The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1880-12-16

business, OF course nobody thinks the
real cost Of the road is to be measured
by the nominal amount of these bonds
and shares. It is easy for competent
engineer to tell how much any road
ought to COST supposing the work TO De
honestly done and literally paid ior'
That being ascertained, you have the
true basis of calculation, which Will
show how much the tolls ought to be.
Most of our Western roads were built
with the proceeds of public lands, grant
ed mediately or Immediately by the Uni
ted States to the several companies now
having charge OF them. They did not
really cost the stockholders anything; IN
some cases they got land worth great
deal more than all the expense of max
ing stocking and running the roads. The
two companies between Omaha and San
Francisco raised in cash out of Govern,
ment bonds, lands and mortgages OF
their franchises, four or five times as
much as they necessarily expended upon
the roads. The stockholders, without
paying anything, put an enormous sur
plus fund into their p, ckets. THESE
roads, thus built at the public expense,
and in some cases paid for by the public
five times oyer, are now claimed as prl'
vate property by the companies, and the
right of the Lublic to use them as high
ways is utterly denied; nevertheless l
think the claim of these companies to
take reasonable tolls stands upon the
same foundation as that of companies
whose roads were built by the stockhol'
ders themselves at their own expense.
The grant Of the lands invested the gran
tees with q title that could not be revo'
ked if the conditions oft were perform
ed. If they sold or mortgaged the lands
and invested the proceeds in the con
struCtion of railroad under charter
from a state or general government, au'
thorizing them to take fair profit In
the shape of tolls. they have as good a
right to the tolls as if the capital to build
the road had been raised by themselves;
that is to say, those companies that built
the railroads with capital donated by
the public, have the same right as other
companies to charge a reasonable toll;
but their demand of excessive tolls, tho
not worse in law, seems in the eye of
natural reason, greater outrage. II
railroad corporations have the unlimited
power they claim, then all business is at
their mercy-agriculture commerce and
manufactures must suffer what they
choose to infict. They may rob labor of
the bread it wins, and deprive enterprise
of it's just reward. Though this pow n
does not belong to them legally. they
have been permitted to ueurp it, and
need not tell you they have grossly abu
sed it. They avow that they make their
exaCtions with an eye to their own ad.
vantage, without considering any right
or interest of the public. They boldly
express their determination to charge as
much as the traffic will bear; that is to
say, they will take from the profits of
every mans business as much as can be
taken without compelling him to quit it.
In the aggregate this amounts to the
most enormous, oppre -siye and unjust
tax ever laid upon the industry Of any
people under the sun, The irregularity
with which the tax is laid makes it still
harder to bear Men 60 into business
which may pros6er at present rates, and
will find themselves crushed by burdens
Unexpectedly thrown upon them after
they get started. 1t is the habit of the
railroad companies to change their rates
of transpC rtation often and suddenly,
and in particular to make the charges
ruinously high without any notice at all
The farmers of the great West have rails
ed large crop of grain, which they may
sell at fair prices if they can have it car
ried to the Eastern ports, even at the
unreasonably high freights OF last sum-
mer. But Just now it is said the railroad |
companies have agreed among them
selves to raise the freight five cents per
hundred weight, which is equal to an
export tax upon the whole crop Of prob.
ably S75 100000. The farmers must sub
NIT to this highway robbery, or keep
the products of their land to rot on their
hands. They submit, of course as all
her classes of industrious people, sub.
nit to similar impositions. Common
Justice imperatively requires that frejghts
be fixed, settled and prescribed by law
and that they be not changed at the
mere will of the rairoad companies. Bat
the determinations that make the rates |
UNEQUAL are the most odious feature. A |
grain dealer at Baltimore gets reduC
ton or drawback which is denied to 9TH
ers; and he makes fortune for himself, |
while he ruins his competitors by un.
deleelling them. A single mill at Roch |
ester can stop the wheels of all the rest
if it's -four can be carried at rate much |
lower. By determinations of this kind |
the profits of one coal mine may be more |
than doubled; while another, with all
it's fixtures and machinery, is rendered |
worthless. Such wrongs as these are in.
ficted, not only in few sporadic cases, |
but generally and habitually on very
larg scale. Certain oil men, whose re.
finery was on Long Island, got rebates
amounting to $l0000000 in eighteen
months, and seventy nine houses, II be. |
lieve that is the number) engaged in the |
same business were broken down. The |
creditors of the Reading railroad having
coal lands of their own, made discrimin-
ations between themselves and others |
which drove all competition out Of the |
field, gave them the monopoly of the |
Philadelphia market, and enabled them |
to charge for their freilhts whatever
they pleased. Thus, producer, dealers
and consumers suffer together. Worse
still than that, the prosperity of large |
communities is bighted by the refusal
of railroads to carry the products of
their farms, gardens and shops, unless
they submit to the payment of rates lar
ger than what are charged on similar
goods, from other regions much farther
away from the common market. The
case you mention, of S4 from New York |
to Salt Lake, and only $250 to San Fran
CISCO is, perhaps, not the most unright'
cons, but it is as gross violation Of le-
gal principles as can be conceived. If
the rail ways belong to the people, then
then tie righ of all citizens are pre-
csely equal, and all DETERMINATIONS are
unlawful. Without reference to the pub
lie right of property, they are so shame
fnllv imperious in their general effect, |