Litchfield enquirer., 1880-08-05
What the Country has Done for its Rail-
roads: What the Railroads ought
to do for the Country.

The present census will show, it is said, a
decrease of about one fourth in the indebted
ness of the several States in the country but
an immense increase of city, town and county
debts. They will reach some $3.50, 900, 900; or
total OF over eleven hundred millions, state
and municipal Indebtedness. This equals more
than half the national debt. Much of this
municipal Indebtedness has grown out of the
aid voted to local railroad enterprises, most of
which proved temporarily unrenluncra,ive. 1t
must be remembered, too. that vast amount
of private capital has been involved in the
same projects; and that, at the very time the
great railroads have become consolidated into
great monopolies, all these smaller enterprises
have been generously provided for ultimate
absorption into those great lines which are
now enjoying virtual control not only of our
railroad system, but also substantially of the
transportation of the country. Nevertheless
few cf the towns which have aided railroads
will be in the long run losers by their liberali-
ty. They are laying the foundation of future
if not of present growth.
One reform. however. is needed before most
of the smaller railroad stations can accomplish
all that is justly expected of them Tue
present system. or want of system, of railroad
ing, tends to foster the growth OF competing
points. Take the Naugatuck railroad as an
example. 1t hauls freight cheaper to Winsted
than to Wolcottvlle because, at Winsted, it
completes with the Connecticut Western. This
practice OF favoring competing points prevails
even to a still greater extent with the great
cities and through traffic. TRANSPORTATION
from Chicago to New York is vastly cheaper
than transportation from intermediate points
The fact is that, under the present plan, rail
roads make their living out of their non COM
peting stations, and then gamble with other
railroads for the business of competing STA
tons, often at rates altogether too low to be
remnnerative. Thus the. large stations are
continually growing at the expense of the
small stations, and people are continually
wondering why the city population increases,
and country population diminishes.' .-
With just laws regulating railroad charges,
these evils of unregulated competition could
be to great extent remedied and to this end
repeated bills have passed our House of Rep
resentativcs but are inevitably weighed down
by the conservatism of capital when thew
reach the Senate
For SLY iniquity it is not easy to heat the
congressman. Just after the ''sllarv-gr ab."
congress passed aw-apparently self-de-
nylng ordinance Covering what remained
of the grab" into the national treasury. Il
covered" nothing but more inlquity. All
tn unclaimed grabs" still remained in the
Sergeant at Arms hands, as these fellows very
well knew when they passed this virtuous
looking statute. When the storm blew over
they expected to quietly take their $4,000,
each, from the Sergeant at Arms and nobody
the wiser. The dodge was discov cred in the
case of VIM. Fl. Barnum, and he was forced to
pay over the money on the eve of his re-elec
ton. Mr.. S. W. Kellogg was luckier, the
discovery occurring after instead of before the
election; and, finally, aftera long delay he drew
his money. Last month, after waiting seven,
years, an Ohio congressman also thought it
safe to pocket his grab How much more
money, We should be glad to know, still re-
mains unclaimed in the hands of the Sergeant
at Arms?