The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1882-05-04


volume oi business IustlfyinR low rates, aud
1t the same time yielding 10 capital apr0Per
reward Tor its Investment. 81
The Texas roads this season, because 0l
your short crops, and 10 enable thc FARMERS
of Texas TO plant aud raise ilill crops nc /
current senson, have voluntarily given tho
rate of fifty cents per hundred pounds on
corn from Kansas and 81. Louis into Iexns
n distance of $50 miles-a rate that does not
for the actual cost oi nahuiing
the freight. do not claim that this u u
work of charity or philanthropy on the
psrt of the railroads, but the homogeneous
In making the low rate hoped to neutrallzc
the loss and make profit in, hauling the
crops made from the increased acreage the
farmers are enabled to cultivate, by getting
an abundance OF forage and breadstuis ~
low rate. . AT.
Ii thu railroad arrangements OF THIS
have contributed in an eminent
degree to the populating and
enrlchinG the great west and the racine
states, have erred 1T has been on the SIDE
of your interests and the prosperity ana
greatness of Texas. .,
II free passes are granted in any case, 1t
is difficult for railroad management to re-
fuse federal, state and county oinclais VINO
get at best but poor salaries, ministers OF the
gospe! and a variety of other people, either
tree passes or very low rates. II it is the
policy of the state to force railroads, in or
der to earn the expenses oil the passenger
department. to cut off the free list and all
reduced lists entirely, we believe IL VIII re,
dound to the detriment OF the state, retard
its prosperity, and diminish to an apprecia-
BILE extent the increase of population by
thousands who have heretofore, and who
are still swarming into your borders ana
adding to your wealth and taxable, values.
But if the legislature, i'll its WIS
dom, forces Il different policy upon the rail-
way arrangements, we can only accept IL,
and leave the future to determine which
policy is dictated by the highest degree OF
wisdom.
1t seems to us now, more than at any
former period. it should be the desire of
every Texan to offer every inducement cal
culated to
PEOPLE THIS uNoCCUPIED TERRITORY
with willing hearts and industrious hands /;
to present incentives to capita, wing IDLE by
the hundreds of millions i'll the east, to en-
bark in the thousand and one enterprises
which are here presented-develop thls
great empire, take the hidden ore from be-
meath the surface and convert 1t into CON-
establish manufactures in their multiplied
forms, and cheaper to your farmers the I'M
elements of husbandry, and give employ
ment to your people, and at the same time
make your population more dense,
tighten the burdens Of administering the
government of your state and mu-
inequalities; found and support institutions,
educational, eleemosynary and benevolent,
churches, ETC., which contribute so much 10
the civilization, wealth and refinement OF
country.
We have co-operated in this great work
in the past, and we are still willing ana
anxious to do so; and although 1t may pc
from a selfish motive, the results to Texas
are the same, if our services are permitted
and our efforts appreciated. You cannot
expect that the passenger and commerclai
traffic in Texas will be the same as in Penn
sylyania, New York and Massachusetts, or
in any of the great centers of population.
AS | said before, your state is 500 miles
from east to west and 400 miles from north
to south. You have u population OF only
five and half to the square mile. You
have only one mile oil railway 10 every
eighty three square miles OF territory;
while Massachusetts has over two
hundred people. to the square mile,
and one mile of railway to every
four square miles of territory. 1t costs as
much to run a train with one passenger as
it would with one hundred or two hundred,
and | need not inform the intelligent men
before me, that large majority OF the
trains in Texas have not maintained a
tenth of their carrying capacity; yet the
same rule is to be applied to the passenger
and commercial traffic of this vast empire
of sparsely settled territory as prevails in
the 'thickly settled districts of the east,
such us Massachusetts, New York and
Pennsylvania. You propose to limit us to
the same rates for carrying passengers that
is charged between the city, OF New YORK
and Pittsburg, or between New York and
Philadelphia, and to less rate than
is charged from New York to
San Francisco. No intelligent man can
contemp plate these statistics without conf
prehending at once that it is hardship to
the railroads, and not in harmony with the
implied contract made between the state
and the capitalists who invested IN ana
promoted these enterprises, at the invita-
ton and earnest solicitation of your people
and their representatives. l say with all
respect, that this policy, if persisted in,
win re.ard the growth and prosperity OF
your state, even beyond the conception OF
any of us who are now discussing this ques-
ton,
Let me invite you to apply the question
to your own personal affairs. suppose you
and your associates should conclude that
the prospective developments of New Mex
leo, lying on your border, would justify you
in Obtaining II liberal railroad charter, such
as are being granted by that terri
tory, and that you should, like citi-
zens of other states have done within your
borders, invest seventy millions OF your
own money ia actual railroad construction
In New Mexico, would you not feel IL "a
very great hardship-nay, the most unjust
oppression-for the legislature OF that ter
ritory or state, when it had grown great
anu ponerial, when IL had treDIed It's pOpu-
ution. multiplied its wealth ten fold, and
had prosperity written on every mile post,
mainly through the influence OF your high
WAYS, to have your rates of tariff reduced
before your earnings had become suihcient
10 pay you dividend?
As you answer that question, apply the
same rule to us.
And ia making the application Of this
simple rule to us, ascertain Tor yourselves
the truth of our statement that our earn
ings do not pay simple interest on the CAPT
tai invested. We solemnly assert the fact
In the light Of the daily business Of our
lines. We have the records. They are
the true exhibit Of our earnings and
expenses. In response to a law of your
own making We render returns OF these re-
suits each twelve months to your comp
troller, and their correctness has never been
called Ia question. You have the power
TO examine our books and take the evidence
OF every employe and officer Of all the COM
panies in the state, and any other evidence
you may desire. We challenge inyesIiga-
tio1.
The leading trunk lines Of your state,
since the adoption Of your constitution Of
1876. the - section Of article - OF
which prohibits the promotion OF immigra-
ton by the revenues 1.-THE state, have eK-
pended more than $4,000 to promote i'm
migration into Texas. This our records
will show was judiciOusly and most elect
lively eryerded IN cash, without estimating
the many more hundreds Of thousands OF
dollars expended ia the form OF free
passes aud reduced transportation furnished
ior the same object. These sums, IL ex-
pended by your treasury, would doubtless
have accomplished results as desirable, bat
You would have had no owe flowing treas
ury ~ you claim % day. Nor would you
have been relieved Of tie burd-ns d - per
cent. Of tAK-s as you were b. an sct Of q
fyruter session. nor would you EOH be con-