Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-09-12

can demonstrate 70 any fair mind, from
the sworn reports Of railway owners 10
the Office OF your state comptroller, tnat
We have giant lines Of railway In Texas
that pay 20 per cent on q valuation OF
800, 900 mile after allowing 60 per cent.
OF gross earnings for expenses, and YET
they do not show the payment Oh 81 OF
dividend TO stockholders who pay interest
ON watered bonds. The money was
sunk In the pockets OF the millionaires
who own them, In New York. What is
this but robbery, the robbery OF patient
Industry, the robbery which destroys the
profts OF agriculture, and depreciates the
value Of every acre Of cultivated land In
Texasf And yet this very stock and bond
watering Is solemnly prohibited by the
constitution Of your state. Article XII /,
| section G, of the constitution reads thus;
ono corporation shall issue stock or
bonds except for money paid, labor done,
or property actually received, and all fc-
titious increase Of stock or indebtedness
shall be voldn
The statute law contains similar pro
vision. Article 4l64 OF the civil code pfo-
Ivides:
Article asa. "No railroad corporation
shall issue any stock or bonds except Tor
money, labor or property actually received
and applied TO the purpose for which such
corporation was organized; nor shall 1t
issue any shares OF stock In said company
except at It's par value and to actual sub
scribers who pay,or become liable to pay,
the par value thereof" Every owner,
therefore, OF watered stock or bonds re-
ceiyed 1t with his eyes opened to the fact
that 1t was issued
IN VIOLATION OF LAW.
Here there Is law, both constitutional
and statute, but, like your law about
school lands and school grass, 1t has no
adequate machinery to enforce 1t, and II
refuses TO work The constitution not
only requires that laws be passed requlr-
ing reasonable maximum rates Of freight
charges, but that laws shall be enacted to
correct abuses and prevent unjust dis
elimination and extortlon in freight rates.
But the cunning of capital has
always been more potent than the unor-
ganized efforts OF labor, and this statute
has remained dead letter.
The corporation barons OF the Panhan-
die have usurped your school lands and
defy your laws, because you have no legal
commissions TO supervise, detect and
control them, and your nonresident
barons OF the public highway are playing
the same role and for years have laughed
at your statutes.
Senator Coke on the 10Th OF May last
said that the stock and bond watering by
railroads was crime against the public.
He said "This crime against the public
will never cease until the people through
their state governments, which alone can
deal with II, shall make war upon 1t with
| Al Hat nft,o
tion.n VIII his colleagues lndorse
this sentiment and suggest a remedyf
There 10 but one remedy, and that must
come through tribunal created by law
and invested with the power and duty to
fix charges that will pay good interest on
real values and disregard all imaginary
values. The holder of fraudulent stock
or bonds cannot complain, for all courts
have held that he who buys stock OF
bonds must buy with his eyes open and
KNOW ITS CHARACTER.
, My fellow-citizens, did you know thai
while the average cost OF Transporting
freight In the United States, has in tn,
+ last year or two, been reduced TO a littl,
8 over five cents for a hundred miles for
: hundred pounds Of freight, that still here
. In Texas they are permitted to charge
I fifty cents per hundred weight for tn,
= same dlstance9 Not only so, but the,
4 may slide and iiuctuate their charges be
D low that at pleasure. Under such
q power no stoppage of Commerce on Texa
: roads by Infatuated labor would eve
I injure them, for two months suspension
OF traffic would be compensated for b,
higher charges during the rest Of tn
year to be paid In the end by the produc
tngr nd In al l., L.
= but despotlsm interpreted2 The despos
0 Ism Of corporate creature exercise,
4 over its own creator2 The frelgh
, charges paid by Texas people to hy
l. lines of railway alone in 1884 amounted l.
Q Slb,13G,000. Two Of them are the road
i that traverse the state to the Rio Grandt
which we are sometimes told cannot pa
expenses, and yet those Ave roads realize
: an interest on valuation OF $20,0 900 pc
IS mile, which, II charged on loaned none
d by private citizen, our laws would hav
l. declared usurious and forfeited. Yet W
II are told they don't pay. Why then ar
g they still building here In Texas taste
e than ever beforep
o Your laws require every railroad once
y year to make to the comptroller OF tn
J. state sworn report OF its operations.
q Now, to show the apathy OF the people
: while this work OF gathering tolls out {
n their pockets to pay
Q INTEREST ON wArRRED BONDS
: Is progressing, here state that nei.he
n before nor since | procured these dat
from the comptroller's office, has an
>, citizen OF this state ever called for cor
o densed report of railroad receipts, profit
o and operations until procured II In Ma
l. last, Why, my friends, the Missouri
+ Kansas Texas road made its sworn r,
n port which, II true, showed that In 1855,
% lts net earnings were $2,s04, 1874. No
" the mileage OF that road
70 $50 miles, which Is valued
$4,000 a mile, would show tn,
y last year the net earnings OF the roa
. were % gill per cent. ON that valuation
&c ] may be mistaken, but firmly beliey
n that $4,000 would reconstruct and ecu,
10 that road. The average OF the sworn va
l. nations Of Texas roads Is less than $50
10 mile This Is all they pay taxes on, az
II we take their own sworn testimony
3, ascertain their value, then the Missouri
l Kansas Texas road In 1855 paid not Il
10 from 90 per cent. interest ON Its value
10 do not know what newspapers win pu
70 llsh these facts, but say that those wi
ST do and who will keep them before ii
SO people deserve their gratitude and thank
GIVE to Texas the average freight rates
re the United States on her short hauls
Y the gull and she must quit raising cottt
q and raise
$, GRAIN TO FEED rHR WORLD.
n Describe from Galveston a circle III
G. will reach 200 miles In the interior. Al