The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-08-11
GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP OF RAIL
WAYS.

| In the Arena for August, c. WOOD
Davis concludes his argument began il
the July Arena for the government own
ersbip of railroads. The argument as {
whole is perhaps the strongest presenta
ton of that side of the question that has
yet been made and it seems to practically
exhaust the subject, though the force
of argument is broken in some measure
| by the division of the article and hav.
ing it appear in two numbers of the
| magazine. This was not Mr.. Davis
fault, but it was probably unavoidable
with the publishers on account of the
length of the article
From the standpoint Of favoring the
proposition Mr.. Davis argument seems
to be conclusive, but number of grave
objections present themselves to the
mind while reading the article The
weather is too warm just now to enter
into a discussion Of the question at
length, though we call attention to one
of the strongest points Mr. Davis makes.
He says "a divorce between railways
and commercial enterprises of every
name and description would fol
low government ownership That
might be the case, but if
it should be the government would have
to change its policy in that respect, a
policy that has been practiced for long
time. We refer to the special favors
shown by the revenue department to
certain lines of Manufacturers and to
the importers of foreign goods in many
cases, notably the case of ''tin" in an
ticipation and under the operation of
the new tariff law The importers of
this necessary article were permitted to
bring in immense quantities of it, upon
which the mere operation of the law
places, or permits the importers to
place, an additional cost upon the people
Of this country Of three dollars box
This is only one instance of special
privileges granted to one class of citi-
zeDs at the expense of all the rest.
Another that may be cited occurs
every day in the postal department.
The citizen is required to pay fixed
price for stamped envelopes in small lots,
while the manufacturer or dealer who
uses envelopes in large quantities may
get them at much lower rate. This is
a palpable discrimination against the
small user and in favor of the larger one.
1t cannot be said in defense of this policy
that the difference is necessary to
protect the government against
loss by reason of the greater num-
Der of small transactions over the large
ones. The department would have to
employ neither more or less help if the
rate on stamped envelopes were the same
for one or more million: neither
would the cost of the envelopes to the
government be effected in the lest.
Other instances in the other departments
might be cited, but these are enough.
And if such determinations are practiced
by the government in these and other
respects, will any one presume to say
that large shippers and travellers will not
be granted special rates and favors if
-he government should control the rail
roads? We think not.
But another objection, and the great
EST of all to this proposed scheme. is the
dea and principle of fraternalism it in
;ulcateS. The trend of everything is in
hat direction and so rapid has been its
strides of late years that it Is already
'ausing no little alarm in the minds Of
many thinking people, and instead of
aking another step in that direction,
he country would do well to retrace
ONE that have already been taken.
With the leading ideas Of the Alliance
bird party adopted and in force there
would be little left to be done to perfect
he complete Capitalization of govern
nent and the consequent adjustment or
ullification of local government and |
avs.