The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, August 9, 1917, Page 8

o\ e et e A T e B e e T s AN G T2 T e %////A NN NN TORI is anarchy. The post office assumes publications are guilty before they are proved guilty, and puts the burden on the publications to prove their innocence, which is a reversal of the lawful method. Such measures are a breakdown of government, courts and law and a resort to anarchy. They are to be condemned more than the race riots at East St. Louis and the labor troubles at Bisbee, because they are sanctioned by the government under color of law. R * * * Popular definition of ‘“treason”: Any person who disagrees with 5 you on how the war should be conducted or financed. (Note—this can be used equally well as the popular press definition of a “pro-German”). * % % % RAILROAD EFFICIENCY T HAS been dinned into our ears for years that our railroads are I the most efficient in the world—that we lead the world in trans- portation - facilities. This, however, has been the propaganda of the railroad magnates. It has been the stock in trade of those who are upholding private ownership and operation of railroads. The facts are the opposite. The railroad system of the United States as a whole is a conglomeration of disconnected units: We are practically the only civilized country on the globe that stands for such conditions. Con- sider these facts: : : ] AL SECT publications without trial or hearing, at the same time refusing reasons, - QS THE CONSCRIPTION LAW HE American people have accepted, generally, the principle of I conseription, because they believe it to be a fundamentally dem- ocratic measure. The argument that the burden of defending the nation and protecting its rights against foreign aggression should fall equally on all who are the best able to do the defending, has been convineing to the great majority. They have seen logic in the plea that fhe voluntary system of raising armies places the burden on the self-sacrificing and heroic who appreciate their duty, and allows others, equally well fitted to serve, to get the benefit without the sacrifice. They have seen wisdom in a plan based on the theory that all who enjoy equally the rights and privileges of a free government should equally bear the burden of defending those rights and privileges. These are the arguments that were made, and the majority, appar- ently, has been convinced by them. Because these arguments were so convincing, the people have accepted with little or no protest a selective draft law that is faulty and unfair in many respects—for instance, why select the new armies from men betweengthe ages of 21 and 317 Why should not men have been included up to 45? Are not men be- tween 31 and 45 equally able to bear arms and are they not equally benefitted by government? Should they not, then, also join in the de- fense of American rights? Also, why sexempt government A large proportion of the rail- : 2 \ roads are in the hands of receiv- NO “DEADHEADS” ALLOWED ‘| civil officers? Why exempt ers. Another large proportion are nearly bankrupt, are furnishing inadequate service and are in such a run-down. condition they are dangerous to travel upon. You can not travel across the United States. over one system—you are handed along from one system to another, each system with differ- ent rules as to amount of baggage carried free and other different requirements. You pay 2 cents a nile to ride in some states, 2 1-2 cents in others and 3 cents in others, and God knows how many special vacation, exceursion and round trip rates are in effect. The freight tariff books are a Chinese puzzle. No ordinary eciti- zen can discover the rate on a shipment of goods between two points without the aid of a rate expert. The railroads are short of cars and break down under al- most every emergency. With big- ":'RODUCED ger profits than they ever made ] UNCLE S, ABMY before-they recently demanded a — == i/ 15 per cent rate increase. Rival ; : = railroad lines parallel each other’s g tracks, duplicating service where it is not needed, and lines refuse to extend their tracks into terri- tory needing service. Due to un- necessary competition, a great army of freight and passenger traffic solicitors are maintained, adding to the expense of opexiation 3 and increasing-rates. Consider the remedy: One management and ownership for all the railroads—the people; the roads operated for service and not for profit, like our highways and bridges are operated (a railroad is a pub- lic highway) ; one system of charges on frei.ght and passengers all over the country—one standard of service, one set of rules; elimination of costly rival offices and solicitors that now make costs soar and hence. increase rates; no duplication of tracks into territory where one line is sufficient (think of that saving); adequate service in territory now without railroads; no run-down, unsafe equipment; first consideration, SERVICE FOR THE PEOPLE, not, as now, PROFIT FOR BOND 'AND STOCK HOLDERS. Here is the big point: The unifying of the railroads of the United States into one, efficient system, cutting out duplication, simplifying rates, would make SAVINGS THAT WOULD PAY FOR THE RAIL- ROADS IN A FEW YEARS. The government, in taking over the railroads, wouldn’t have to tax the people or issue bonds to buy them— the railroads could be paid for out of the savings of the unified, effi- cient operation. THINK IT OVER. 2 % ® s EVE, Congress passed the selective draft bill in short orden Easy enough, when it was only a matter of life. But when it comes to passing the ex- cess war profit tax bill, congress takes up months in debate. ‘Lie down, Rolla, comparisons are odious, oS ministers of religion and students of divinity? If ministers are ex- empted, why not lawyers or farm boys? If state officers are ex- empted, why not city officers? These faults and unfair diserimi- nations of the law are not its worst feature. Its worst feature is its recognition of the principle that a man’s conscientious seruples about killing his fellow ‘men is a valid objection to army service, and, WHILE RECOG- NIZING THIS PRINCIPLE, LIMITING ITS APPLICATION TO MEN WHO ARE MEMBERS OF CHURCHES THAT OPPOSE WAR AS PART OF THEIR CREED. That is utterly inde- fensible. If seruples about taking life are valid reasons for exemp- tion from military service, then every man who has honest convie- tions of that kind should be ex- empted, no matter what church he helongs to, or what political party, Congress should amend the con- seription law to be fair to all classes of people. Membership in a certain kind of church should carry ng special privileges or im- munities,”any more than the pro- tection of any law should bhe with- held from any claSs of people be- cause of membership or non-mem- bership in any church. Why exempt Quakers and refuse to exempt others who hold the same scruples about war as Quakers? The people have generally accepted the conscription law, in spite of these indefensible provisions, because they did not want to find fault with its minor aspects in a time of crisis, when they felt the law as a whole was good. This is all the more reason why congress should, in good faith to the people, at its earliest opportunity, correct its own mistakes. If we are going to have conscription, let’s have fair con- serption, SR - REASON FOR IT According to Senator Townsend of Michigan, it is not the advisory commission of the Council of National Defense that the public has to fear, as alleged, but ¢‘the horde of vultures who have swooped down on Washington looking for fat contracts, and who, disappointed at not getting them, have become scandalmongers villifying those who have kept them from getting their clutches on the government’s money.’’ Probably this situation accounts for some of the abuse that has been heaped upon a few officials at Washington who have had the courage to come out and tell the people about the extortionate profits of food pirates and other ‘‘dollar patriots.’”” The mewspapers con- trolled by big business have started already their-attacks upon Hoover, Baker and Vrooman and since President Wilson sent his ‘‘blood money’’ letter to manufacturers he, too, has been placed under fire. PAGE SEVEN 9