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Show I! : FINANCIERS WOULD : 3 HAVE LOW PRICES I if'. ! They Say That Values Cannot Be Fixed by Law, and Fear i 1 Unwise' Legislation. SOLUTION IS IN HIGHER I YIELD FROM MORE LAND May Aid the People to Get Back ' , "ij io Agriculture and Away ; ; From the Cities. I ' '.- liy Leased Wire to The Tribune. NEW YORK, Jan. 29. Big railroad i '1 men, crc.it captains of industry and L. high povcrnmonfc officials have joined " ' hands (n go at the solution of the iij high price problem in a businesslike .'. r, i:i.. T.,0,r... .t mil .t v I; , '!'- Morgan, Benjamin P. Yoakum, W. W. I, .' Pi u ley and Andrew Carnegie havo taken l ' :, ,up the subject and while Micro has ' been no organization as yot, it is staled . as a fact that they havo been in con- l! ' sultation not only among themselves, but with President Taft and other high I i '--id officials, both state and nalional, as lo y '' , what is best to be done, j ' ;' It is the opinion of men of affairs I that the whole trouble lies in the steady drift of population to the citios and the . consequent cutting down of tho re-! re-! . .''m lativo productivity of the farms. In , i ' ' other words there" is a steady growth i. V. ' in the consumptive demand without a corresponding increase in tho supply v of the necessities of life. !f '. These financiers and railroad men pre ! ) not taking up this question in a spirit f -1 of pure philanthropy. They realize j l' that the agitation is bad for business. I ! that it is bringing about an iuflniued t public opinion highly inimical to big I , business interests, which if not checked, j y ,L is almost certain to lead to what they ; 1 deem ill-advised legislation which will j . -J cripple industries. ' . ';'.! Believing as they do that naturnl j .. causes have brought about the increase j ' in prices. the- are determined to use "I their groat; power, not alone of money, j . ., , but. of constructive ability, to apply the j ' i"5 proper remedy and start the tide of ! population. back to the country and to I merensod production. j-',;,, Back to 'the Farm. 'frj As James .T. Hill sums it up: "Sixty- ; vij f,v3 Pr f our People arc living I -.4-;3 in tho cities. Tu 1S00 4 per cent were II ',, in tlie cities ami towns ana in lbuu onry ; 16 per cent of the entire population j p wore living in the urban communities. f'V Is'ow tho condition is reversed and only fi ' !?5 per cent of our people arc tilling tho t . j soil. 'f;;;' "You cannot fix the prices of ;l products by statute. If a farmer can j ,!? gel Go cents a bushel for his corn he . V.( isn't going to feed it to the hogr and ' , !li have them die of the cholora. Conse- ' :h quently the price of meat is going up I ..H and .the wage earner will have to turn j ''.'v 1 to breadstuffs for his food. This is U true throughout the world." ' In Mr. mil's recent visits to Wash- i ', ington he has talked over the situation . with President Taft and, others. The I - , ( president is thoroughly 'with the move- j , -,J"j ment and will aid it in every waj- l;i possible. I ' ' The governors of the agricultural ,. states, the states which need agricul- j ..l51 tur.il population, will help and an active jj .:! , campaign of education is to be carried s H on in New York, Chicago and other , great centers of population. ,' , Plans have not been formulated as I j1.', yet. but it is tindcrstood the railroads i v i 1VI" cr inducements not onlv to home- I l seekers, but to agricultural laborers and j j it may bo that some special arrangc- r MiiM mcnls" will be made lo assist in a finan- ? i f! cial way families who desire to leave s " Kr, tho cities and take up farming until Jj , ' nev can become established. 'I .', "Hi In this city today Bonjamin P, Yoa- :wm kum. the multi-millionaire railroad j,' ' fi builder and partner of Edwin Hawley, ) ji in the Hnwlcy-Y'oakum system, called I ' upon llio people to get back to the J ' farm. , . What Yoakum Says. I 'i iij Like that cmpiro builder of the ! , ,i'JJ northwest, James J. Hill, Mr. Yoakum thinks that tho uso and value of the t J farm is underestimated. Mr. Yoakum f f. is somewhat of ten cmnire builder him- t ' .''.! self. Lines of his railroads have de- r 'A . veloped much territory in Texas, New , Mexico, Arizona, Tennessee, Georgia, M.ississippi and other states in the southwest. Speaking of conditons, ho said: "Tho attempt lo estimate the amount which will bo added to tho national -wealth when the potentialities of the south arc developed almost staggers tho imitation. imita-tion. Jt is a mistake to think thfft agricultural agri-cultural production would lesson the proceeds of the farmer. Inslend this would multiply the profits of the farm owner. "Noihing would do more good for citizenship than scattering tho surplus population of our citios into the farming farm-ing regions of the south and southwest. Such stales na Georgia, Alabama Tennessee, Ten-nessee, Texas, Plorida and Louisiana offer unrivaled opportunities. "Conditions of food supply and nd-vaucod nd-vaucod mothods in agricultural work arc beginning to have their effect upon tho neglected opportunities in tho south. Cost of Living Prohibitive. "Tf. has taken ten years with a steady increaso in tho prico of foodstuffs to reach the presonl lovel of prices, which are prohibitive for tho poor. This shows that increased production is the hopo. tho only hopo, for lowering prices and bringing the cost of living within the i oxistiug wage scalc Were tho south 's representatives in congress as alert and aggressive- as many of those from tho west nnd northwest havo been we should have seen enlisted tho support of tho federal government in the development of groat enterprises for draining millions 111 illWUS CIL hWnil liUlUS UIHL HOW IIU- ducc nothing .but which would, when brought under cultivation, produce sufficient suf-ficient to have a general effect upon foodstuff prices. "Govornor Patterson of Tennessee, while in New York recently, expressed himself strongly upon this subject. Gov ernor Sanders of Louisiana is energetically energet-ically pushing iorward tho interests of his statex in which there are many square milea of useless swamp lands. Governor Sanders is building roads by which the farmer can more easilv get his products to market. It will bo a great thing for New Orleans because it will bring that congested community much closer to the country. "Tho fnrmers will not have to stand tho expense and dcla.y of crossing swollen bayous or rivers, or tho heavy expenso of repairing harness and wagons caused by bad roads conditions. Louisiana is also organizing for drainage, drain-age, and it is estimated that SO per ccut of Us 10,000,000 acres of swamp lands, which arc now being sold at from $10 to $15 an acre on account of tho timber they contain, will sell for from $60 lo $75 an acre when ready for cultivation. "Governor Donaghcy of Arkansas is earnestly co-operating with the agricultural agri-cultural and commercial organizations of his state in developing its resources largely through drainage work. He is the active lender of a movement there to bring 6,000,000 acres of rich land under cultivation by drainage. If their plau8 succeed and thoy arc hopeful of securing the co-operation and support of the fedoral government, the population popu-lation and agricultural products of Arkansas Ar-kansas will be more than doubled. Such work as this means much for tho future." Clark on Railway Valuation. Commissioner 13. 13. Clark of the Interstate In-terstate commerce commlaelon, spcuktns recently o the valuation of railroads, said In part: "Sometimes when I read or listen to ii cleverly conceived and well-presented theory, I wish that I had been endowed with a nature that did not gravitate so quickly and so directly to the practlcul. The theory of busing transportation charges upon a valuation of the properties proper-ties of the carriers and of rewarding reductions re-ductions In charges with additional dividends divi-dends was recently suggested. "Now, If one company owned all of the transportation lines and the officers of that company, or some regulating body, could arrange a schedule of rates that would be satisfactory to cverv locality lo-cality served, together with an equally satisfactory formula for ascertaining the Increases and decreases In rates that would he necessary In order to maintain a proper relation between gross earnings and net available for dividends. It would seom an attractive plan, although some jealousies might develop about taxation nnd as to the localities that should first be accorded new terminals, double-tracking, etc. "Clearly reductions In rates would not provide for Increased revenue available for extra dividends unless tho increuse In avenue resulted In Increased volume of traffic. "However, one company cannot own all the lines unless that company bo our Uncle Sam. I am sure none of us advocate advo-cate such ownership, and therefore we must look at this matter from the practical prac-tical standpoint of actual conditions. "There arc several linos of railway between be-tween Chicago and New York. Sornd of them have their own lines all tho way and some must join with others In order to make a through line. No two of them have Just the same physical characteristics. characteris-tics. No two of them have the same mileage of second and additional main tracks. No two of them huve tho sumo ratio of equipment. No two of them have the same Interest-bearing debt, capitalization cap-italization or Hxed charges. No two of them have the same valuation, whether that valuation be based upon original cost, reproduction cost or present value as a going concern. "And yet their charges must be so nearly the same that any difference therein Is fully compensated for In service, serv-ice, or the traffic will follow the line of cast res stance, which, in this connection. connec-tion. Is the line of lowest charge. What would bo a reasonable return on the value or capitalization of one of them might spell ruin for another and riot or riches for still another." Crude Oil Tie Treatment. The Santa Fc began the use of Call-lon)l!L Call-lon)l!L c,'uj6 oil for treating plno ties In 1001, and the ties put In the track. In February, 1301'. are today In rtral-c Ini" condition, without a sign of decay, although al-though untreated plno ties in tho same track would not last over two years '1 wo and a half years ago a lot of plno ties wore treated In this way nnd sent down to the Mexican Central. Tam-plco Tam-plco branch, which, for tics, has about the most destructive climate to be found In North America. The untreated plno tics which were used there had an average life of somo-thlng somo-thlng over a year, but the tics treated with California oil, when recently Inspected, In-spected, were In excellent hhape. At Albuquerque, N. M.. tho Santa Fo Is using crude oil for all the pine ties used in that territory. It is. not imcd for spruce or the harder woods, because this oil will not penctrato these woods In a satisfactory manner. Creosote la therefore there-fore used for thlH class of ties. At the Somorvlllc tlo-trcatlng plant of the Santa Ie Home crude oil Is used, but only in cxperlcmntal work, In tho way of mixing certain proportions of creosote and crude oil The resulto of such mixtures mix-tures havo not yet developed. William Rendall, for forty years of the Royal Society for tho Prevention of Cruelty Cruel-ty to Animals, says that within his tenure ten-ure public opinion on tho proper care and treatment of animals has so changed that Instead of two acts of parliament there arc now upward of twenty which deal directly di-rectly with cruelty to animals. The branches of the society hav increased from twenty to G20. The business of selling sell-ing old. worn-out horses has been attacked at-tacked for years by his society slnghj-banded. slnghj-banded. but he now feelB more hopeful. "Wo want spurious sports to bo made Illegal, Il-legal, private daughter houses lo ho ahol-islicd. ahol-islicd. cruel exhibitions of performing animals to be stopped, with increasing supervision, su-pervision, to prevent overloading," he SHJ3. ' |