Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-02-24
THE RAILROAD QUESTION.
THE AMOUNT OF CAPITAL INVESTED IL
RAILROADS.
What Free Railroads Fave Wrought
for the Great Industries OF
the Count y.
lnhicarn Times. February 15lh l


chiefly from the standpoint Of public interest.
No honest man will deny the propo ition in
the ab5trsct that rights of property in rail
roads are as inviolahle as those Of other kinds
of property. and as Justly entitled to the pro-
lection Of the laws. But the prevailing tone
OF public sentiment is that railroads are 10
position 80 sGtagoDize OF menace the general
public interest.
THIS PREDIsPOsITION OF SENTIMENT
On the part Of the public is iutersifel BY
the VASE and constantly increasing segregate
of capital invested N railway, ana the mere
apprehension OF dsrgsr which the power OF
enormous capital concentrated Ia single TO-
teress excl. es. To c4rrec5 assumed existing
evils aad to protect from greater evils be-
lieved to be possible in the future, the rem
edy By gisla ion is Invoked. This is doubt
less fair statement Of toe condition Ct SEN
timsnt which largely obtains among the more
honest Of the public. There IS also con-
siderable class who tolerate the apparent be-
lief that any advantage taken of the rail
roads is psrmis iSle. This class would not
be likely 70 hesitate at coercive measures Of
legislation merely cut of regard for the or
binary legal rights Of railway property own
err. But when
LEGISLATION AFFECTING RAILWAYS
Is proposed, properties are TO be dealt with
which have COST, excluding fictitious or "wa-
tered " valustions, more than one-tenth of
the value of the whole property of the people
Of thu u tied States, including lands, and
more than one-6fh of the whole capital value
which the products Of labor have added to
the land. A service is concerned which in
the last year gave means Of livelihood to q
vast body Of employees, equal ia number to
one-seventh part Of the male adult population
of the United States, snd which in the same
year paid out $50, 900, coo for wages and ma.
terial. This is one important class of facts,
to overlook or disregard which, in the case of
auy other great leading interest, would be
seen to be the plainest violation of common
fairness and justice. But greatly more mo.
mentions Issues lie in the fact, universal in
eur country, that railway transportation is
NsEPABABLE FROM PRODUCTION.
It is indissolubly linked with the welfare Of
every business occupation and pursuit in the
United States. II enters into all the means
and conditions of living. Every mans intel
est is bound up in this omnipotent agency of
the nations progress and development. TIE
uses and benefits of the railway are for no
privileged class, but for the common people.
In 1881 the railroads of the United States
moved %, Co., 600 tons of freight. OF this
tonnage more than nine-tenths was made up
of food, fuel and materials for shelter, COM
modities 10 which the whole people have
common and equal interest as consumers.
The increase in total exports Of the United
States from 1870 to 1880 was S443. 600 O0O.
IT WAS THIS ENORMOUS INCREASE
OF export products which established the
balance of trade with the world in cur favor,
and enabled the Government to restore specie
payments. But three-fourths of this increase
consisted Of breadstuffs, live stock and pro-
visions, the products OF the Western States,
practically wholly due to the construction of
railroads in these States. and marketable
only by low rate Of Transportation TO the eea-
board. We cannot legislsta 60 regulate rail-
roads without hy the very scs interfering
with the great producing interests of the
country, the grain crops aud live stock of the
farmer, and the products Of the manufacturer,
and on these the whole superstructure of in
diyidual enterprise and occupation and of
national growth and prosperity is built. Ig.
norauce and prejudice must have no voice IN
shaping the policy Of our laws affecting an
interest so universal, vast and vital.
THE PUBLIC WELFARE DEMANDS
That measures of proposed legislation coz
corning railway transportation shall be con-
sidered only with the utmost caution and on
the fullest information.
The cost Of transportation is a necessary
burden on the exchanges Of products between
communities and countries. 1t follows that
transportation is best and most perfect when
it provides for the movement Of these ex-
changes of commerce at the lowest possible
charge. Increased production enlarges tfaf.
ic and swells the revenues and the aggregate
profits of the transporter. Low cost Of trsrs-
portation promotes production. Transports
nd r,~OIuPtipn Tins in fha fftrn of
things, harmonious.
THEY CANNOT BE ANTAGoNIZED
In interests. Before legislation ia devised
which attempts to requisite transportation,
inquiry must be msde whether railroad
owners are so blind to their own real interests
as to Cypress or unreasonably harrass produc-
ton, and whether statutes are required to
enforce that active harmony and mutually
OF development between transportation and
other business Industries which accord with
the natural laws that control all alike. The
answer to this inquiry cannot be sought in
Instances Of apparent or temporary local in
Equities, growing out, IS for the NEST part
thsy do, Of the adaptation of traffic rates to
the growing and changing needs of country,
but rests on the great mass Of facts, and or
the results in general of the free control of
railroads by their owners When these facts
are Justly IL " III DS luulAQ huAG ~ IL
free building and free operation Of railroads
have accomplished far more for the substan.
tisl material prosperity of the country than
the most enlightened and experienced con-
gTess of legislators, yearly in session. could
ever have hoped to accomplish by the aid of
legislation, Not on account Of the liberahty
and puolie spirit Of railway owners and man
ayers,
But BECAUSE NATURAL LAWS ARE STRONGER
THAN HUMAN AGENCIES.
The forces of competition which railroads
have to mest-fiTst and far most difficult and
formidable, the competition Of product with
product in the worlds markets aud, second,
the competition of railways with water routes
and with each osher-are i1compsrsbly more
powerful, intense, and ceaselessiy active than
10 any other business whatsoever. The re-
of the railway interest have
called to its service men among the sblest and
best trained minds In the country. TIE dis
ciplins Of these men is in the severest and
broadcast school Of practical economy. Daily
and hourly th y axe called upon to meet with
the full measure Of their time and abilities
the constantly changing and growing needs
and exiEeucies Of the countries trayersed by
their lines, because on the general prosperity
Of these Industries their traffic and Ieyenuee
depend,
WHAT THEN HAVE RAILROADS ADDED TO THE
WEALTH OF THE UNITED STATES!
All understand the benefits of the railroad in
developing new countries, and perceive that |
but for it our populous and productive inte- |
rior regions must have remained comparative |
But transportation being q |
natural burden on commerce, what is the |
gross sum OF money which measures the ex-
tent which economy and improvement in the |
railway service have, in q series Of yeArs, |
ghtensd this burden, thus adding sn equiv |
aient amount to the wealth of the country |
This sum is obtained by computing the |
amount saved to the public by the reduction |
IN the average rates per ton per mile, and per |
per mile for airy given series of |
years. The aggregate sum Sdted By reduction /
h freight charges alone for tie period betaceeH
1866 and 1882, inclusige, is fully one and d half
INES gyeateI. than the entire money cost Of the
car Of the rebellion to the people Of the United
States. It is computed by competent author
ty that the difference between the sum Of the
,ross freight earnings on all the railroads III
he United States in 1881, as compared with
What it would have been had the rates of 1869
,esn in force. amounts to 1926 00G, 000-Sl00-
nm n00 more {b1o the S7f17 Of The direct and