Wichita eagle., 1888-03-20
DIFFICULTIES OF OUR RAILROAD
SYSTEM

DIFFICULTIES OF OUR RAILROAD
SYSTEM.
Reviewing the origin of roads and
their various character we are struck
with the fact that control of the public
highways and their condition has had a
great deal to do with the stability of
nations. Rome conquered and main
tanned conquests no less by the mag
niticent roads she constructed to Join
her domains together than by the sturdy
yalor Of her legions and the state craft
of her senators. When Rome fell be-
fore the hordes of barbariSm her great
roads and bridges had by corrupt in
ternal administration of law fallen into
a state of partial uselessness. When
feudalism was established the castles of
the barOns were advantageously erected
along the few public highways and
an exteut that had to be met and
overthrown in turn by the people through
their sovereigns. In the great contest Of
the Barons with John of England, the
issue arising out of the abuses of the
proper uses of the public highways were
not the least that gave rise to Magma
Charta itself. In the spread of civiliza-
ton in our own country before the ad-
vent of railroads. whenever a charter
was to be granted for road or bridge
the public jealousy of the rights of the
people was nearly always shown by a
careful provision for the institution to
lapse in a stated time and to revert to
free public ownership and use In this
way most of the fine roads of Ohio. InGi-
ana and other states We're built and run
for years as toll roads under properly
guarded reserved rights of the
public. Today most of these
roads are free. Originally the
question of whether the states, counties
and cities could undertake the awfully
dangerous task of having such highways
properly repaired and run was one of
great interest. The development of the
state system of canals. owing to the
dense ignorance of the masses and the
want of numerous and Independent
press, had set a bad example to public
opinion. In the initial steps of our rail-
way building the aid of the state was
successfully invoked as a stakeholder.
which became SO subject to abuse that
the system Of loans and bonuses became
the custom. Thus was private enter
prise left to solve the problem-the
greatest and most unforeseen that the
world has yet met.
The mastery, rapid and insidious
manner in which science. through the
development OF our railway system,
has so completely supplanted the com
mercial functions of not only the
wagon roads, but the canals. the naviga-
bic rivers and the coasts of Old Ocean
itself. was never fOreseen nor could it
have been. 1t is as useless for railway
agent to say to the people today, IF you
do not like our rates and rules you can
take to the OK cart or the mule team" as
it would be to bid us return to anv other
obsolete methods of the DAYS of barbar-
ism. The wagon road, the canal and the
inland water routes as commercial high |
ways are things of the past in COMPETE
ton with railways. These conditions
are becoming more absolute every year. |
The methods of building. running and |
maintaining railways are becoming more !
simple. inexpensive and durable in !
rapid degree. And in that degree they |
are becoming more an absolute necessity |
of the people.
1t would be an exception in the devel- |
Opment of social progress If such a vast |
change as has been wrought by the rail- |
roads did not raise grave questions. |
While we can everywhere appreciate the |
advantages Of the railway we must adj |
init that a system that constitutes the |
of life itself to the country is |
lacking in completeness so long as it is |
subject to violent and frequent Interrupt
lions like those of the recent past and |
the present. Yet these interruptions are |
so many contributions to the solution of |
q great question. With the passage of |
the interstate commerce bill the contest !
was gained between the capitalistic and /
the mechanical and labor operators of |
the great system. So long as that bill |
had for Its aims solely the protection of !
the people against the unjust |
of the roads it stood /
no chance to become a law. But |
when the frequent strikes. and often the |
destruction of railway property, made it .
apparent to the aStute railway managers |
that the law might be passed with pro-
visions for invoking national power
against interference by the labor
they shifted from oppos-
ing to favoring it. Thus it became a
law. The conflict is irrepressibIe until
the question will probably be solved by
through revolution, or the
more desirable one of purchase by the
people OF the roadbeds and doubling the
tracks for the proper accommodation.
under regulations. of common carriers
who will own only the ruling stock.
Under such system if strike ike the
present one occurred it could not affect
the right of way over roadbed. free 10
any licensed common carrier. And the
people would not suffer as they do now
from great general strike. The
disputes then between private parties
could be localized and the general in
terests of the public left free. Yet we
IRE long way from the solution.
II