc sider for a moment what the freight tion In the pay of the railway em ate means to the consumer and ployees which by comparison with the what an Increase of 10 per cent would pay of men In places of less respou signiry to him The freight on a steel sibility and much less danger is not range weighing from 400 to 500 unreasonably high Is it not better pounds from Detroit to Chicago by that the tens of thousands of people the carload is 57 cents each in less ban carloads to points trom 300 to 500 miles beyond Chicago the rate is from 30 to 40 cents per hundred would add from 20 to 25 cents to thy cost of the stove which dividru J the life of the stove taking the low ids to Chicago is 160 An increase of 10 per cent would add 16 cents to this amount The rate on butter and eggs from points in eastern Iowa to New York a distance of approximate ly 1200 miles is S4 cents per hun dred pounds on dressed poultry from the same points to New York the rate is 96 cents The eggs are sold to the consumer by the dozen and the other commodities by the pound and the consumer pays every farthing of freight that has occurred from the time the egg is laid which he buys in the oroginal package or as dressed poultry or from the time the cow is milked from which the butter is made An increase of 10 per cent would add eight one hundredths of one cent per pound to the price the consumer pays for butter and eggs and it would add nine and one half one hundredths of a cent per pound to the cost of dressed poultry for which he pays from 15 to 25 cents per pound The freight on an ordinary suit of clothes including hat and shoes for a distance of 300 miles from any of our large jobbing or dis tributing centers is approximately 3 cents or 10 per cent increase would add a little more than three one hundredths of one cent to the cost of a suit whicli sells for from 10 to 35 The rate on flour from Minneapolis to New York in carloads is 25 cents per hundred pounds or 12 cents per 50 pound sack The flour is sold to the retailer in New York at approxi mately 14S per 50 pound sack An increase of 10 per cent in freight rates would add but 14 cents to the price of a 50 pound sack or a little more than two one hundredths of one cent per pound The freight rate on a 50 pound sack of flour from Grand Rap ids to Detroit Jackson Marshall or Battle Creek is four cents per -sack An increase of 10 per cent in rates would add only four mills per sack between these points or eight one thousandths of one cent per pound The rate on dressed beef from Chicago to New York is 45 cents per hundred pounds the average price of this beef to the retailer in New York is approx mately 11 cents per pound A 10 per cent increase in freight rates would add less than five one-hundredths of one cent per pound The freight rate on a harvester for three hundred miles boxed and crated by the car load as they are shipped would be 176 a 10 per cent in crease in this freight rate would amout to about 17 cents Would the manufacturer who makes the har vester would the farmer who buys and uses it object to the very moder ate addition to the cost if by reason of it thousands of well paid steadily employed consumers were added to those who buy the grain and other products of the nations farms This list could be enlarged to embrace every commodity which the railroads handle and the same process of an alysis would in every case reach the same result No man who will familiarize him self with conditions which surround the railroads of the country can avoid the conclusion that by increased rev enue the net earnings must be very materially increased Shall it be by moderately increasing freight rates which have either remained practic ally stationary or have been materi ally reduced while every other com modity has steadily advanced or shall jj who buy and use the automobiles should pay a dollar or two more on our machines than that the family of the engineer the conductor the brake pounds making the freight rate on a man the switchman or the humble stove delivered in the Mississippi al- section hand shall be deprived of the ley from 2 to 250 per stove on actual necessities and comforts of life stoves which retail at fcom 5 n SCO which we know they must give up if eacn aii increase ot u pur cent ttietr monthly nav chonk Is rorinfW The issue in all its Important signifi cance reaching as it does the home and hearthstone of every emnlnvno - - - average or ten years would add one of the railways of the country will and one half to two cents per year to finally be left for decision to the great the cost On heating stoves the in- business interests of the nation The crease would be about one third less question reaches far beyond the man- The freight on a refrigerator such ufacturer or the jobber and will be as is used by the ordinary family discussed in the thousands of citie from Belding Mich to New York is and villages all over this broad land approximately 75 cents An increase where railroad men live and trade and of 10 per cent would add 7 cents where good wages and prosperity of to the cost of the refrigerator the railroad employe means prosperity ered in New York City and I ask you for the community It will be dis if you as a manufacturer could not cussed in the homes of the hundreds afford to pay this small addition in J of thousands of men like the 7000 freight rates Could not we all employes of the American Car and ford to pay 7 cents more for the Foundry company of Detroit whose icfrigerator if such an addition fair- j prosperity yea whose existence al ly and equally destributed would re- most depends upon the ability of the turn to steady well paid employment railroads to resume the purchase of the hundreds of thousands of men now j equipment and prosecution of improve out of employment enabling them ments No question of greater impor again to become purchasers of the tance confronts the people of the stoves the refrigerators and the many country today for upon its righteous other products of the many solution hangs the momentous issue turers 0f an early return of prosperity The freight on a dining room suite j u js sa d that through the efforts of consisting of a table sideboard six Judge Williams on the state railway chairs china closet etc weighing commission the state of Nebraska has proximately 750 pounds and selling been saved 6000000 by reducing for from 30 to 75 from Grand Rap- f reiKht rates would it not ho wn fm- the judge to explain who got this 6 000000 What per cent of the citi zens of the state have been benefitted by such a saving And how many thousand men have been thrown en tirely out of employment because of that saving These are questions to be considered by the voters in Novem ber A SunscRiHEit To Tribune subscribers We have commenced mailing to all delinquent subscribers statements of account and expect prompt response It would save ua considerable unneces sary expense and Inhcr if those delin quent would call and prepay their sub scription and not wait for notices No puper will be continued to any subscrib er who owes for more than one full year Get tlio habit nf pijmg for your home newspaper and paying for it in advance The Publisher Accounts Must Be Paid Having disposed of our dairy business to Flitcraft Clark all accounts duo us must bn paid within 30 days either in cash or b note ElKENBEKRY JC CLAKK Tribune Is All Printed in McCook You will find local or county news of interest on each of the eight pages of this paper every week It is nil printed at home No patent print Read all LEGAL NOTICE Fred J Wilson Mrs Fred J Wil on his wife firt name to plaintiff unknown Mrs Samuel G Thomas first namo to plaintiff unknown wife of Samuel G Thomas Arthur M Stark and Edwin V Mosher Stark it Mo hcr part ners and J M Sharon whose full and true name is John M Sharon defendants will take notice that John R Urowu has filed his petition in the district court of Red Willow county Ne braska against the above named defendants the object and prayer of which are that the above named defendants and each of them be required to set forth the claims they or any of them may have in or to the Ea t Half of the Southwest Quarter of Section Twenty Seven 27 the Northwest Quarter of the Northeast Quarter the Northeast Ouarter of the North- west Quarter and the Northeast Quarter of the iNoriucast uuarter oi bection Unrti tour 31 Township Iwo CJ Range Twenty Seven 27 in in Red Willow county Nebraska that a certain trust deed appearing of record against said EVi SWK Sec 27 KWj NE and NElj NV Sec 31 Twp 2 R 27 given on the third day of February 1S93 by the plaintiff John R ISrown to the defendant Fred J Wilson trustee for David Brown recorded in book 17 page S3 of the deed records of said county to be decreed not to be enforceable to be canceled and set aside and the cloud upon plaintiffs title by reason thereof removed that a certain mort gage appearing of record against said NEr4 NEi Sec 34 lwp2 R27W given on April 20 1SS7 by Andrew J Reeves and wife to Arthur M Stark and Edwin W Mosher defendants recorded in book page 252 of the mortgage records of said county to be decreed not to be enforceable as a lien upon said aud that the same be canceled and discharged of record and the cloud upon plaintiffs title by reason thereof be removed and that all claims of the said defendants or any of them adverse to plaintiffs title may be determined by decree of said court and that each and all of said de fendants be adjudged to have no estate or inter est in said premises and that they be forever barred from any right title or claim thereto and that plaintiffs title to said land may be quieted against said defendants and each of them You are required to answer said petition on or before the 23rd day of November 1008 Dated this 13th day of October A D liOS John R Bkown Plaintiff By his attorney J E Kellej ORDER OF FINAL HEARING In the County Court of Red Willow County Nebraska In the Matter of the Estate of Ella A Buck Deceased To all persons interested in said Estate You are hereby notified that on the 30th day of Sep tember 1908 John F Helm administrator of the estate of Ella A Buck deceased filed his final account and petition for distribution of said estate and petition for discharge of such administrator and such account will be heard on the 17th day of October lJOS at the hour of Nine oclock A M at the county court room in I the court house in the City of McCook in said j County at wnicn time you may show cause it any there be why said account and petition should not be allow ed It is further ordered that notice of such hearing be given by publishing a copy of this order in the IMcCook Tribune for three succes sive weeks prior to the date of said hearing In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my official seal this 30th day of September 1903 seal J C Mooke Cocntj Judge Boyle Eidred Attorneys BEGGS CHERRY COUGH SYRUP cures coughs and colds DR I J GUNN DENTIST piok m Office Rooms 3 and 5 Walsh Hllc ilcCook GATEW00D VAIIUb DENTISTS Office over JlcAdams Store Phone 1 9B Dr J A Co Her DENTIST Room Postokkicic Buildimi McCOOK NEBRASKA A G BUMP Real Estate and Insurance Room Two over McConnelln drug store McCook Nebraska YOU WOULD DO WELL TO SEE J M Rupp FOR ALL KINDS OF Rrjn Qpfc P O Box 131 McCook Nebraska A Edgar Hawkins Phone Ited lt3 H H Evans Phone Ked 2SM HAWKINS EVANS Contractors and Builders Plans drawn and PstimutiH furn ished on application 1 24 2m McCook Nebraskn AUTOMOBILE LIVERY DALLAS DIVINE Prop PHONE 166 McCOOK NEBR Night or day trips made anywhere Prices Reasonable Good Service Guaranteed E F 0SB0RN Drayman Prompt Service Courteous Treatment Reasonable Prices GIVE ME A TRIAL Office First Door South of DeGrofPs Phone 13 BSyWMMJtSKMWMXSZl vfi F D BURGESS Plumber and Steam Fitter Iron Lead and Sewer Pipe Brass Goods Pumps an Boiler Trimmings Estimates Furnished Free Base ment of the Postoffice Building McC00Kr NEBRASKA liKt JHi U c f nrcirErS bulbs SUCCEL tf 5PEC5AL OFFER Vt MnJc to lmlld New limine A 3 tri 1 will mrLo you a rornxsntnt eus 7 t r i r tjoa gcciractti il or joui I i i v r f undttl Souvenir CoUectionglaSgtSc u - It SnewflAe Iiiaimlh IilN llb t i i ua uiwl Armwe i iclu Iar i Tulip lrrot iu p v r i and Ut T rrts to day Mention thz Paper l7l 2S CETS Ant4lwtal tocher wUb m tic IiitttTii last - tl II Vl j t C TKn llitt IVjV KTT ttfa I Trlri d Iutt and lUati I 4 In Commemoration ot t fr lunvin utkllftHhll gJiicftlwK TtUEolb gmH W BUCE38 FlJ trtvf i fir a cocinoccs tucriui t n frcfcbrTe b th t r I 5 Ipli b Trepr Z Ji wv all aca is wcrih a qu ricr fcU BUCZ3ZE ST 20CKrC D ILL- A Pl VKvl1Bi V OJ I Farmers bring your wheat to the MILL We will pay you a premium above the market for all good milling wheat All Goods at Lowest Possible Market Prices 91 Patent--the Best Whole Wheat Rye and Graham Flour Special prices on lota of ten sacks or more SEMOLIA A fine breakfast food un- excelled in 2 lb packages All kinds of Mill Feed Corn Barley Chop Bran Shorte etc Orders Promptly Delivered McCook Milling Company E H DOAN Proprietor Phone 29 McCOOK