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Running Farms and Running Railroads 
i 
The Farm Under Private Ownership 
Back in January, 1917, there was a farmer 
who had a GOOD FARM, which was worth 
$20,000. He had good horses and live stock, 
with fences, buildings, wagons, plows and other 
implements in GOOD REPAIR. 
In the three previous years the farmer had 
made a LIVING on this farm, and after all 
expenses were paid found that he had made a 
PROFIT of a little over a thousand dollars 
a year—a little over 5 per cent on the VALUE 
of his farm. 
He had applied SUFFICIENT FERTILI¬ 
ZER each year, and his land was in good condi¬ 
tion for FUTURE PRODUCTION. 
II 
The Farm Under Government Control 
But, because it was necessary to help win the 
war, the GOVERNMENT TOOK POSSES¬ 
SION of this farm, held it for 26 months and 
promised to pay the farmer A RENTAL equal 
to what he had made in the three previous 
years. 
[The Government DOUBLED the wages of 
the farm hands and SHORTENED their 
working hours. 
It established working conditions under 
which it took MANY MORE MEN to do the 
SAME WORK, and under which, oftentimes, 
men were paid for work NOT DONE.] 
But the Government DID NOT put on the 
farm the amount of fertilizer necessary. It let 
the fences get into BAD REPAIR; the roofs 
of some of the buildings leaked. The farm im¬ 
plements fell into bad repair. Nor did the 
Government REPLACE all the tools that were 
worn out. 
The Government promised to PAY FOR 
THE DAMAGES, but up to date the farmer 
hasn’t got all of his monev, though he needs it 
badly to KEEP GOING.’ 
III 
Back to Private Ownership Again 
At the end of the 26 months the Govern¬ 
ment turned the farm back to its owner. 
All the farmer’s tools and wagons had been 
put indiscriminately in a pool and used on one 
farm or another regardless of ownership. 
Naturally no one had taken as good care of 
them as the farmer would have taken of his 
own implements. 
At the same time the Government required 
the farmer to CONTINUE WAR-TIME 
WAGES and working conditions. 
It would not permit him to decrease wages 
nor to require a better day’s work without ex¬ 
haustive hearings beforea Government board. 
The prices of his farm products had increased 
somewhat, but NOT NEARLY ENOUGH 
to cover increased wages and the increases in 
the cost of all his supplies—so that in 1920 he 
made just $62 net profit on the farm which be¬ 
fore the war was good for $1,000 net profit. 
At the same time the demand for his prod¬ 
ucts began to FALL, and for some of them 
there was hardly a market at any price. Then 
many people began to tell the farmer that he 
could make money if he would REDUCE the 
prices of all his products, although on account 
of high wages he was already selling some of his 
stuff without profit, and even BELOW COST. 
IV 
Parallel Case of the Railroads 
This farm is IMAGINARY, But compare 
item by item and you have a true picture of 
the railroad situation. 
Although the railroads could not earn their 
operating expenses and taxes in January and 
February, it was July 1st of this year before 
they could get any relief from high wages. And 
then there was deducted from their pavroll 
only $375,000,000—say ONE-SIXTH—of the 
increase of the past four years. 
Association of Railway Executives 
Transportation Building 
Chicago, Ill. 
61 Broadway 
New York 
Muns®y Building 
Washington, D. C» 
Those desiring further information on the railroad situation can secure it by addressing the offices of the Association 
