The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1883-03-29

pOWcIS III lcuucoScc. NJ LuC ClOoCOA /
the year 1881, according to Poors |
Manual, Illinois had 1926 miles of
road, Indiana 4765 and Tennessee (
1874. When Tennessee has as many |
railroads as Illinois it will not be "A
matter of such Importance whether
capital comes to build more or not,
but now it is of paramount concern.
Commissions do not control and
they cannot control rates, il matters
not how arbitrary the powers sup
posed to be conferred on them. As
we showed recently, rates are regu-
lated by competition, not so much
competition between one road and an
other as between product and product.
Take, for instance, the iron made in
Alabama. A market for it is sought
in Louisville. Here it comes into di-
rect competition with iron sent oy
barges from Pittsburg. Now if the
railroads are forced To charge the
same for this business as for silks or
lighter goods, the furnaces in Biz
mingham must be closed. On the
contrary, they determine to develop
| traffic" They arrange alslidingiscale
| for iron, and il is low scale, but
under il iron is carried 400 miles by
rail and sold at profit. Who is in
| juredp Certainly not the farmer in
| Alabama, or the men who own the
mines. or the laborers who work them.
This is discrimination of an intelligent
kind, caused by what is termed COM
petition between product and product.
1t illustrates how the great CONNER
cial forces, left untrammeled by re-
strictive statutes, are warning against
| NTNIW 1aav-N tNaar lob
rates; are extending the area of COM
petition, and doing what the. Bate
platform says ought to be done in
Tennessee.
Some members of the Tennessee
legislature seem to labor under the
impression that the Bate platform
demands the specific bill offered by
the caucus. On the contrary, that
bill is in direct conflict with the whole
spirit of the platform and with the
spirit of the Democratic party, that
spirit which is working for the over
throw of monopoly.
The strength of monopoly in this
country is due to pernicious legisla-
ton on subjects which legislation
should not touch. Witness the in
ternal improvement acts in TenneS-
see and elsewhere, the subsidies given
to the roads by many states and the
national government, and last of all
witness the denIoraliZing and de
structive influences of the tariff.
Now, genuine Democracy is at wal
with all these things. 1t believes in
non-interference 1t would have less
legislation and better. 1t would leave
the people, in all their various avoca.
| 20 20 e. 10 Il, "a.
tates of their own self-interest. AL
that Democracy proposes to do is to
see that the powerful and the rich dc
not arbitrarily interfere with the weak
and the poor.
We belieNe in the full power of the
government over the railroads which
they have created, except when the
charters limit this right; but it is ont
thing to have the power and quite
another to use it. We believe it is
wise to exercise as little of it as posi-
BILE, and the experience of this nation
and every nation justifies us in this
position.
The extent of the railroad system
: of this country is wonderful. and the
value of it the masses is inestima
, BILE. There is nothing more wonder
full in commercial history than the
steady decline in the cost of transpor
, tation in the United States during thu
past fifteen years. In recent article
on this subject, Mr.. Edward Atkinson
says:
"Had the rates charged by the rail
ways in the year 1881 been the sam,
as the rates charged from 1866 to 1856!
inclusive (the latter being reduced t
a gold basis) the sum of the charge o.
all the railways of the United State:
} for moving merchandise in the yea
1881, would have been. 81, 375, 000,0Ot
, 1t was in fact. ...... 550,OOO,0O
The difference amounting
to-. .................S 00O,OOO,OO
} Exceeds the entire sum of the national
state and municipal taxes imposed
: upon the people of the country in tn,
, same year by the sum of $10c,000,OOO
! all taxes being about $725, 100000
"This is the grand result of tn,
! competition of product with product
in the grand commerce of the world
: "a kind of competition to which thu
most powerful railway corporation i.
} subject as fully as the least powerful
: competition which no monopoly car
: touch, but which controls every meas
ure presented to or adopted by thu
managers of every railway.
"In contrast with this grand sue
cess, which has given the United
States by far the most effective anC
, the cheapest railway service in thu
world, witness the utter failure of tn,
state ownership of the railways il
France, upon the testimony of be-
great minister of finance. Leon Say.
ain the last number of the Journa
DIES Economists, Leon Say pro
, nounces the state system of owning
and operating railways in France Il
/, be an utter and complete failure, tn,
cost of construction to be excessive
, the service poor, and the nation taxeC
heavily each year to make up for thu
! deficiency in earnings; and this def
cheney, which a short time ago wa,
small, is now annually increasing, be
, cause under the inefficient system o.
/, state management the cost of opera
ting the railways is constantly alb
sorbing larger and larger share o.
the gross receipts from the traffic
while the method of appointments Il
, the railway management has become
: a potent cause of corruption, and i!
! one of the greatest dangers to the sta
bility of the French republic.
! 1.-The people of this country, who
J really govern it. may therefore wei
say to those who undertake to govern
Z by legislative enactments: 'Keel
! your meddlesome statutes out of thu
) way of this great force, and cease t,
: obstruct progress by your interior
|. ence.'"
ell We look for the Tennessee legisla
! ture to act wisely in this matter. Tn,
/ railroad question occupies a very diff
: ferent position from the debt ques
: ton. For years every issue connected
4 with the debt was thoroughly discus
sed and well understood. The peopl
were practically a unit. Not so Will
the railroad question. The platform
Is vague and unsatisfactory; it deal
in generalities. The principles in
] volved are not understood, and will