PROCEEDINGS CORN BELT MEAT PRODUCERS' ASSN. 507 



them by the Interstate Commerce Commission at that time if they were 

 thrown on the market, and yet we have got a condition which requires 

 the commission to fix these rates high enough to earn a dividend of S^/^ 

 per cent on the fixed valuation. 



It is also interesting to note the attitude of the railroad employes in 

 regard to a reduction in wages. Just as soon as a reduction is announced, 

 the organization spokesmen jump out and threaten a strike, so it is that 

 they hold the strike club over the shipping public continually; apparently 

 not caring whether or not the farmer receives anything for the long hours 

 of toil in producing his crops. It has been proven conclusively that the 

 farmer received from ten to twenty-five cents per hour for the time spent 

 in producing and harvesting his crop, while the railroad laborer received 

 from sixty cents to one dollar per hour and time and one-half for over- 

 time in the performance of his task. 



Railroad and all other classes of labor must be reduced in price, and the 

 sooner the laboring people realize this and accept it the sooner will busi- 

 ness of all kinds become readjusted and revived, and all will be benefited 

 in the end. 



Likewise, freight rates and many other commodities must be reduced 

 materially, in line with the deflation in prices of farm products and live 

 stock, as it is grossly unfair and unjust to expect that agriculture must 

 stand all the deflation in this reconstruction period, and if the present 

 management of the railroads can not make them pay under greatly re- 

 duced rates, they must be turned over to men like Henry Ford, who will 

 increase their efficiency and cut the rates in two and still make them pay. 



Now, it seems to me that the duty of the live stock producers of this 

 country, along with the farmers as a whole, is to see that the present ses- 

 sion of congress amends this bill so as to give us some protection. I be- 

 lieve that the commission actually wants it done. They realize the situa- 

 tion. The only reason we didn't secure a 20 per cent reduction in rates 

 on live stock in this case that I have been talking to you about was simply 

 because the commission hadn't the power to do it. That's all there is to 

 it! While that law stands in that form, the commission is practically 

 helpless to reduce rates, unless the railroads voluntarily do it. That is 

 what they did in the 20 per cent reduction on the rates that exceeded 50 

 per cent. The commission never ordered a reduction of those rates — they 

 recommended a reduction, and the railroads made a reduction in accord- 

 ance with that recommendation, but they were not made pursuant to an 

 order by the commission, as was commonly done prior to the passage of 

 this bill. 



Taxes 



Equal in importance to the transportation question is the question of 

 taxes. These have increased by leaps and bounds during the past few 

 years County, municipal, state and federal taxes are now so high that it 

 means almost confiscation of our property in many instances. 



Taxes on farm lands range from one to three dollars per acre, which 

 represents one-third or more of the rental income, and farmers everywhere 

 are finding it most difficult to scrape up money enough to pay them. 

 Never before in the history of our state has there been any approach to 



