St. Paul daily globe., 1891-01-09


monopoly. Only its members reap any
great advantage from the seal business.
There is an aristocratic tone about
the Sealskin traffic, but the recent
message of the governor Of Alaska
gives figures showing that the
Goldfish and salmon fisheries yield
double the value of the seal
catch of the same period. The
seals devour the Goldfish and check the
growth of the industry. which is more
promising than the seal business. This
country is not in good condition to go
to war with great naval power. 1t has
too much unprotected border in the
west in the case of England, as well as
| on the oceans. If the honor of the
country were at stake material consider
ations would vanish; but the caprices OF
a secretary or the interests of an adj
ministration are not incentives to let
! slip the martial CANNES.
THE RAILROAD PRESIDE ENTS.
The presidents of the most important
| Western railroads met in New York
yesterday for conference and organiza-
ton, The Chicago & Alton and the
| Chicago, ST. Paul S Kansas City were
not represented. Mr.. STIcKNEY at
tended previous meeting held some
weeks ago for the same purpose, but re-
| fused to enter into any c0mpacts with
| his associates. The Kansas City road
is in peculiar position. 1t has funded
its bonded indebtedness for two years
| to come, and will have no interest
charges to meet during that time. All
! that it will need to do will be to earn its
| operating expenses. This is rare op-
| portunity for it to build itself up into a
| position of strength and prosperity. No
| other road out of a receivers hands has
such chance. Mr.. STIcKNEY would
he very unwise to frltter away the
| golden hour by tying his hands with
| compactS and restrictions.
This is one of the reasons for his
| keeping aloof from the conference. But
| the reason he is reported to have given
at the recent assembly was that, while
| he had the greatest confidence in his as
| sociates' agreements and contracts as
| men. he did not believe that, as railroad
| presidents. their pledges amounted to
| very much. If it is true that he said
| this, and there is anything in 1t, he is
| very wise to maintain his independence
and not hamper himself by futile arti-
| cleS of association which will be signed
| only to be violated. His idea probably
is that the presidents word is good as
far as it goes, but that there are so many
4, Co n In,
his particular department, it is impoSsi-
bic for anybody to control them and Sc
cure their fidelity to the compaets of
their superiors.
We imagine that twenty-five years
from now the railroad wars of to-day
will be looked back to with very much
the same feeling that the conflicts of
medieval barons are regarded by the
modern student Of history. Caprice and
irregularity in railroad service and
rates are bad things for everybody.
They are bad for the trader because
they make all his dealings speculative.
He either strains his credit by loading
up beyond his needs with goods when
rates are unnaturally low, OF, If he buys
business when rates are normal, he runs
the risk of serious loss from competition
with his rivals who can undersell him
him because they have purchased when
transportation was not so expensive.
The stockholder and bondhOlder suffer
from the wanton destruction Of prop
erty and profits which inevitably attend
ate-cutting before the point where any
return on the Investment can be real
lied. If we get bankrupt roads enough
in the country we shall be sure to have
great many bankrupt stockholders
and bondholderS. This means a loss of
business confidence and diminution of
capital, both of which are very bad for
any community.
Railroad officials, who, after all. are
only employees. and some of them OH
small salaries, act as though they owned
the property which is intrusted to them,
and maltreat and destroy it at their
pleasure. They call their retainers to-
gether. like bandit chief of the
twelfth century, and start off to war
against their rivals, sometimes because
they fear their growth in power, and
sometimes out of mere love of mis-
chief and ambition to make things
lively. They may succeed, as did their
prototypes of an earlier age, in killing
| off a good many of the enemy, and
destroying good deal of their prop
erty; but, as in any battle, their victory
| is purchased at some loss of lives and
resources to themselves.
Mr.. STICKNET is probably right in the
view that he is said to have expressed,
and it is very likely that little which is
! permanent and effective is accomplished
| by meetings like that which is holding
| in New York. Such conferences are at
the best like women's friendships, sus-
| pensions of hostilities which will be re-
| newed when the occasion suggests it..
| The point is that in general they are the
! best makeshifts available in the present
very unsatisfactory condition of things.
They may do little good, but they at
least accomplish something. Nothing
which looks like a solution will ever be
| arrived at until the whole railroad prob
| lem is brought stelnly under the hands
of competent lawgivers, who, by train
ing and capacity, are equal to hand
ling it.
If bank OF any other industry should
be organized with ten or twenty million
dollars of capital, and made the exclu
sive depository of all the money in the
country, no one would consent to its be-
ing managed by the ignorant and the
| incapable, and the utmost publicity as
to its plans, methods and condition
would surely be required. Or. if only
two or three banks were, by the nature
| of things, or under the behest of law,
organized in community, and in these
every citizen left his capital for safe
keeping, and from these got the busi-
ness accommodation which he needed,
it would be preposterous to allow
them to spend their resources in
efforts to injure each other. or to
make combinations to rum merchants