Of total track we have means total mileage of railroad systems. about 280,000 miles. This represents a capital of $12,000,000,000, with annual earnings of $1,500,000,000. A total of 600,000,000 passengers are carried annually and over 1,100,000,000 tons of freight. More than 1,000,000 men are employed, with annual wages exceeding $600,000,000. The following table will show the comparison of certain statistics during the three years of the free-trade WilsonGorman law and the first three years of the Dingley law: But this contrast, marked as it is, by no means shows the difference between the effect of free-trade and protection upon our railroad affairs. The statistics for 1901 have not yet been published, but it is known they are much in advance of those of 1900, while those of 1902 will show a still greater advance. There is 50 per cent. more railroad business being done now each year under the Dingley law than the average annual business done under the Wilson-Gorman law. There is also an increase of 50 per cent. in total amount of wages now paid. The amount of miles built annually has trebled and the increase in dividends is most satisfactory. But what of the passenger and shipper? The passenger is paying less and the freight rate has fallen 13 per cent. That the result is due in large measure to protection is shown by the fact that last year, while our corn crop and potato and apple crop were so small, relatively, but little of those staples were shipped, still the railroad business of the country was the greatest in our history. Coal was being carried to the busy mills, man ufactures were being carried to the consumers, and luxuries to the prosperous people from Maine to California, from the Lakes to the Gulf. And this immense business was done, too, in the face of the enormous expansion of trolley lines in every part of the Union, deriving a large share of passenger traffic and small freight business. Failures. No matter how healthful the community, there will always be illness and death, but the death rate will vary according to conditions. There will always be business troubles and suspensions and failures, but their number will vary according to tariff conditions. A study of the failures for the past ten years carries with it a most significant lesson. The following table shows the number of failures and, amount of liabilities for the calendar years 1892-1901, inclusive, as reported by R. G. Dun & Co.: It will be seen that both the number and amount of liabilities in 1892 were normal, but coming free-trade was assured by the elections of that year, and the result in the business world is shown by the increased number of failures in 1893 and the liabilities of over three times the amount of the preceding year. In 1894 and 1895 they fell off somewhat, but were still abnormally high, and in 1896 the figures were again enormous. Those four years were anxious ones for every business concern, and fortunate indeed was the individual or concern that went through without suspension or failure. But with the enactment of the Dingley law in July, 1897, came hope and confidence, and the result is seen in the lesser number of failures and the decreased amount of liabilities. The year 1898 was still better, and 1899 was a record breaker for low failures and liabilities, as 1893 had been for high figures. The years 1900 and 1901 remained at normal number and amount, and in this connection it must be remembered that there were many thousand more concerns doing business these later years as compared with the former years, so that the comparison is the more remarkable. A large proportion of the railroads of the country were in the hands of receivers in 1895 and 1896. Not 1 per cent. is in receivers' hands to-day. During the free-trade period the amount of liabilities in failures exceeded $1,000,000,000. During the four full years under the Dingley law the amount has been less than half that sum with an immense increase in business concerns and capital employed. This is what protection has accomplished in this most unfortunate part of business enterprise. While the nation that has dared to be great, that has had the wirl and the power to change the destiny of the ages, in the end must die, yet no less surely the nation that has played the part of the weakling must also die; and, whereas the nation that has done nothing leaves nothing behind it, the nation that has done a great work really continues, though in changed form, forevermore.-Theodore Roosevelt, in speech at Minneapolis, September 2, 1901. It is because we believe with all our heart and soul in the greatness of this country, because we feel the thrill of hardy life in our veins, and are confident that to us is given the privilege of playing a leading part in the century that has just opened, that we hail with eager delight the opportunity to do whatever task Providence may allot us.-Theodore Roosevelt, in speech at Minneapolis, September 2, 1901. It is not only highly desirable, but necessary, that there should be legislation which shall carefully shield the interests of wageworkers, and which shall discriminate in favor of the honest and humane employer by removing the disadvantage under which he stands when compared with unscrupulous competitors who have no conscience, and will do right only under fear of punishment.Theodore Roosevelt, in speech at Minneapolis, September 2, 1901. Nor can legislation stop only with what are termed labor questions. The vast individual and corporate fortunes, the vast combinations of capital, which have marked the development of our industrial system, create new conditions and necessitate a change from the old attitude of the State and nation toward property.-Theodore Roosevelt, in speech at Minneapolis, September 2, 1901. Corporations engaged in interstate commerce should be regulated if they are found to exercise a license working to the public injury. It should be as much the aim of those who seek for social betterment to rid the business world of crimes of cunning as to rid the entire body politic of crimes of violence.-President Roosevelt, in message to Congress, December 3, 1901. LABOR. LABOR LEGISLATION IN REPUBLICAN AND DEMOCRATIC STATES. There is no better way of judging the merits of a political party than by the laws which are passed by the legislators who are elected to office from its ranks. With regard to legislation for the protection of the workers much remains to be done before they receive their full measure of protection and justice, but as can be shown by the statistics of the different States, nearly all protective labor legislation in the United States was first enacted by Republican States, and then adopted by way of imitation by the Democratic States. At the present time, that is, up to the close of 1901, the proportion of Republican States having protective labor legislation is much greater than that of Democratic States. This is plainly shown in the following two tables: Not only must our labor be protected by the tariff, but it should also be protected so far as it is possible from the presence in this country of any laborers brought over by contract, or of these who, coming freely, yet represent a standard of living so depressed that they can undersell our men in the labor market and drag them to a lower level. I regard it as necessary, with this end in view, to reenact immediately the law excluding Chinese laborers and to strengthen it wherever necessary in order to make its enforcement entirely effective.-President Roosevelt, in message to Congress, December 3, 1901. The Government should provide in its contracts that all work should be done under "fair" conditions, and in addition to setting a high standard should uphold it by proper inspection, extending, if necessary, to the subcontractors. The Government should forbid all night work for women and children, as well as excessive overtime.-President Roosevelt, in message to Congress, December 3, 1901. American wage-workers work with their heads as well as their hands. Moreover, they take a keen pride in what they are doing; so that, independent of the reward, they wish to turn out a perfect job. This is the great secret of our success in competition with the labor of foreign countries.-President Roosevelt, In message to Congress, December 3, 1901. 手機 |