Arizona weekly citizen., 1883-04-21
RAILROADS.

q k
 wealth of the United States since tn
 close of the war are ID great measur | due to the railroad. The water course ! of the continent, imperfect and insuff | eient of themselves, also failed to be co incident with the convenient route 0 ! travel and commerce to the Atlanti | seaports. The raj roads alone could b
 the means of developing the immens,
 fertile interiors of the country. The Tn
 crease in total exports of the UniteC
 States from 1870 to 1880 was $443,OOO, 600. Three-fourths of this increase va.
 contributed by the products of WssterI States, including the Pacific Coast
 which were largely due to the construc tion of railroads within them, and made
 available by the low cost of transpo-ta
 tion to the seabOard. The railroad WAS
 therefore, the agent by which the bal
 Snce of trade with the world was estab
 lEshed in our favor, thus enabling the government to restore specie payments
 Any measure of proposed Legislation affecting an interest so vast and SO vita ought to be considered only with the ut. most caution and on the fullest inform. atlOn. Leaving out of view the fact that rights of property Ill railroads are as in. yiOlable as those of other kinds of prop erty, and as fully entitled to protection by tbe laws, the spirit na shich the sub. lect of regulating railroads Is commonly considered IS a mistake from the stand point of public interest. The source of public dIstrust-Of this spirit of "appar- ent antagonism winch frequently and needlessly becomes real aDtagonlsm"- lies mainly in the multitude of changing and conflicting interests which constant ly Pr sent difficult and complicated ques- tIOns of tariff adjustments, taxing the best abilities of tralned minds, and the reason ableness of railroad action on which IS not understood and appreciated by the public. The real interests of the puDllcs and the railroads are to be found in harmony and mutual prosperity. Railroad owners are well aware that the only permanently profitable basis upon winch the railroads of the country can be operated Is that which will insure, as far as practicable, even-handed justice to all concerned, subject only to tue in exorabie laws of trade and france.
 All transportation Is burden on com merce. Its best development Is found ln the lowest possible cost and charge for servlceably and efficiently moving the exchanges of commerce. 1T the un- restrIctt d operation of railroads by thelr owners promotes railroad budding, and shows a marked tendency to reduction In rates, wnIle, on the other hand, un- favorable Legislation checks railroad building, impedes traffic development, and tends to maintain rates il prOpOr- ton as 1t laps down definite and restrlct. i've regulations. The experience of all railroads IS that reductiOnln rates comes gradually but surely with increased traf- nc and production. The aggregate sum saved by reduction ID freight charges (beIng so much added to the nations wealth. for the period between 1866 aud 1882, Is largely III excess of the national debt at the close of the war. Mr. Ed ward Atkinson, tue well known railroad stRtistician, computes the difference be tween the sum of the gross freight earn ngs on all the railroads ID the United States Ill 1881, ss compared with what 1t would have been had the rates of 1866 and 1859 been charged, at SS25, 100000 SlO0,UOO,OOO more than the sum of the direct and indirect taxes imposed on the people in 1881 for national, State and municipal revenues.
 In contrast with this grand success, MT. Atkinson cites the utter failure of State ownership of the railways of France, upon the testimony of tue French minister of finance, Leon Say, who prrnounces the State system of operating railways III France to be an utter and complete failure; the cost of construction to be excessive; the service poor; the nation taxed heavily each year to make up for the deficiency in earnings; and this deficiency, which q short time ago was small, Is now annual ly increasing, because, under the lneifi- cIenct system of state management, the cost of operating the railways IS con stantly absorbing a large and larger share of the gross receipts from the traf- tic, while the method of appointments to the railway management has become potent cause of corruption, and k one of the greatest dangers to the stability of the French republic"
 Concluding the article from which we quote, MT, Atkinson says: The peO- pie of this country, who really govern 1t, may therefore well say to those who undertake to govern 1t by legislative enactments: keep your meddlesome in- reference. All attempts to prescribe or define rates by Legislation have in most cases proved failures, and are found to introduce more and greater evils than those they assume to remedy. A familiar instance. was ip the Iowa law, repealed after two years trial, which stopped railroad extension il. that State, retarded the growth of the State, and checked the natural decline In tariff rates by impeding traffic developments.