The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1891-03-13

ways being primarily non-producers. it
follows that the more such non-produc-
ing agencies there are to be supported
the greater the tax will be on pro-
ducers.
HOW FARMERS FIGURE.
The farmer wants two railroads that
they NAV bid against each other for
the hauling of his wheat to market.
But he forgets that those two roads,
instead of bidding each other poor and
leaving him rich, will quietly get their
heads together and determine what e3.
penses. interest charges and dividends
must be earned, and then make and adj
here to the rates which will yield such
expenses, charges and dividends.
When this has been done, as 1t inevi-
tably must I've. the only remedy left u
for the State TO drive one or both OF the
alleged rival roads into bankruptcy by
fixing insufficient rates, and then-the
whole performance remains to be re-
peated.
1t is fact that seems to be generally
ignored that what may be termed the
attrition of transportation frequently
cuts the life out of the commodities
transported. 1t often reduces a steer to
its horns and a bushel of grain to the
bag it started in.
The Kansas farmer who hauls his
produce to New York and exchanges
what he has left on his arrival for cloth
or hardware, and hauls that back to
Kansas, is likely to find that he has got
little for his pains-but his pains.
And yet it is by no means necessary
conclusion Though the one most quick
ly and frequently reached) that the
railways have been overpaid for the
service they have render ed in hauling
the grain and hardware between Kan
sas and New York.
In other words, both railroads and
people should remember that cheap
commodities do not have to be carried
far before the carrier is compelled to
take the freight for the transportation
fee.
1t is not reasonable to expect to carry
every thing produced long way to
market, and bring every thing con-
sumed the same long way back. Few
commodities will stand the levy Of 80
much toll.
TOO MUCH AND TOO SOON.
All over the West the folly of over.
construction and premature construc-
ton has been committed Aid bonds
have been piled higher than the
pyramids.
Oily gentlemen have persuaded COM
munities and municipalities that the
taxes on proposed railroads would more
than pay for the bonds voted in their
aid. They have made it seem perfectly
feasible to get over the fence by pulling
the boot straps.
But the same oily gentlemen have
neglected to speak of the insupportable
burden of having to pay, in freight and
passenger rates, interest on an unneces-
sary multiplication Of invested capital
an unnecessary interest charge on the
people, running on forever, no matter
how men may come or go.
A resolution was introduced in the
last Kansas Legislature, when railways
were being chartered by thousands Of
miles daily, declaring in substance, that
whereas Kansas is an agricultural coun-
try, some OF its lands ought to be re-
served for agricultural purposes instead
of giving it all to railway companies for
rights of way.
This resolution struck all careful OBJ
servers as n singularly appropriate criti-
cism of the wholesale railway construc-
ton then going on.
That railway mileage has increased
faster proportionately than the increase
of population in the States and Terri
tories west of the Missouri river is
shown by the accompanying figures,
which explain themselves: