Nevada County picayune., 1890-07-31

the railroads now pay. In other words, upon becoming the property of the Government, the railroads would cease to be taxable, COnse- quentIy, the large amount of State, county, school, and town taxes, both general and special, which they, as private property, are now required to pay. would thereafter have to be wrung from the people. The special tax levied to provide the fabulous sum of money with which to pur- chase this property might some day be finally paid. But this increase of the rate of regular or permanent taxes. made necessary by the chang rng of this vast quantity of property from private to Government owner ship. by which operation 1t wonId cease to be taxable, would be per petua. It would go on and on for ever. because taNc, never cease.
 Moreover. Government ownership and operation of this property would neccssitatc the creation of the great Department of Railroads" at Washington, whose head would be a cabinet minister. The managers and operatives of all these railroads, from the Secretary of the Depart ment of Railroads down to the sec ton hands and water-tank tenders, would be officers and employees of the Government. Their number would run ur into the hundreds of thous- auds. They would always be friend ly to. and supporters of the Admin i istration in power for the time being. and their influence upon elections would be many times greater than that of an equal number of men ill private pursuits. They would con stitutc vast army of public patron age. and their influence upon society would always be in many ways cner- vatng and dcmoraIizing.
 Under the Government : policy of liberal salaries, light work and short hours, the number of headquarters and operating employees, and the vol tune of operating expenses would be enormously greater than they are un- der private management.
 Hence it may well be doubted that actual cost of transportation under Government management would be as low as profitable rates under Pri- yatc ownership and management,
 And then what a rich mine for corruption this scheme would open up, No human agency under the sun could prevent frequent ant gigantic jobs and ,tealagrs in so vast and complex d system of pubic business; especially in the construc- ton of new roads, and the repairs and the hctt-rmcut> of constructed roads. and in contracts for furnishing locomotives. cars, rails. and all other cquippagc, and supplies.
 And what would be true of rail roads. would also be true of steam boats. ships, stage lines, express lines. the overland wagon trains of the West the Rocky Mountain and Sierra Nevada Mountain burro pack trains and the telegraph and tcle, phone lines.
 The postal system furnishes nc criterion for Government ownership and management of the means of transportation. In that branch oi the public service, the property con- ssts of mail bags, and other com parativcly inexpensive facilities fot carving on the business. In this ease the Government can place the means of communication within reach of all the people, even those ir the most remote parts of the frontier And as it is not necessary for the Government to own and use any large amount of valuable property to carry on this business, it can bI done, and is done, at SD small a cost that it entails no burden any citizen except slight expense in the way of stamps to the one who burdens the mail with his cOrrcspOn- dcncc or periodicals. In the matter of transportation lines the cast would be d. different a, night is from day
 These. briefly, are the chief reasons, we suppose, why the Union Labor aud Republican bosses favor the scheme. They are likewise some of the reasons why all Democrat, oppose il. Democrats favor Govern ment rcxtraiat and control of rail