| Show AS PRICES P ICES RISE HIGH COST OF LIVING HITS THE RAILROADS Service Will ill Be Crippled Un Unless U Unless 0 less Relief Conies Comes Soon EXPENSES UP RATES DOWN Wasteful and Conflicting Regulations Hamper Railroad Credit While Adr Advance Ad Ad- r 00 vance In Labor and Materials Out Out- o trips strips Revenues Chairman Krutt- Krutt 0 Tells Congress Committee Unified Federal Federal Control Control Will Improve Conditions Washington toD April 2 The condition In which the railroads find themselves as a result of ot constant Increases in w wages es prices of ot material taxes and other expenses while their revenues are re restricted by legislation was strikingly described by Julius Chairman of or the Executive Committee of ot the Southern Company in D his testimony during the past few days before the Joint Congressional Committee Committee Com Com- on Interstate Commerce which is making a study of ot the question of ot railroad regulation Mr I n urged the committee to recommend a aplan plan of or regulation which will center lenter responsibility for tor re regulation and Its results in ht the federal government so that conditions affecting both expenses and revenues may be made subject to toa a uniform policy instead of ot the wasteful wasteful wasteful waste waste- ful and often orten conflicting policies involved In In- In the system of It combined state slate a and l federal regulation r Why Roads Need More Mori Money Mr te testimony U nony also had hed hada a bearing on for tor the thc application appU cation of the roads to the Interstate Commerce Commission for tor a general in freight rates lie He showed i nal bo be the biggest In the history ore Ole cost Q sale aale of these lands e e the is rap rap- John Kramer was down reed ye by bv day from rom Altonah He lie reports e enger pas past Inch of snow enow Monday night ion asS as S Geo Goo T T. Smith of Redcap Is Ve ye re re- from Wyoming with the purebred sheep he recently eive 0 etre effect effect- ted t ed 3 per trains The Womans Woman's Auxiliary food assen assen- was held at the Williams-Colt-lots Williams In Drug store Saturday All AU food food crease creaso In the thee ij sold e from H or Burt Durt Whitmore of the period Coltharp Drug company mile mlle last week from a business Bitter Creek Crook Colo averS aver- aver i S lumer- lumer in a iu w L. L i. i L jent of Agriculture per rent cent Transportation Is practically the only commodity in general use that has bas not increased tremendously in hi pi price Ice during the past twenty years freight and passenger passenger pas pas- sen er charges being lower than the they were twenty years rears ago Big Saving to Public I 0 ti If It rates had risen proportionately to the increase In the co cost t of ot other articles articles arti arU cles les of ordinary use Mr told 1 the committee the average pas- pas pasI I V Ben Benger er rate In 1915 would have been cents a n mile or CO O per Ier cent higher than Iban it was and the average freight rate would have ha been cents or G GOper CO GO COper per cent higher than it was The saving sav sav- ing lag to the public in pat passenger fares through this difference was and in freight rates Universal railroad bankruptcy under this reduction In rates a and rl Increased cost of operation he said was avoided a only by heavy heavy expenditures to obtain increased increased efficiency In train movement making It possible to haul more tons of ot freight per locomotive This had ba reduced re reo reduced the tho average cost of hauling a u aton aton uh h ton of freight but the decline in the average freight rate had reduced the ther r Z net revenue of the roads from each ench ton hauled If It the operating costs of the thet t 9 railroads Including the prices of coal labor and material continue to advance ad ad- 5 vance at the present rate a lot of rail rail- roads will be he in the toe hands of or receivers by 1918 unless some torne relief is afforded Mr told the committee Owing to the rise of commodity prices he said the purchasing power of ot the dollar has fallen 55 per cent and the railroads are arc In the position of ot being being be be- ing compelled h by law to Accept payment payment payment pay pay- ment for their service to the public in currency worth cents 45 on the dollar Public Publics Chief Interest The publics public's greatest Interest Is Inadequate in inadequate adequate te transportation facilities and nl not BO so much In low rates As to most T commodities freight rates form a aery very ery small email proportion of ot their cost Excluding Excluding Ex Ex- low Jow grade R commodities the percentage of oC the trel freight ht rate to the cost I lg so slight as to offer no Justification tion for any substantial III increase In prices pric's to the tile consumer It ma may be stat stated d with little fear tear of or contradiction that the consumer seldom j if ever profits from a lowering of freight rates Extortionate rh are ure a n thing of or orthe the past and under the attempt to cut rates rates' to their lowest possible figure I the be Int Interest rest of at the tho whole pui e in tho the character and standard ol o transportation tion Is subordinated to the Interest of or that part of at the public only that pro profits tf by lower lowel rates that rates that Is to say aay the ship ship- r pers pera and their agents and not the gets gen oJ oral fral public the ultimate consumer |
