The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1872-11-21
ARE EwEBU1LDENG 700 MUCH RAIL.
ROAD.

| Der, 1872.
ARE wEBUILDESG 700 MUCH RAEL.
| ROAD.
From the Pittsburgh Iron World and Manufactu
1 rsr-
In all the discussions which have ia
| ken place on the question as to our capa
! city to support our increasing length o
railroads, the real question is ignored
! 1t is as easy to build more railroads thar
we need as it is to build more houses thar
We need, or over produce In any industry
There is no rule of thumb to go by in
any Of these cases. But there is an un
derlying principle which controls the
need of railroads and determines how
much or how little road we can pro6tably
use, and it is this principle which WE
propose to examine. 1t is our Ameri
| can way of doing things, to build rail-
roads IN advance Of the necessities Of the
times. and that it Is the very best reply
| that can be given to the croakers who
with ID. A. W ellis, sound a false alarm. Eu.
| ropean railroads depend mostly on local
traffic for support, while here our roads
look chiefly to through traffic for sup
port, and our largest and best roads are
designed and constructed with view to
be supported by that through traffic as
soon as it shall arise with the develop
ment OF the country.
If We measure our railroad system
merely by local traffic it is easy to prove
tha. we are building too much road. But
the railroad lines Of the country were not
constructed to live on local traffic, nor to al
ways remain In a sparsely settled region.
The condition on which they are based are
~ I'll, II, HI
country, and not only these but increas-
ed domestic commerce of which these
roads are to be the vehicle. The sue.
cess of our vast railroad system depends
upon the wants of one section Of the
country and the ability OF another sec
tion to supply the wants. It depend,
upon the power of each man to earn the
most out Of his labor. All this increases
the quantity Of domestic commerce
This then is the real underlying princi
pie; to increase each mans power tc
earn and buy, and to afford employment
to all labor. The more men earn, the
more they will buy, and the more traffic
for railroads. All labor done Is exchang
ed tor the products of their labor, il
| some shape or other, and railroads make
| the exchange. The more the east buy.
| from the west the greater the valae O.
railroad stock. TIE bottom principle i.
to keep labor proftably employed anC
to never do or make anything when We
can buy it cheaper than VIC can do it our
selves or make it by our own labor. We
should make it do only two things which
We can make and do cheaper than other:
can. our legislation should be so framed
as to increase the opportunities for thai
kind of labor. Legislation has much tc
| do with it, ard it is In such Legislation
and it's products that our railway system
will become most valuable to itself anC
| the country. In other words, our rail
| roads want domestic commerce, rather
| than ocean commerce. One dollars
worth of imported goods ieprives rail
roads of the profits arising from the trans.
| poitation of ten dollars worth Of domes
tic products. The truth OF this is evident
| from the cost of getting domestic pro
ducts to foreign markets. 1t costs three
bushels OF wheat to get one to the sea
board, while the cost of finding marke
for the same wheat at home is only one
third. In proportion as our Legislative
policy compels US to depend on foreign
markets, do We lessen railroad traffic anC
limit the demand for farm product
which is the basis of all commerce.
The power of the railway system t,
increase the productive power of th,
country is necessarily limited by the earn
ing power of the people in it. People
| generally spend all they earn in som,
way or other. If they earn much they
spend much, and if little, then little
Now We might cobweb the country with
railroads until 1t was completely covered
but if the people are limited in the pow
er to earn and to buy and sell, their neeC
Of railroads is correspondingly limited
and the utility and wealth producing
power of railroads is corresponding,
| limited These self evident truths arr
nearly altogether ignored and heuee VI;
reassert them. AS long as we keep the
earning power of the people at its maxi
mum, we arc not in danger of building
too many railroads. In free trade times
| the labor power of the people was no
employed to one fourth its capacity, anG
hence the exchange of the products o
labor was reduced TO less than one-f fourtl
and hence railroad stocks went down.
A careful examination of the statistics
of the States of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa
Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota. Ohio
Oregon and Wisconsin, shows that IL
these states there were in the year 1866
46, S3T, 33S acres improved lands, and il
1870, there, were 60, 705, 61S acres or al
| increase of 50 per cent in ten years, aver
aging over 5 per cent year. The tota
valuation In 1860 is estimated at 50. 3S7
O9S, 977 and the total length of railwa,
in that year in those States was 1923
miles. For each mile of track there wal
therefore q corresponding valuation o
| 1898, ,I67.
Now let us note the effect of ten year.
railroad development. In 1870 the tota
| length of railways in these states wa
! 20, lO3 miles or about double that oflS60
and the corresponding total valuation
was 81 090, 347, 40, equal per mile o
track TO S2o3. 400. or s29.6e9 per mil
less than 1860
This may prove two points that II
1860 we had too much road, or tina
there has not been a corresponding de
velopment during the past ten years
The grea. danger is not so much il
building vast railroads out of American
capital as in building roads out of for
eisn capital and paid for only In bonds
During August bills fo- fifty million
dollars worth of iron in American rail
roads fell due and we paid it by giving
bonds, which is only q fashionable name
for first mortgages on the taxable pro
perty.
| In the same month there was entere'
for consumption, sixty million dollar
worth of foreign goods, to be paid ior II
the same way. There are no less thar
! .Jol n