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. "
