, 1873-04-10

represents TUG proH1S u VIC eo-aoAA 1A N"A'o'
In other words, the community are required to
nav rates of transportation that will yield the Or
dinary rate of interest on twice the actual cost.
IF tho road proves to be unsuccessful, the con-
etruction ring has it's profits on tho con-,
tract price Of the work, and for the rest it is
saure qui peut. This is the Credit Moblior
system OF building railroads and tho systom
which must Of necessity he abandoned as re-
suit OF the various influence now at work to break
1t down.
Prominent among those influences is the Joss
ct confidence III American railroad securities
abroad. The modern railroads havebeen mostly
constructed from capital obtained through the
sale Of bonds abroad England, Germany,
and France. The foreign capitalists havo
had discouraging experience With American
railway stocks, bonds, and management. In
England. the Erie frauds aud the Atlantic d
Great Western Losses ; in Germany, tho Rock
ford, Rock Island j. st. Louis, the Dos Moines
Valley, the Fort Wayne, Muncio g. Cincinnati,
the Chicago i Southwestern, Atchison branch,
and other forfeited or deprecated railroad Be-
curities in France the Memphis l. Ell Paso
swindle and for all Europe tho revelations Of
Union Paciic and Credit Mobilier transactions,
must act as general warning against
Investment in American railroads. When
one Of tho most prominent American
citizens, identified in the foreign mind
with craftsmanship, leadership in politics.
and SUCCESS in war, is arraigned in France as
swindler, and condemned to five years imprison-
ment for negotiating spurious bonds; when an
American Minister at the Court Of st. James
lends his name to q mining enterprise
hat promises to turn out as badly as some
American railroads; when American rail-
road managers are always asssociated with
the Jim Fisks, Jay Goulds, and Oakes Ameses;
when railroad combinations are formed to swim
dlo the Government and find corporation in
lending rncmbers Of Congress-, when all these
things are scanned abroad. it Is hardly to be e1-
pected that American railway securities will in
tho future meet with the favor they have re-
ceived in the past. It must be that the negotia-
ton OF worthless stocks and bogus bonds in
Europe will henceforth DO more difficult un-
dertaking than heretofore. With the loss Of the
European market the projectors OF future rail-
roads must come down to tho hard pan
the railroads must hereafter be constructed
legitimate1y, md with capital that is amply &c.
cured Thon they will be built at actual cost.
Influences toward the same end are steadily
working at home. Tho time is past when the
people will consent to pay interest On bogus
capital IN the way Of high freight charges.
Every State is now working to regain ita rights
in one way or another, and Is providing
constitutional and Legislative safeguards
against future abuses. The practice Of voting
subsidies to railroads il Congress and in State
Legislatures, and Of loaning the credit OF coun-
ties, Cities and towns to speculative enterprises,
may be regarded as at an end. Illinois has
constitutional prohibition against subsidies, tho
loaning of public credit, and the watering Of
stock. Efforts are making to introduce the
same prohibitions in the Constitutions Of New
York. Pennsylvania, and Indiana They will
undoubtedly be successful, and be Initiated by
all the other States. The General Railroad act
in New Jersey, which recently became a law,
prohibits railroads 1ssuing bonds in e1-
coss OF the capital stock actually paid up.
The suit of the General Government against
the Credit Mobilier Company will probably COM
pei Ames Co. to disgorgo il it docs not force
tie stockholders Of the Union Pacific Railroad
to pay up cnptal stock in full, according to law,
of which only per cent has been paid in thus
far. The tendency in all directions is to bring
railroads down to the basis Of actual cost, and
no one who has watched the temper Of the peo-
pie can doubt that it will be done.
Tho result Of these various influences will con-
tribute moro to tho relief of the public from
railway e1tortion than any berries of statu-
tory provisions. When railroad stocks and
bonds shall represent the actual cost Of the
roads without ba1looning, or watering, or con-
atruction rings, or Credit Mobilier systems, then
railroad tariffs will become reasonable. II the
railroads that are to be constructed in the fu
ture shall be made to conform to this rule, the
railroads already built will be likewise reduced
to it. Those who have been sw1ndled on excess
i've bonds and watercd stock must stand their
loss and make the best Of it. Henceforth all rail-
roads must be built and all railroads operated
on the basis Of actual cost and economical man
agement,
BREADsTUFFS AND BLANKETS,
The Protnctionists tell the fa1mers: You
raise corn which you sell at 20 conts bushel.