The advocate., 1891-05-13

state board OF railroad commissioners, /
clip the following paragraphs:
Il is quite common, however, for inflated
orators TO assert that from $1,000 to $10,0 900
per mile is all that railroad legitimately
costs, and that all capitalization above that
IL 'water." We have reports from which
Che foregoing figures have been taken, an
itemized statement of the actual cash cost
Of 1883 miles, loss mile being in Kansas;
we refer to the Chicago, Kansas u Nebraska
railroad. All of this road has been built
within the past four years, under most ia
vorable conditions az to cost of labor and
material, and built by, or under the auspices
Of, company whose financial credit was
high, enabling it to place securities upon
the market upon very favorable terms; yet
the actual cost and outlay for road and
equipment, up to June 30, 1889, was $780,
!, 264, ,497. .SS, or $21, ,0S3.93 per mile. There is
no water in this.
It is true that all the railroad mileage in
the state has not cost so much per mile as
the Chicago, Kansas & Nebraska lines, but
some has cost good deal more. Railroads
chat are cheaply built in the beginning cost
more before they are finished than they
would IL well constructed at frst. A rail-
road thrown down upon the prairie at cost
OF $4,000 or $4,000 per mile is no criterion
Of che cost Of q road over which immense
trains run with safety thirty and forty miles
an hour.
Ht would, in our Judgment, be moderate
estimate to put the actual average cash cost
OF the total railroad mileage Of Kansas, in
cluding equipment, at the cost of the Chi
cago, Kansas & Nebraska lines, per mile.
II may be remarked, en- PEASANT, that
there are hundreds Of miles Of as good
railroad as the Chicago, Kansas u Ne
brasks In the state of Kansas, the cost Of
which did not exceed $4,000 per mile,
as can be conclusively and incontroverti-
bly, proven. Statements made by rail-
road corporations are not by any means
conclusive evidence as to the cost OF rail-
road construction, else, have the people
no grievance against the railroads. But
It is passing strange that the board
should have put any faith in the state
ment they quote, when they remember
the character of the corporation making
it, as evidenced by the fact that the Chi
cago, Rock Island & Pacific railroad had
deliberately wrecked and foreclosed upon
the Chicago, Kansas & Nebraska rail-
road, an extension Of Its own line, in Or
der to render worthless some two and
half million dollars worth Of stock issued
by them to cities, townships and coun-
ties for aid, voted In bonds to said road.
OF course they, by their action, "freeze
out'' any unlucky holders of Chicago,
Kansas s. Nebraska stock, to whom they
may have sold the same. Some time ago
Iclipped the following paragraphs which,
while they may be stale, will serve as
text to enlarge upon:
TOPEKA, April 28.-The Chicago, Kansas
q Nebraska railroad will be sold tomorrow
By the United States marshal, under Rmort-
gage foreclosure. The mortgage is held by
the United States Trust Company, aud its
full value is s26,OOO.OOO. The property was
appraised, by appraisers appointed by the
court, at S25, ,232, 900. The road will be bid
In by the trust company, which is closely
connected with the Chicago, Rock Island q
Pacific Railway Company. The sale win
result in freezing out all stockholders, q