Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-11-04
IGNORANT AND UNwARRAETED INFER
FEREEcE IN RAILWAY MATTERS.

FERENCE IN RAILWAY MATTERS.
The railroads of the country require to
be, and are, managed by men of superior
ability and great experience. Novices
could not operate railway, and, even with
the best skill obtainable, it is frequently
difficult, and sometimes impossible, to keep
some roads out Of the hands of the sheriff
or receiver. Railroading, at its best, Is
hazardous business, depending upon 30
many conditions and circumstances for sue
cese, that the best experience and the best
intellects that can be brought into requlsl-
ton are required. The only kind of men,
outside of the skilled railroad operatives,
that can run railroad with profit and sue
cess appear to be the politicians. These
gentlemen, many of whom are incapa-
BILE of successfully running their own
affairs, profess to be perfectly at
home in all matters pertaining to railway
operation. When these men, on the ros.
trum or in the halls of legislation, under
take to speak upon the railway problems
of the day, they assume knowledge OF
the ways and meas of railway manage
ment which ought to make them very val.
liable to any road, that is, if their preten.
sions are based upon facts and not on mere
assertions. One question which they pro.
fess to be prepared to grapple with and
master is the adjustment of rates. The
solution of the difficulties surrounding this
whole subject seems SO simple and easy to
them that it is mystery past all under
standing why the owners of the railroads
should allow it to vex them SO much, when,
by turning it over to the politicians, it
could be SO easily and speedily adjusted.
Nine out of ten of the aspirants for legis.
lative honors seem to feel in duty bound
to undertake the reformation of our rail-
way system. They possess, or at least
they think they do. the key to the whole
situation. They ask their election on the
ground of their ability to reform alleged
abuses in railway management, and dilate
upon the enormity of railway charges as
now determined by the officials in con-
troll. The political orator that neglects
to pitch into the railroad omits the most
essential part of his speech. But the poll
ticians are not the only ones who think
themselves capable of running the railway
system by rule of their own. There are
plenty of wise men-men wise in their own
conceit-who never stepped foot in rail.
way Office in their lives, who never went
over the whole length of a single line of
road, who do not know the comparative
worth of ton of steel rails, who know no
difference between an airline road without
grades and one with heavy gradients and
curves, who feel perfectly adequate to the
task of making out schedule of rates that
should govern every road between the
Pacific and Atlantic.
The great mistake Of the times ia in
treating railways as public enemies needing
the supervising control OF the people. The
history of railway management has shown
continual and important course of re.
duct:on in rates since the earliest DAYS of
railway construction. The present average
rates asked are, we believe, lower than
those of the roads of any other nation,
whether the same be under the control of
Governments in the interest of the people,
or Of private corporations. There may be,
and doubtless there is, room for improve
ment in the matter of adjusting and
egualizing freight rates. The interests of
roads and those Of shippers often clash.
| Sometimes the charges asked may operate
as hardship upon some community or
class, but VIC will venture the assertion
that these instances are far less fire.
quent than is generally supposed. 1t
is for the interest of the roads to
build up rather than tear down the
trade of the communities through
which they pass. The very life and
stability of our manufacturing and
agricultural Systems depend upon the rail-
roads. Their present wonderful prosperity
has been greatly enhanced by the judicious
and by no means unfriendly management
of the roads. Yet schemiDg aspirants for
political preferment would strive to arouse
in the public mind distrust in the hon.
esty and efficiency of such management.
| They strive to make the public believe
that the railroads are trying to destroy the
liberties of the people, Cypress them by
| high and exorbitant charges and gain
power by corrupting legislators. The
truth is, the railroads ask far less legisla.
ton than almost any other interest. Their
greatest trouble is in avoiding and repress-
ing unfriendly legislation, and not in seek
ing for affirmative legislative relief. They
do not fear that they cannot get enough
legislation; they fear, rather, and very
properly, that they will get altogether too
much at the hands of the politicians who
think they can run the roads better than
the managers themselves.
There is restless, dissatisfied class
which is alwass complaining of existing
things. II freights were ten cents . hundred
from New York to San Francisco, they
wol Id want them reduced 20 three cents.
ANY close observer of the present condi-
| ton OF the railways must readily see that
they have all the foes from within that they
care to contend with, and that they should
not be confronted, as now, by an army Of
malcontents from without.
The homogeneous Of roads are not free
from criticism. There are plenty of oppor-
tunities for improvement. There are yet
lessons for managers to learn, and changes
in systems and plans to be made, before a
perfect ideal is reached. But this much de-
sired point will be reached by transferring
the control of the roads from the expert.
enced and practical men in whose charge
they now are to the set of irresponsible ig-
noramuses that make their money out Of
political harangues, or in questionable
work in the lobby or the Legislature.
[Chicaco Industrial World.