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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (May 9, 1901)
Conservative. patchors ; of the most exalted character of financiers ; of the strongest intellectual general managers ; of the most careful and considerate superintendents ; of the best skilled freight and traflic men ; in fact , the railroad tenders the very best fvtti grade of service from each thinking and working American citizen engaged in gainful pursuits. All of those named are , however , only a portion of the integrals of the composite service which railroads render to the public. If it is within the power of equitable legislation to fix rigidly and immovably the prices per mile Fix All By Law. to be paid by the public to railroads for carrying persons and property , then the same power ought to inhere as to the fixing of the prices of all the services and products which make up the integrals of this service. That is to say , the railroad should be protected by legislation limiting the wages it shall pay its employees of every description , from the general manager down to the trackmen , and if justice is given to the railroads as well as favors for the public , there should be a limit to the price of coal , steel , iron and all metals , and to the prices of all the woods used in per fecting the means of offering the com posite sendee to the public. It can not be fair to fix by law the price of a very complicated machine unless some law fixes the maximum price which the manufacturer of the machine shall pay for each of its elements or parts. Those who are so intense and strenuous in their denunciation of railways , their services , their methods and their charges , should carefully study the facts set forth in this article. The figures given illus trate the wages earned by nearly a million of human beings in the United States. The politicians and the press which everlastingly bombard , with fallacies and falsehoods , the management and the operation of the railroads of this country , are a menace to the industrial and prosperous conditions of our times. Whatever of wrong there may bo exist ing , as between the owners and the employees of railroads in the United States , will be eventually rectified by an enlightened selfishness on the part of those who pay and on the part of those who get salaries and wages. Outsiders , mere vagarists , visionaries , who do little themselves , either of physical or intel lectual labor , will never accomplish anything as mediators between these two great potencies in the commerce of this country. Left under the law of evolution to their own salvation , an enlightened selfishness will finally determine satisfactory , remunerative , and most friendly relations between those who own and those who operate the great railroads of this republic. The Railway RAILROAD Ago , ably edited BENEVOLENCE , by a long-time and highly-valued con tributor to THE CONSERVATIVE Mr. H. T. Nowcomb in its issue of May 4 , contains the following : " .T. O. Bartlett , superintendent of the Burlington voluntary relief department , has issued his annual report for the year ended December 81 , 1900. The depart ment has a membership of 19,018 , which is nearly 58 per cent of the employees of the entire system , an estimated surplus of $329,145.29 , and distributed during the year benefits amounting to $295- 885.14. The following table shows the distribution : Disability fromsickness - $83,841.23 Death from sickness 01,110.00 Disability from accident - - 108,584.00 Death from accident 32,488.34 Surgical attendance - - - 10,861.67 Total account of sickness $144,051.23 Total account of accidents - - $150,033.01 Since June 1 , 1889 , the department has paid benefits amounting to $2,671- 510.54 , and had a balance on hand at the close of the year of $456,183. " Every man in the employ , instead of only fifty-eight per ceutof the employees , ought to be a member of this well- managed relief association. Mr. Bartlett , the superintendent , is a gentleman of rare ability and great experience and is , in addition to those desirable character istics , an honest man. The Bryanarchio DOUBLED VALUE , press is now howl ing in anguish be cause the stock of the Chicago , Burling ton & Quincy railroad has been selling for two hundred cents on the dollar. Everywhere the populist is yelling "Watered stock , watered stock ! " at the top of his voice. But the fact that its lines of road , in Iowa and Nebraska , have trebled , quad- Land Values. rupled , and multi plied values from ten to a hundred times , in many in stances , elicits no cry of wrath , or groan of despair from these noisy discontent- breeders. Why not call down the gentle grangers whose lands are salable for fifty dollars an acre when they cost only one dollar and a quarter or were an out-and-out donation from the gov ernment ? The Kansas City A POSSIBLE Star is a sagacious PRESIDENT. periodical. It knows a good pub lic servant at sight , and is never back ward in expressing itself as to his merits. In its issue of May 3rd , it tells some plain truths about David R. Francis of St. Louis. But THE CONSERVATIVE is forced , by liis record in honest , efficient , public labors , to remark that David R. Francis would make a most excellent president of the United States. The Kansas City Star says : "The return of David R. Francis to public life in the prominent capacity of organizer and president of the St. Louis World's Fair is of importance in the state and the nation. When men of the experience , ability and .force of Mr. Francis retire to private life it is a dis tinct loss to the people. Whenever a big man steps out there is always a rush of small fry to fill the vacant place. St. Louis has suffered for lack of strong , able men in its public affairs. The man agement of a great , non-political enter prise Jike the World's Fair is the very thing to call ex-Governor Francis to a commanding position in Missouri and national affairs , for which he is fitted. Mayor of St. Louis , governor of Missouri , cabinet officer , president of the World's Fair , is indeed a splendid record of pub lic service. " Beside Governor Francis , D'Armond and Chump Clark are not visible to the naked eye. The record of each is of words , wind , and fallacies. Neither of them can show where any political act ] of his has benefited anybody in Missouri or elsewhere who was worth benefiting. At Indianapolis , ' EXPECTATIONS. August 8th , 1900 , a candidate for the . presidency of the United States , posing ; as a statesman of great profundity , declared - \ clared , in a most sonorous and somber style : "No one has a right to expect from society , more than a fair compensation for the service which he renders to society. If he secures more , it is at the expense of some one else. It is no in justice to him to prevent his doing in justice to another. To him who would , either through class legislation , or in the absence of necessary legislation , , trespass upon the rights of another , the demo cratic party says : 'Thou shalt not. ' " The foregoing is taken from the best utterance ever made by the distinguished gentleman , who was the populist candi date for the presidency of the United States , first in 1896 and a second time in the year 1900. There has not been found anywhere else , in all of his mani fold utterances , another single para graph , containing one-tenth as much common sense and truth. Possibly he self-applied the first sen tence quoted , when he recently declared that he did not Self-Application , expect to "plan" to become presi dent of the United States at any time in the near future. Possibly he has concluded that society has already given to him a fair compensation for the ser vices which he has rendered to society. Possibly he concludes that if he secures more , it is at the expense of some one else. DEEP , BROAD , BOUNDLESS. "Our society does not resemble the crust of the earth , with its impossible barriers of rock ; but resembles rather the waters of the mighty sea , deep , broad , boundless , but yet so free in all its parts , that the drop which mingles with the sand at its bottom , is free to rise through all the mass of waters till it flashes in the light on the crest of the highest wave. "
