The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 20, 1920, Page 4

et eerosainlr et —o————— e — Hitting Some High Spots in Current Affairs as more and more facts appear the enormity of the steal that has been perpetrated upon the American people grows. The Financial World Investors’ Service of 29 Broadway, New York (a publication going to investors of sufficient means to contribute the subscription price of $50. per year), says in its August 6 issue: The railroad rate decision is more favorable than appears-on the WE HATE to keep harping upon the railroad rate case, but surface. The decision allows for rates which will return 6 per cent . on estimated property value AT THE PRES- Wall Street Organ ENT COSTS OF OPERATION. * * * It is highly probable that the rates named will 5 provide MORE than 6 per cent on the aggre- of Railroad Steal gate valuations ‘of the roads. Labor costs consume normally about 40 per cent of gross earnings. In 1918, the last year for which we have full statistics, labor costs consumed 54.06 per cent of gross. * * * The roads have been employing more men than needed. *. * * The surplus men have been costing them nothing, as the roads remained under federal guarantee until September 1, and to discharge the redundant workers would have demonstrated the ability of the carriers to reduce operating expenses and would have had an influence on the new rates. It is an important reflection that in case : . the new rates give the roads MORE than the stipulated 6 per cent they are at liberty to retain all or a part of the surplus. Bares New Angles Could anything be more bald once /A~ than this confession of the conspir- EVERY acy between the railroad managers rous YEARS and the interstate commerce com- . o . . mission? The roads are given rates that will provide a 6 per cent return while labor costs are 54 per cent of their total, instead of the normal 40 per cent. As soon as the rates are awarded labor will be laid off (that process has been started already), and instead of getting a 6 per cent return on the valuation adopted by the interstate commerce commission (which is in itself several billion dol- lars higher than the total market value of' all railroad stocks and bonds) the roads will be getting 8 to - 10 per cent on this fictitious valua- tion, a return which may run as high as 12 per cent on the actual valua- tion, as indicated by the market value of railroad securities. S the Tennessee legislature criti- cized “outside interference” of those who, like the executive com- mittee of the Nonpartisan league, urged ratification of the federal suf- frage amendment. OME of the anti-suffragists in i Tennessee’s What have Scandal and these ardent states Its Lesson rights spokesmen to say of the condition revealed since the Tennessee vote was taken? Here are the facts. Some 12 members of the house of representatives, includ- ing the speaker, pledged in writing to support the amendment, voted against it. Why? Because at the last moment the Louisville & Nashville railroad, which in large measure controls the political affairs of Tennessee, just as the Great Northern and Northern Pacific rail- roads formerly controlled the political affairs of Minnesota and North Dakota, sent orders to its henchmen at the capitol that the suffrage amendment must be defeated at all costs. The speaker of the house, who is the L. & N. attorney at Nashville, led the bolt. Why was the Louisville & Nashville particularly interested in defeating the suffrage amendment? Because the Louisville & Nash- ville is owned and controlled by the Atlantic Coast Line, a Connec- ticut holding corporation, and the Atlantic Coast Line has a close friend and ally in Senator Brandegee of Connecticut, who is up for re-election this year. So are Senator Moses of New Hampshire and Senator Dillingham of Vermont—all three bitter and consistent en- emies of woman suffrage. With women voting this fall they almost certainly will be defeated. The Republicans may lose control of the senate and the railroads might conceivably lose their hold on the government, or be compelled to subsidize the Democratic party to the same extent that the Republican party has been subsidized. Senators Brandegee, Moses and Dillingham are all Republicans. '~ JUST BEFORE ELECTION ~ —Drawn expressly for the Leader by Congressman John M. Baer. Do you remember that poem of Eugene Field’s about the boy who, just before Christmas, was “as good as good can be”? John Baer thinks the presidential candidates are the same way—just before election. Candidate Harding and Candidate Cox have just finished telling the farmers how much they think of them. But will the successful candi- date think as much of the farmers after he has taken office? Probably not, judging by past events. But when the farmers choose their own candidates, as they are doing new in Non- partisan league states, the result is different. Plan Fail? The Tennessee legislature is Democratic. Nevertheless the long arm of special privilege reaches down from New England to below Mason’s and Dixon’s line. It compels servile Democrats in the South to break their written pledges, so that servile Republicans in the North may be retained where they can vote billion-dollar sub- sidies to the railroads in return for the million-dollar subsidies that the railroads give their party bosses. Big business is always nonpartisan. It is the game of big busi- ness to keep the common people divided, some in one party, some in another, while they use their henchmen in both parties to swing their balance of power now one way, now the other. When will the people see that the only way to beat the game is to adopt the tactics. of big business and be nonpartisan too; not in the dishonest way used in Tennessee, but open and above board—playing the game just as it is played by the farmers and workers of the West? ATE in 1919 Attorney General Palmer concluded his compromise with the packers, under which all criminal proceedings against them were dismissed on their promise to get rid of their stockyards and other sidelines. Commenting on this pact ; January 5, 1920, the Leader said: With the dissolution of the Standard-® Oil monopoly such re- cent history, will the public be convinced that the attorney general " THE BoYs ARE AWFULLY"} Packers Try G00D JUS' FORE ELI_E'CT/())\A/I) to Nullify ‘:gg tg:izl:;c};er?i:é: DL TIEY FORGET ME. Agreement camouflaging—that SO0oN AFTER— ) ; : < i U’) the same aggrega- tions of capital, controlled by the same inner group, will not con- tinue, under cover, to build up and - perfect what is already the world’s most gigantic monopoly? * * * What is to prevent packer in- terests organizing “independent” companies, perhaps actually mask-- ing as farmers’ organizations, to run their stockyards? What we predicted less than a year ago has now come to pass. So- called “independent” companies have been organized BY THE PACKERS to take over the stockyards. The packers admit having “something less than 50 per cent of the stock” and probably actually control close to 100 per cent. It is, perhaps, not out of place to repeat one more sentence from our editorial of January 5. We said then: Government ownership and operation of the stockyards, to preserve a fair and open market for livestock, is the real solution. These words are as true today. e HERE now seems to be pretty good reason for the general belief that the Interchurch World Movement failed because the big men of money refused support when they found it would be impos- sible for them to use the movement as an adjunct in the fight on liberal reforms, labor unions and progres- sive farmer organizations. The re- port of the “Interchurch” on the steel strike is not such as would lead big financiers and corporations to “come through” in support of this, the biggest religious campaign ever proposed, Why Did the wh1ch,. however, is b'eing closed angi abandoned be- Interchurch ©2use it could not raise the money it expected. : One doesn’t have to read very far in the “Inter- church” report on the strike to realize why the big fellows withdrew their support. Says the report: We found: (a) That the strike was regularly conducted in ortho- dox fashion according to the American Federation of Labor rules and vrinciples. (b) That while radicals sympathized with the strikers, as was natural, they were effectually debarred by the strike leaders. On the question of the workers’ grievances the report adds: All the conditions that caused the steel strike continue to exist. ‘We feel that unless changes are made approximating in some degree the findings here presented another strike must come. - In the measure that workingmen become intelligent and Americanized they will refuse to labor under such conditions. .. No wonder millionaires who contributed to the “Interchurch” with ulterior motives were disappointed and throttled the movement! PAGE FOUR ’