The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1873-10-09

ness of the Pennsylvania Central and its
many dependencies. II such system was
practicable then, why is it not practicable
now!
We see now in the instances which
have cited the state of things. One compa-
ny owns lines and motive power and hires
them out. The monopoly has in many in
| stances ceased to be a monopoly Of owning
the cars in which the freight is carried. It
of the machinery of traction simply. Roads
which formerly competed have come under
one management. What valid reason is
there why the trains of any other road can
not be run over these lines subject to con-
troll by one management as to number, time
Of departure, rates Of speed and other rules
which pertain to the duties Of a train dis
patcher? If the roads can be run on by any
other line the monopoly is still as great as
it ever was, if only one line has the sole
right to furnish locomotives to haul the
trains. Why should there be monopoly
of the forces of traction any more than there
should be monopoly of the cars which are
things If on all the wagon roads in Olmsted
county, while many men owned wagons,
some one man had the exclusive right to
furnish horses to draw them. The train
under the plan supposed, must be run so as
to insure safety. How does the fact that
one company owns one train and another
company owns another, initiate against
safety, provided each must run at certain
times and under regulations? These regu-
lations are applied now with great exact
ness, as the telegraph book Of any train dis
patcher will attest. Suppose the. govern
ment to own through line, open to as
many trains as can occupy it, no matter
where they come from, why cannot it pre-
scribe rules for the running of these trains,
hiatt o f1,n arlx lfvS
road in the country. does it to-day for itself.
It has been objected that this plan in
wolves the necessity of costly depots, to be
erected and maintained. at the expense OF
the government, who must provide the men
to conduct them. The objection is not a valid
one, conceding it to be we'll founded as to
the fact. But it is not wellfounded. Leave the
depot and elevator business to private enter
prise, where it ought to be, even under the
present system. The government builds no
warehouses along the rivers, or at the har-
b0rs. Private enterprise does that. The
government, it is objected under the plan
proposed, would be obliged to employ an
army of conductors, brakemen and engi-
neers. But this cannot be so. 1t employs
no steamboat captains, no pilots, no engi-
neers for river traffic. Itlicenses engineers
and pilots, and they are paid by those who
hire them.
For purposes of illustration suppose the
Winona and St. Peter road was so managed
to-day. There are along its line granaries
filled to bursting with perhaps five million
bushels Of wheat. The car capacities of
this road are so restricted that they are to-
tally inadequate to move this crop in any
reasonable time. Where two or three
freight trains traverse this road daily, ten
could be run with perfect safety. But no
other institution except this road can put
locomotive or car thereon. In the case i'm
agined, suppose that some southern rail-
road has cars and locomotives unemployed
by reason of failure Of crop, or it not being
ready for transportation, or from any other
for instance, seeking employment for his
idle stock, is aware of the state of things in
Minnesota which 1 have described. He is
at liberty to put a train upon this road
and . compete against all COM
ers for, the privilege of carrying
our productions, just as the ship-owner
sends his vessel to ports where frelghts are
! abundant. But there would be competition
not only between different railroad compan-
les sending their cars onto this public line.
Private enterprise would take hold of the
business. To own train of cars and an en-
CINE is no different thing from owning a
ship. Under the circumstances supposed the
corrective forces of competition would be
brought into full play, force which now
system of the country. ,.
am aware that to acquire such through
lines, or to build them, involves enormous
OUTLAWS, but that fact is Of no moment
when 1t is considered that the amount which
rapacity now flches from production would
probably suffice to pay for the line in very
short time.
do not advance this theory with any
stubborn pride of opinion. I am only anx-
ious to assist in some small degree the pop
ular mind to reach sound conclusions, and
shall feel amply rewarded if anything that
can suggest will tend to that end. The
whole subject is too vast for any satisfactory
discussion in the time to which speaker is
restricted, and l pass unwillingly from its
consideration to touch upon matter of per-
sonal interest to myself as a candidate.
At the convention held at Owatonna an
eminent farmer-Mr E. St. Julian Cox, of
St. Peter-proposed a resolution which has
become part of the platform, in which it
is charged that the present Republican
candidate for Governor is an enemy to the
farmer and friend to monopoly by reason
of subserviency to the railroad companies.
This surprised me not a little, for knew
that had taken advanced ground on these
and it was generally conceded that my NOM
ination was largely due to the position
which had thus maintained. 1t seems,
however, that this resolution is based upon
a vote which gave while member of the
Legislature of 1857, in favor Of extending
the time for the construction Of railroad
two years.
It's complained of that did not vote for
an amendment regulating the tolls. Well,
my esteemed friend Mr.. Ayers, who was a
member OF the same body. voted the same
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