Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1881-03-02
RAILROAD MONOPOLY

When Commodore Vanderbilt begar
the world he had moth ny, and ther,
were no steamboats, or railroads. HI
/ was thirtv-five years old when the 6rs
locomotive was put into use in Ameri
ca. When he died, railroads had be
come the greatest force in modern in
dustrv and Vanderbilt was the rich
est man of Europe or America, and
the largest owner of railroads in the
world He used the finest business
brain of his day and the franchise OF
the State TO build up a kingdom within
the republic, and like king he be.
gueathed his wealth and power to his
eldest son. Bancroft's History of the
United States and our railroad system
were begun at the same time. The
history Is not vet finished, but the
railroads owe on stocks and bonds 81.
600. geo. 600. more than twice our ma
tional debt of s.. 220, 100000, and tax
the people annually S490,000,000, one
and half times more than the govern
ment's revenue lastyear of 1914 600, 600.
More than any other class, our rail-
road men have developed the country,
and tried its institutions. The evasion
of almost all taxes by the New York
Central Railroad has thrown upon the
people of New York State more than a
fair share of the cost of government,
and illustrates some of the methods by
which the rich are making the poor
poorer Violations Of trust bv Credit
MobilierS, jay Gould's wealth and the
poverty of Erie stockholders, such cor
ruption of legislatures as gave the Pa
cifc Mail its subsidies, and nicknamed
New jersey "The State of Garden
and Ambov," are sins against public
and private faith on a scale impossible
in the early days of republics and cor
porations. A lawsui; still pending,
though begun ten years ago by citi-
zen of Chicago, to recover the value of
baggage destroyed by the Pennsylvania
Railroad Judge Barnard's midnight or
ders for the Erie ring; the surrender of
its.judical integrity by the supreme court
of Pennsylvania at the bidding of the
Pennsylvania Railroad as charged be-
fore Congress by President Gowen, of
the Reading Railroad the vote by
the Standard Oil Company of the enact
ment of law by the Pennsylvania leg
Islature to carry out the provision of
the constitution of the State that every
one should have equal rights on the
raiIroads,-these are a few of the many
things that have happened to XII the
confidence OF our citizens in the laws
and the administration of justice.
No other system of taxation has
horne as heavily on the people as those
extortions aud inequalities of railroad
charges whch caused the granger out
burst in the West, and the recent upris-
ing in New York. In the actual physi-
cal violence with which railroads have
taken their rights of way through more
tnan one America city, and in the
railroad strikes of 1876 and 1871 with
the anarchy that came with them,
there are social disorders we hope
never to see in America. These incl
dents in railroad history show most of
the points where we fail, as between
man and man, employer and employed,
the public and the corporation, the
State and the citizen, to maintain the
equities "government"-and employ
ment-"of the people, by the people,
for the people"
Our treatment of 'the railroad prob
lem" will show the quality and calbre
of our political sense. 1t will go far in
foreshadowing the future lines of oGr
social aud political growth. 1t may
indicate whether the American dem
ocracv, like all the democratic exper
iments which have preceded it is to
become extinct because the people had
not wit enough or virtue enough to
make the common good supreme.-H.
d. Lloyd in N0rch atlantic.