Omaha daily bee., 1884-12-17
RAILWAY REGULATION.
IEH Necessity Of EEaCtiIg a ShiERlt
State Law.
The Republican Legislature Rcspon-
sible If they Fail in Relieving
Tho Burdens of the
People.
To the Editor Of the BEE.

~ blo 1sNlboh Vi NV m
| notice In the BEE of the 3rd inst, the
article of your David City correspondent,
Justice, headed "An Appeal for Unity"
also your editorial, "Extortion Must
| Stop" in which you give the article of
j. M. s., of Arborville. 1t gives me
great pleasure to see that this great sub
ject of railroad extortion Is not to be
neglected by the people or the press.
The railroad corporations have attained
80 great power that nothing but the most
strenuous compulsion will induce them to
treat the people of this state and country
with justice. From motives of greed
common to human nature, they will not,
and from evils inherent In the system
under which railroading has progressed
for the past twenty years, they cannot give
the people fair rates for transportation.
A fair rate would pay cost of carriage
with o fair profit added. Excessive stock
watering, making q fictitious capital
equal tt the amount of real capital In
vested, makes this impossible without
bankruptcy. In the face of this situation
the roads are powerless to grant adequate
relief; and the law.making power Is pow
erless to grant adequate relief, except by
inaugurating a system of legislation which
| will strike at the root of the evil, and
not only prevent all stock watering in
the future, but wiring the water out of
the stocks and bonds already existing.
In the face of all the agitation of the
past five years-in the face of two IA,
tionsl conventions, and an effort to form
a national party upon this issue-in the
face of a depression of prices of farm
products unknown since 1873, the roads,
instead of granting any relief to
the farmers, make their usual
advance in rates at the close of naviga-
tlon. As far as the transportation of
farm products arc concerned, supera-
bundant crops, which means low prices,
and hard times, only add to the revenue
of the roads. The crops have to be
moved. If they are double, and their
price only half as much as usual, the
roads still charge the same, and thus
their revenue is largely increased. But
they invariably make hard times au ex-
cuse for cutting the wages of their en-
ployes, and in every manner reducing
their expenses.
There are some very essential points
which should be aimed at in any legisla-
ton, to which l wish to invite your at
tentien:
First. A ~reduQtion of rates, both local
and through, is one of the primary OBJ.
jects. But to make any such reduction
either possible or permanent, stock wa
teripg must be stopped, and railroad
building be brought down to an actual
cash basis; exorbitant salaries must be
prohibited, and the employment of non
laborers, such as political attorneys and
strikers, must be stopped. No man yet
knows just how cheap transportation by
rail can be made. But the people, hav-
Ing created these roads by granting pub
lie franchises and lands and bonds for
their construction, have a right to the
lowest freights consistent with safety and
dispatch.
Second. The corporations should be
rigidly restricted to the business for
which they were chartered-that of COM
mon carriers. Land rings, town lot
rings, and all speculative enterprises
which railroad officers are enabled by
virtue of their superior advantage to en-
gage in, should be rigidly suppressed.
| This would be In the interest of economy
and in the interest of the men and places
along the lines, and Is fully within the
scope of the law-making power.
Third. A rigid law regulating t he To-
cation OF stations should be enacted,
making it impossible for roads to pass
towns.
All donations of land and bonds should
be prohibited. These corporations when
building lines and locating stations, are
the most needy beings in the world.
When fixing rates they are the most ex-
citing.
Fourth. All determinations between
persons and places should be prohibited.
Fifth. Free passes of all kinds should
be prohibited and every means taken to
destroy the power of the corporations
over the legislative, judicial and execu,
tive members of the government.
Sixth. In all cases penalties adequate
to the enforcement of the laws should be
provided, and authority vested in some
state officer to anforce the law. This duty
should be made madstory, under the
ncNclesI poiioAeiOo, auu nuSiuoIo Lhoahn
appropriated toperform it.
1t may not re entirely within the
power of a state legislature to accom-,
plish all this. But national legislation
has got to be reached through state legis.
~lation and agitation; and nothing less
than an attempt in good faith to accom-
plish them will be accepted by the
people.
The farming industry Is greatly de
pressed compared with the railroading
industry, and In fact most other indus
tries, except perhaps those of the pooi
protected laborers Of our great manufact
uring and mining cities. Farmers cal
raise their own bread and meat. and Sc
can live, no matter what betides
But l will state a fact within my OWL
knowledge and experience, that a far
mer owning q quarter section farm fire,
from debt, and himself frugal, temperate
and industrious, cannot raise and main
tain an average family IN comfort anc
and give his children on education at al
adequate to the advanced ideas of tn
times and lay by anything for adversit.