St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1885-07-25
Defense Of Railway Capital.
IN. o. Picayune.l

C66uS 10 duoWG1 lUS OWA 4AIA1J ny
arraigning the railway magnates for
the want of common sense and
common honesty and common fdel-
ity in the expenditure Of other peo-
pies money" exhibited by them in
their financial operations and man
agement, and particularly in the
building Of superduous and un-
necessary roads. Take, for exam
ole, the expenditure Of $20,0OO,000
which the Baltimore and Ohio Rail
road Company is now engaged in
making in order to obtain an indie
pendent entrance into New York
city. The lines of thee Pennsyl-
vania Company between Baltimore
and New York via Philadelphia are
able to accommodate all the traffic
Of the two corporations but these
companies cannot agree upon the
terms OF joint use and accommoda-
tons. A far worse case is the
building of the West Shore Road,
which parallels Vanderbilt's Cen
trail, between New York and Buf-
falo, at an expenditure Of $4,000
900, including the water, although
Vanderbilt's road was able to do all
the business. Another very bad
case is the South Pennsylvania, a
road in progress Of construction, al
though almost torpid, whose design
is to enable Vanderbilt, of the New
York Central, to, compete with the
Pennsylvania Road for the latter's
local business, by expanding the
Reading, an important coal road Of
Eastern Pennsylvania, into a great
through route by the expenditure
of $20,000,000.
The Lehigh Valley quarreled
with the Jersey Central, and paral-
lelled the latter at a cost OF, say
100000. The Schuylkill Val
ley spent $10,OOO,OOO in paralleling
a line to Pottsville, although the
latter was not remunerative. This
waste of enormous sums of money
in building needless lines has been
going on for many years, and is
still in progress, although railway
building has so nearly reached a
halt now that it is not likely that
any large amount will be- put into
new lines in the immediate future.
Notwithstanding the able argu-
ments of the Times, we decline to
enter upon the defense of the ST.
OO0,O00,OOO of railway capital in
the United States against the COM
paratively small fraction Of that
capital which exercises the control
Of the whole. 1t is our opinion that
that capital is abundantly compe-
tent to defend itself, and VIII change
it's managers and their practices
whenever it wishes to do SO, We
are more deeply concerned with the
prosperity of two million persons
engaged in trade and transportation
and eight million occupied with
agriculture, who are deeply injured
by the management under consider
alton. Vanderbilt has to recover
part of his losses from the needless
competition thurst on him by cut
ting down the compensation of his
employees, and part by charging
more than the traffic would other.
wise have to bear. So of every
other manager. 1t is in the interest
of the employees and producers
rather than in that Of the owners 81
the roads, that we would welcome
regulatiye legislation. IF the wrongs
of the poor cannot arouse Congress
to legislative activity, we do not be-
lieve that the abuse inflicted on
capitalists by the railway managers
can accomplish any improvement
in the law In fact the people viii
be more likely to oppose any regu-
lation desired in the alleged interest
of capital, on the general ground
that what is for the interest Of CAPT.
tai cannot possibly be for the adj
vantage of the laborers and pro-
ducers. This position is not true
or ought not to be true but Sc
much injury has been done to the
poor by legislating for the rich that
It is lard to persuade people that
the real and substantial interests o.
capital and labor are not diverse.
It is full time for Congress tc