E»c  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1379 
a 
Taking  It  Out  of 
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Farmer 
The  Minneapolis  Journal  says : 
“Congress  has  passed  a  law  raising 
the  wages  of  the  railroad  trainmen. 
“Who  pays  the  bill? 
“The  farmers  of  the  country  are  dis¬ 
cussing  this  question  seriously. 
“They  begin  to  understand  that  a  con¬ 
siderable  share  of  the  extra  millions  to 
be  paid  the  trainmen  by  order  of  the 
President  and  Congress  will  come  out 
of  their  pockets. 
“The  railroads  claim  they  cannot  pay 
the  bill.  They  were  willing  to  concede 
the  increase  if  freight  rates  were  in¬ 
creased  accordingly. 
“To  this  the  President  agreed  in  prin¬ 
ciple,  though  he  could  not  pledge 
specific  performance. 
“Accordingly,  Congress  ordered  the 
wage  increase  and  at  the  same  time 
directed  that  a  commission  be  ap¬ 
pointed  to  see  whether  it  was  justified. 
“If  this  commission  finds  the  wage 
raise  justified  but  also  reports  that  rail¬ 
road  income  is  not  sufficient  to  bear 
the  extra  burden,  it  is  evident  that  the 
public  must  furnish  the  money. 
“That  means  to  a  large  extent  the 
farmer,  for  his  products  form  a  very 
large  share  of  the  country’s  freight. 
“Now  the  average  income  of  the 
farmer  as  computed  by  the  census 
bureau  is  $1.47  a  day,  out  of  which  he 
must  support  his  family. 
“  There  is  no  eight-hour  day  for 
him,  in  spite  of  ‘the  judgment  of 
society.’ 
“Early  and  late  he  and  his  family  are 
at  it,  with  no  kindly  Congress  to  reduce 
the  hours  of  his  labor. 
“  Naturally,  the  farmer  is  not  well  content  with  the 
prospect  that  he  must  pay  more  to  get  his  products 
to  market,  in  order  that  one  of  the  highest  paid 
classes  of  labor  in  the  country  may  have  a  raise  of 
twenty-five  per  cent.” 
Republished  by 
Republican  National  Committee 
