The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1859-12-09
THE PILOT.
M A N l r o w OC:
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 0, 1859.
Wisconsin Railroads--the1r Cost
and Benefits.


for they never pay" is remark we have
heard repeated so often lately, that we
| have taken occasion to satisfy ourself in
what sense the remark is to be taken as
truth. We confess to so much astonish-
ment on ascertaining the enormous and al
most fabulous cost Of the Railroads here
tofore constructed in orr State, that We
ceased to wonder that, the people in their
! individual or corporate capacity, should be
regarded as fools for having invested their
money and loaned their credit in our Rail-
road enterprises without closer scrutiny
! into tie character and acts Of the mama
gers, with view to learn whether their
| capital and credit were to be used for legl
innate purposes, or to enrich individuals.
| If we are to Judge Of the character of
| Wisconsin Railroad Directors, and officers
and agents, from the history they have
| furnished US of their management of Rail
road affairs, we must certainly say that as
a general rule (Which, like all general rules,
has its exceptions) these Railroad mana
gers were a pack of knaves, while those
who invested their capital in, and loaned
their ere lit upon the stock and bonds ls-
sued by these Companies were most I'M
questionably duped-foolec We DO not
believe tie remark we have quoted, will
be used at It's day in the sense that our
people would have been better off had no
Railroads been constructed, for every one,
unless he be an incorrigible old fogy,
knows that they have become a necessity,
and would never consent to a return to the
mud roads and slow coaches of ten years
ago.
In the next twenty years, the Northern
and richest half of the State of Wisconsin
will boast of its thousand miles of Rail
road which will add thirty per cent. more
to the population, business, commerce and
wealth Of the State than the Roads already
constructed have done, or can do; and
what will be another interesting and inn
portant fact, these will be paving Roads,
if for no other reason than because their
cosl will not exceed one third, or probably
not one-fourth per mile of the cost of our
present Roads. It may here be asked
what security Will you have that the same
old game, or deeper one, will not be play
ed oil by the managers upon capitalists
who furnish the means necessary for the
construction Of these Roads We might
reply, does any one believe that game has
not been fully played out in Wisconsin
The experience Of the past in Railroad his
tory cannot be again repeated in Wiscon
sin. While the necessities and interests of
the people Of the Northern half of the State
will drive them into the building of these
Roads, they will first obtain the most strin
gent laws for the protection of stockhold
ers against frauds, and will know what their
Roads are to properly cost, and the amount
Of bonds and stock to be issued will be
limited to such cost, and become the rep
resentatives Of value, and not as heretofore
has been the practice in Wisconsin, allow
ed to be issued to any extent, limited only
by the ability of managers to shove off to
fools on change, at the best price they
will bring, beautifully pictured promises to
pay-thc representatives not of property
or value, but of fiction.
The Railroads already constructed in
our State have cost nomnally three and
one-half times what they should have cost,
and the same amount of means already in
vested, or represented to have been invest
ed in these Roads, properly expended,
would have given Wisconsin three and one
half miles of Road to one now built
The eight hundred and fifty miles Of these
Railroads, mostly single track, and not yet
properly finished-as ascertained from
their published reports, and in those few
cases where reports 90 not make lull cNnl-
bits, from approximate estimates-have
reached the enormous cost Of fifty six mil
lions Of dollars, counting bonds and stock
at par. while it should not have exceeded
twenty millions Of dollars, and their pres
cnt value cannot reach the sum of sixteen
millions of dollars. Here we have a diff
ference between what this mum Der of miles
of Road should only have cost, and the &C
tual cost, of :36 000,0 00-anl between
their present actual value and cost, of
$40 100000. We will take out OF this
account the Lacrosse and Milwaukee road,
which has been so vilainously managed
that it should not be cassed with any 9TH
er Road in the world-its 1919 miles hav-
ing cost SD 800, 0O0-(but dropping the
fraction Of a million, or 100000, as Kill
DoURS used to occasionally in New York,
az being Of little yalue) and deducting the
So 900 coo from the s3G,000,000 and
$40, 900, 900 respectively, We show diff
ference against the other Roads Of S14,-