Thomas County cat., 1890-10-02
THE RAILROAD QUESTION.


Union Pacific railroad in Kansas 1880
acres of land and $4,000 per mile fol
building said road in the state OF Kan
sas. TIE company report that they OBJ
tanned So an acre for the lands. The
total subsidy, then, was S54,4O0 pei
mile for building the road. This sum
should have paid the cost OF building
and equipping the road about twice
and the road should have been turned
over to the government as a public
highway. free from incumErance. to be
operated in the interest of the people
at mere cost of running expenses and
repairs. This, however, is not the con-
dition of matters. The company has,
retained the road as its own property,
and has loaded it with a burden OF
stocks and bonds amounting to S105,-
454.7S per mile, on which the people
must pay dividends and interest. These
official figures are found in the annual
reports of the board of railroad COM
missioners of Kansas, volumes / and z.
They show that, after the general
government has paid for building the
Union Pacific railroad in this state
abont twice it's actual cost, the people
must still pay interest and dividends on
90 20 ha n
using the road.
The seventh annual report shows,
also, that about S46O,0O0,OOO of debt
burden rests upon the railroads of
Kansas, on which the people must pay
dividends and interest forever, with no
opportunity of paying or removing the
burden itself! This burden, too, rests
on roads largely paid for by the people
and the general government, with
municipal bonds, cash, and public
lands!
This capitalization is, to great ex-
tent. fraudulent, KNOWN as ''watered
stocks" costing the companies only the
expense of printing and selling the GER
hfcates! The certificates are sold in
the open market as genuine, for spot
cash, and the money is used in making
millionaires! The collection of dividends
on this fraudulent paper is now making
homeless farmers, tenants, serfs and
tramps. Is it any wonder that farmers
are organizing, that revolution seems
to permeate the very air we breathe,
aud that laboring men, business men,
and all patriots are crying out, what
must we do to be saved?"
Kansas is not alone in this perdition
Of distress. On the country at large
there rests railroad burden OF over
nine billions Of dollars (9,062, ,446, 365)!
We talk of the country being out of
debt; yet here is a debt burden more
than three times the amount of the ma
sional debt at the close of the war, on
which the people are paying an average
Of over 4 PER cent per annum! This
burden is largely watered, or forged,
stocks and bonds, manufactured at cost
Of paper and printing, and sold for
billions of dollars to fill the pockets of
millionaire speculators. A controlling
amount of these stocks and bonds are
held in London, and our American rail-
roads are operated in the interests of
our British masters, whom our fathers
ire said to have conquered at Yorktown
md New Orleans. Here is the testi-
mony:
A case now pending before the Inter-
state Commerce commission shows that
certain classes of goods of similar quail
ty in Philadelphia are to be sent to
Chicago for sale. Some are of British
manufacture, some American. On Brit
sh tin plate, the freight from Philadel-
phia to Chicago was 16 cents per 100
pounds. On American tin plate it was
2S cents. On Scotch linen the freight
from Philadelphia to Chicago was 46
,ents: on other linen 50 cents. From
New Orleans to San Francisco 79 cents
was charged on British made agricul-
tural implements; on American-made
implements ia cents. On implements
shipped from New York the regular
rate was 130 cents; if from Chicago,
l19; while from Liverpool to San Fran
cisco the rate was only SO cents.
These facts and figures can be multi
piled indefinitely. They are the straws
which tell which way the wind blows.
They prove that our greatest American
highways are controlled and operated
in the interest of the British money
power! And that our British masters
at this moment are discriminating
against American products on our own