The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1874-08-13
The Railway Problem Considered
As Regards Minnesota.
[St. Paul Letter July 3O) N. Y. Tribune
A FAVORED STATE.

| LOT. raul Letter (July SU) N. I. tribune.
FAVORED STATE.
My impression, derived from CONVEX
sations with gentlemen operating some
of the leading railroads of the State, is
that the Commissioners have in most
cases aimed to reduce rates, but that
the reduction has been so slight that
while the relief afforded the individual
farmer will be so small as not to be felt,
its aggregate effect on the receipts of
the companies will be considera BILE. The
passenger rates are fixed at 4. l-2,and
cents mile. On few Of the roads
this is reduction of one-half cent a
mile.
The people of Minnesota are suffering
less from railroad exactions than those
of any other grain-producing State.
This is the conclusion arrived at dur
ing my visit here last year, and my re-
cent observations have confirmed the
impressions l then received. Wheat,
flour and lumber, are the chief articles
which Minnesota exports. The value
of the first two is so much greater in
| proportion to their bulk than that of
corn, and the cost of production in this
State so small, that they will bear the
high prices of transportation and still
leave to the farmer and miller good
margin for profit. Great quantities of
lumber are RATED down the Mississippi
river, the cheapest kind of transporta-
ton that has. yet been discovered, and
that which goes by rail is manufacture
ed so cheaply at Minneapolis and Still
water that it is furnished to consumers
in distant parts of the State even, at
reasonable prices. The people of Min
nesota are prosperous in spite Of the
great cost of transporting everything
which they have to buy or sell.
But while say that Minnesota is
growing rich, do not wish to lose
sight Of the fact that there are great
and crying abuses in connection with
the construction and management of
most of the railroads of this State. The
Legislature of last winter, in enacting
law which consider the most moderate
and equitable of all those passed in the
West since the present excitement be-
gan, attempted to deal with the results
of the abuses to which have referred
instead of striking at the root of the
evil. There is not in this State, sup
pose, single railroad which is earning
enough money or more than enough to
pay the interest on its bonds. The
trouble is, not that its rates are too
low, or, in many cases, that the road is
extravagantly operated, but that it is
attempting to keep ahoat too many
bonds. The main line of the St. Paul
and Pacific Road, for instance, is, and
some time has been, on the verge of
bankruptcy. It's managers will tell you
that to reduce its rates in the least
will precipitate the ruin of the COM
pany. and destroy all hope that it will
be able to meet the interest on it's
bonds. But the people of Minnesota
ask with great deal of force, think,
ought that road to be expected to earn
the interest on debt averaging at least
500, 900 mile, while to build the road
ought not, and probably did not, cost
more than S25, 900 a mile?
The readers of the Tribune are ia
miliar with the system of railroad con-
struction through the unsettled por-
tions of these Western States, but | will
venture to illustrate it by an example
which just now comes to my hand.
At the time of the panic, last Septem-
Der. the Minneapolis and St. Louis rail-
road company was about making con-
tracts for the construction of its line
from the Falls of St. Anthony to the
Iowa line. The terms of the contract
were that, for completing the road and
placing it in running condition, includ-
ing the iron, side tracks and local sta
lions, the company was to pay $4,000
mile. In order to raise this money
they proposed to bond the road for
$4,000 mile. 1t was supposed that
the bonds could be sold for about eighty
cents on a dollar, thus giving a net
profit to the company on the construc-
ton of S5, 600 mile, beside the money
which they expected to collect from the
towns along the line. The Northern
Pacific company was to take long
lease Of the road and pay the interest
] on the bonds.