Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1876-01-27
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.
STEEL RAIL CONTINUES HIS ARGU-
MENT AGAINST THE POTTER LAW.

STEEL RAIL CONTINUES HIS ARGU-
MENT AGAINST THE POTTER LAW.
EDITOR HERALD Mr. Lee asks me
to write history of the transaction
whereby the Northwestern railroad
company gobbled the old Galena
division, and the manner of his asking
| suspect it is the old story of sharp
practice and perhaps fraud that he
wants ventilated; but am not famil-
lar with that transaction, and it has
no more to do with the justice or H.
Justice of the Potter law, than any
other thing of the past. He might
ask me also to write up the history of
the old La Crosse company's corrup-
ton in obtaining the land grant at the
extra session of So when Byron Kill
bourne presented the Governor and
members Of the legislature with those
"pecuniary compliments" that dis
graced our good name for all time.
But the men engaged in that dishon-
ored affair met with a stern rebuke
from the people of the State, and as
the most of them are either in their
graves, or are laid upon the shelf to
remain forever, it is not necessary to
this discussion that their bad acts be
dragged from obscurity in which they
are now buried. 1t is one of the mis-
fortunes of human nature to dwell too
much upon the past. 1t is far better
to forget the wrong that has been
done us if we can, and try and find
happiness and compensation in the
present.
But l ,0iU write Mr.. Lee a short
chapter Of the history of the North
western railway, though it will not be
the one that is exactly suited to his
purpose. And before begin | will
call the attention of your readers to
the fact that our laws have fixed the
rate Of interest at ten per cent. for
banks and money lenders, while they
| fix no limit for the manufacturers as a
profit which they may legally make
upon their manufactured articles.
| Now a banker who establishes him.
sell in Grant county, with 100000
capital, adds nothing to the value OF
the real estate in your section, al
though the bank is a great conven.
fence to those near it and who use it..
He goes there to make money, and
the State says that ten per cent is
not too much for him to charge as a
profit from those with whom he trans
acts business. The manufacturer is a
little more desirable than the banker,
in an economic point of view, because
his establishment gives employment
to workmen and thus a home market
is made for the agriculturists. But
the State does not step in and say to
the maker of reapers, drills and corn
planters for the Changers "Gentle-
men, you must not make a profit OF
more that ten per cent. on any of
your articles. If you sell mower to a
farmer and make more than that, you
will be fined or imprisoned or both
at the discretion of the court"
No, almost every agricultural nipple.
ment that is now used by the farmers
is purchased of the maker at a greater
profit than ten per cent, But in the
case of railroad that does enhance
the value of every acre of land in the
county and copfers a thousand bene-
fits upon the people that do not cost
them one cent, the Potter law comes
in and fixes the tariff of rate for pas
sengers and freight so low that those
who have invested in that kind of
property do not make five or even
three per cent upon their investment.
The banker takes his ten per cent.
out of the community and the manu-
| facturer and trader their twenty per
cent. profit, but the railroad builder
must be limited to whatever the legis-
lature sees fit to give him, and if that
is nothing at all, he must grin and
bear it, Now if we are going to treat
all our citizens alike and avoid class
legislation, let US fix the income of
every kind and description of proper
ty alike. If the legislature is to fix
the rates at what it considers fair
compensation for doing certain SER
vice in defiance OF the protests of
those who own the property, then the
legislature should also fix and make
sure the compensation for doing tho
publc's work. If we fix the price of
railroads business for the year at a
rate so low as to afford no income to
the stockholders, it is no more than
| fair that the State Treasurer should
be called upon TO make up the def
cheney by direct tax upon the PEG
| pie, because the public has no more
right to the free use of any money in
vested in railroad corporation than
it has right to the free use of it if it
is placed in bank or any other Joint
stock company that has been charter
ed by the Legislature. Let US SO
amend the Potter law that every
stakeholder shall be paid five per
cent annually out OF the State Treas
ury in case, under the operation of
that law, he is unable to obtain any
dividends from the company.
But Mr.. l. wanted a chapter of
Northwestern railway history and he
shall have it.
That corporation has spent upon it's
lines in Wisconsin little over S2S.-
5000; the debt of the company for
constructing and equipping the roads
is $l7,OoO,o0o its total earnings for
1878 were 100000; and the oper-
ating expenses for that year were
over 100000, and the net earnings
therefore were about 81 900 900 in
I