Suppose each one of the railway employees should, by better work and greater care, save only one cent a day; that would mean for the country $5,566,250 a year, or enough to buy between 5000 and 6000 freight-cars; or, enough to build two hundred miles of branch-line railway in Montana. If they could save ten cents a day, it would mean $55,662,550 a year, which could be applied to adding to the railway facilities in the country.
In addition to the 1,525,000 employees working directly for the railways, there are 2,500,000 in coal mines, steel mills, manufacturing plants, all supplying what is necessary for the railways in their operations, who represent at least 10,000,000 of our total population. So the railway employees and the employees of the industries dependent more or less on the maintenance of railways on a sound basis represent approximately 16,000,000 people whose rights must be considered.
The railways are the great purchasers of materials of many kinds, and the moment they are forced to stop buying, the effect begins to
