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About La Grande evening observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1904-1959 | View Entire Issue (April 12, 1916)
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 1916. LA GRANDE EVENING OBSERVER F4.GE THREE." 3- Today Qqty "The Ruling Passion" Fox Metro Presents The Exquisite Viennese Actress EMMY WEHLEN A story that stirs the heart strings WHEN A WOMAN LOVES 5 Acts of Superb Photography A Series of Intense Scenes TOMORROW Claire Whitney in (THE, FORUM President Elliot's Argument "Not Conclusive" Cleveland Ohio, April 6 (To the Editor.) The appended editorial from the Boston (Mass) "American" should be carefully read by all thinking Am ericans. Shall the workmen be refus ed an eight hour work day in order that the financial manipulators shall have more "Velvet!" with which to juggle? Is there any good reason why the employee should be sacrificed to make additional "Roman holidays?" Wiith the railroads run as business institutions instead of private grafts, they can easily give the employee en eight-hour day. President Howard Elliott of the New Haven Railroad declares that if the demand of the irailroad employes for shorter ihours of labor is granted, it will increase the cost of living by limiting production. Mr. Elliott may be right, and he may be wrong. But in any .contin gency this is not conclusive argument against the wisdom of granting this demand of the irailroad employes. Of course, if all other things remain fixed, to decrease tihe hours of labor would mean an increase in the cost of railroad business, which would have to be met by the public through in creases in carfares and freight rates, or through a decrease in the quality of service which tlhe railroad renders to the public. - But in this day of wonderful inven tions, of wonderful organizings, of in creasing general intelligence, it is not necessary to assume that all other conditions affecting the railroad busi ness will remain fixed r.nd unchange able. There are a great many condi tions which can be changed and which by changing will very strongly ' tend to offset this loss in the hours of la bor. First, During the last quarter of a century, since labor organizations be gan to demand a decrease in the hours of toil by workmen, their employers have met tihis demand by the same argument which Mr. Elliott now ad vances. In fact, the manufacturers, who were usually the employers in volved, had ever a stronger case than tihe irailroad managers, because the Legislature which proposed ton-educe the (hours of labor was always a State Legislature, and the manufacturer was able to say that to reduce the hours of labor in the factories of the State would 'result in handicapping the industries of the State in comparison with the industries of another State, where no. such law was in force. This is always a serious argument for the State Legislature to consider. But the labor unions always met this 020 & Brothers v MOTOR CAR.' ' The Quality Car The Difference between a $2000 car and a Dodge Brothers Car is quantity not quality. SMITH'S GARAGE Distributors BUILD FOR THE FUTURE as well as for the present if you would be genuinely economical. Use only the best and thorough ly seasoned lumber such as we handle exclusively. Youll not have to pay any more at th.: start. Youll save a lot in thf future. GEO. PALMER LUMBERv COMPANY Retail Dept. Phone Main 8 a.gument with the contention that the human frame is like the soil; that the law of diminishing returns applies as forcibly to the workman's body as it does to the tilled fields; that the more intensely you work it, the less in proportion you produce by it. They contended that by shortening the hours of labor you could speed up the workman and put more intelligence in to the work, and, thoref ore, more econ omy and more productivity. Nobody doubts that t8ie labor or ganizations were Tight, The history of the shorter-hour legislation has proved it. Certainly there is a limit beyond which this rule will not apply, and the limit is not incommensurable; but we Slave not yet reached that limit. How far the rule will apply to the railroads is not certain. Probably the decrease in the hours of work will not be completely offset by the increase m ine cmciency or the workmen. iut it will have some effect. It will be one of the elements' which will con tribute to keep c'own the cost of oper ating railroads at tho public expense. Now, tlbie . railroads have not any such argument as tho manufacturers, in a Slate opposing a State law which would raise the standard of wages above the level of the standard of any upon the railuoads alike and is not giving any railroad an 1 i.d other State, because this demand' is vantage over its competitor. Second. Mr. Elliott assumes, natur ally enough as a railroad manager, that the cost of operating a railroad in tho other departments than labor will remain fixed and unchangeable. But Mr. Elliott assumes too much. It may remain fixed, but it is not un changeable; and if it remains un changed, it Will be the fault of the railroad managers. There is a vast difference in the cost of nrodurtinn between a railroad operated as a rail road for the benefit of its stockhold ers and of the public, and a railroad operated as an instilment of stock I speculation Dy stock .gamblers in Wall Street, whose eyes are on the ticker and not on the trainB and freight houses. Let us take for example, this very railroad of which Mr. Elliott is presi dent. The New Haven Railroad has within ten years lost, through waste, mismanagement and general lawless ness, from one hundred to two hun dred million dollars. Now, that is part of the cost of operation undevr present business standards m the rail road world. The New Haven is not nn exceptional but a typical case. The Boston & Maine has had the same history recently. So has the Chi cago & Alton, wflnich Harriman looted. So has the Rock Island and the St. Ionis & San Francisco, the Missouri Pacific, the Santa Fe, the Union Paci fic, and nearly all the railroads in the country. They have been in bankruptcy sev eral times, and huge profits have been made liv those wlho put them in bank ruptcy and who were given control of their reorganization. In the old days this mismanagement not only ' came out of the public ultimately, through an increase in the freight and passen ger rates, but it used to come in the first instance out of tho railroad em ployes themselves; for these wreckers of railroads, when their conspiracy was ripe, would apply to a friendly Federal judge a scallawag whom they had put upon the bench for the appointment of a receiver, and the judge would appoint one of the con spirators receiver to run the road dur ing reorganization. The first tUuing that Mr. Conspira tor and Receiver always did, was to reduce wages on the roads. Natural ly, the railroad men struck, But to stnke was to be in contempt of court. because the Receiver was an officer of the Court. So the Federal judge would issue an injunction against the workmen who struck, because the reorganizers were trying to recoup the money which they (had stolen out of the pockets of the workmen. If the leaders of the railroad men had I the audacity to continue the strike, they were thrown into jail for con tempt of eotirt. Fortunately public opinion fhexa com pelled the courts to stop this discredit able secret alliance with railroad loot- f ers, but unfortunately the legal prin- j ciples upon which the courts operated have not yet been disavowed. We hove- vhat Mr. Brandeis, when hi! takes' his place on trie Supreme Court bench, will help the court to disavow them, so that those things may net happen l tain when the audi'riry of speculators rises to its old nitch, Now, the new Haven Railroad has lost from one hundred to two hundred million dollars in a short period by aggrandizing schemes not unlike these in character. 1 that railroad were on its feet; if it had not lost this vast sum of money, and if it hnd not suff ered the consequent loss of moral and efficiency with their train of evils, the New Haven would be amply able to meet any increase in the cost of labor, through'this demanded decrease in the hours of labor, out of its surplus pros perity. Therefore another answer to Mr. Elliott's contention is that the railroads can change their methods can operate a railroad as it was meant to be operated as a .railroad not as . r 1 1 . TLT- Elliott is himself trying to do this very thing and iB meeting with con-, siderable success. .Mr. Hustis and the ' Federal trustees are trying to do this very thing cn the Boston & Maine, and arc meeting with great success. 1 hey have in a year converted a deficit into a surplus, and in a short time, if its condition improves in the ratio of last year, the Boston & Maine will bo on its feet agr.in merely by decent man agement. Now. a change which will make it impossible for a repetition of these orgies of railroad speculation and wrecking will completely offset any increased cost of labor which may be involved in tlhe demands of the rail way employes even if the increased I efficiency of the labor does not help very mucn. Doubtless Mr. Elliott will say that , . . ., , l i ,i i ine ranroaa muimvra iwvc their lesson; that the stockholders have been tlhe most to suffer, and that (Continued on Page Six) ANNOUNCEMENT i Introducing Mr. C. Frizzell, Expert Electrical Worker Realizing for; some time that La Grande and 'Vicinity should have ' a first-class electrical worker I have been endeavoring for several months to locate such a man. All garages in Country Towns have men who work i on electrical equipment, but to get a graduate from the inside snops of the Splitdorf Electric Company is no small undertaking as I have just learned. But I succeeded in getting Mr. Frizzell, and have letters from the Splitdorf Electric Company and other successful concerns attesting to lis ability as an electrical worker so that I can now say to my trade that I can guarantee proper workmanship on the electrical end of the auto mobiles. ....... Very few Garages in the country can make such a claim, but I stand behind and guarantee all of Mr. Frizzell's work. He is expert on Mag netos, Generators, Starters, Storage Batteries. Come to us with your electrical work. '"'. . LEIGHTON'S GARAGE R. W. Leightbn, Proprietor. IT'S an INDIAN BICYCLE That You Will buy This Year You know what the INDIAN MOTORCYCLE has done?. For over 15 years it has dominated and today leads the world in the motorcycle line, and the INDIAN IBICYCLE is made in the same fac : tory, by the same workmen, this is the new product. Wlhien you buy an INDIAN BICYCLE, you , buy something more than a well designed machine, you buy a perfect product, a MASTERPIECE, and vou buy the full assurance that the INDIAN guarantee tarries. Sold only by ' F. D. HAISTEN, On Easy Payments Here are Some of the Farmers who Have Purchased Palmer Logged Over Lands Joe Burchctt Bert Oak man James Nicole t Jesse Kalembach H. W. Glass W. D. Sinclare Dan M. Dozier H. A. Galloway John Ricks, Jr. Wm. Eckstein C. E. Hcagy C. C. Cates Fred Grout S. C. Doty L. N. Steers II. P. Van Gorden Mr. Drury J. W. Redhead . C. E. Redhead F. E. Cook R. F. Amsbcrry Ed. Jasper Ben Horrell T. W. Owsley Bert Greiner G. E. Lupher . Frank H. Fager V. P. Hahn J. M. Fchr J. M. Bowery Fred Wells John Miller Wendell Oliver M. C Cropper N. N. Mason Amos Baxter Roy R. Fuller Wm. Jasper E. E. Grout YOU KNOW SOME OF THESE PEOPLE, ASK ANY OF THEM WHAT THEY THINK OF PALMER LANDS. rfc'S, - A,. $15 Per Acre l-10th Per Year Call and let us give you one of our new illustrated circulars and sec the collection of grains and grasses in our office. George Huntington Currey knows nearly every foot of Palmer Iands and will be pleased to tell you about them or go with you at any time to look them over. FARM LOANS AND INSURANCE Opposite Y M C A 108 Elm St, Both Phones Geo. H. Currey He Who Mores REAL ESTATE La Grande, Ore.
