Carson daily appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1873-1877, 1874-02-26
TIRE OWNERSHIP OF RAILWAYS

Priss makes a brief epitoMe Of some Of
M. Adams suggestions TO the Ma5sa-
chusetts Railway Commissioners con
corning the question Of legislative con
;-oI Of faxes, frei5Ets, &c-, hut We
suspect that oar contemporary is MS
IakeI, IL attributing the sud Report to
cur former Minister to England. The
real author i. doubtless the ez-,.i;lis-
:er's sor. Charles Francis Adams, Junior.
Be tbs as il MY, i Was this younger
Adams who, acting conformity with 4.
II. Briggs and F-.ncis NJ. Johnson, con-
fOrmahie to 2 Resolution OF TIE Nassa-
ehus2tts Legislature f 1872, made = very
interesting and instructive Report, Il
oopy OF which IS al hand. IN that Re-
po.t are coacise statements Of tie rail-
way systems Of Great Britain, Belgium,
France and Germany. following which
statements are seine conclusions det,ucei
from the consideration CT the four sys-
TENS indicated. It Is stated in this
summing ur. following the quite easily
accepted assertion that, The connec-
ton Of each system with tie cOye-Lmcn.
Of the country 10 which i belongs il
seEsibly Pa-tales Of tie characteristics
Of The Institutions and people Of tia:
country" that In America and GEcs.,
Britain il IS parliamentary o. legislative:
il Belgium II is directly administrative;
in France it IS supervising and pate-Ha!::
IN GeT.aany il IS bureaucratic OF minis
teriai." Il order that this mater I.,;silt
have been presented in its own order, II
should have been stated earlier in this
article that the Report, in giving an ac-
count OF the railway system in Belgium
conveys the fact that the said system
presents an almost equally divided ag-
gFegate OF railroad ownership between
the State and certain private corpora
lions; which arrangement sustGins n
constant competition between the gov
eminent lines AMI the others, with con-
sequent benefit TO the people. This
b-ief allusion IS quite necessary to
clear understanding Of the following,
which contains, perhaps, the suggestion
referred 10 and criticised by the Enter !
prise. We quite as follows from page |
~ Of a PIX implicit entitled AN extract |
from the Fourth Annual Report CT the
Railroad Commissioners Of Massachu-
sets
Meanwhile, among tie systems which
haze been described, and III view Of the
peculiar conditions attaching TO tie in
s,itulions Of America, TIE Belgian sys-
TEN is the only one which apparently
offers features worthy of careful consid-
Grafton, with a view to their adoption as
part of the policy of this Common
wealth. This arises from tie fact that
the Belgian system owes its success not
sione to skiliul administration on the
part Of the Government which res
pect the States of this country are essen
italy weak,-but it, success Is III yet
greater degree due to the fact that the
-5sssnce Of its system IS competition.
Not the competitor which alone IS known
il this country between two or more or
carnations which may at any time con-
bine, and are certain ultimately 10 do SO:
but the competition of two forms o.
ownership. between which co.4b:s lon
10 necessarily ibPractIcebie,-oNn
b the Site and ownership by private
corporation. by controlling 4 portion
o. its railroad system, tie State is IL
this way in a position to regulate the !
whole; for it is out Of the question that
two distinct scales Of railroad mauGss-
Inent. as regards the Ial,,ic, should long
exist side by side in one country. The
success or failure of The one in lis oper-
ations cannot fail to dictate tae policy
Of the other. Through this mixed own
e.ship. also, the two classes Of roads.
brought il constant and giarng contrast,
continually keep each other up to a high
5 standard; the success or shortcomings
Of the one telling Immediately ugon tie
0. her. This is VIA. has actually hap
enad in Bel siUIi. with the results which |
have been described.
The hint conveyed by this. it seems to
rs, is very well worthy of serious con-
sideration; although, OF course under
existing circumstances the principle al