The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-10-21
GOVERNMENT RAILROADS.
The Fallacies of Harris and Lewelling tx
posed-Their Arguments Are But Soph


posed-Their Arguments Are But Soph.
4 istries.
Mr.. Lewelling, fusion candidate fol-
| governor, and Mr.. Harris, fusion candi
! date for congressman at large, are
making their campaigns upon but one
! issue-the government ownership o.
railroads. They have left the great
financial questions for the lesser lights
| preferring to deal with what they deem
| the only practical issue in their party
platform, for, though fusion, they ac
knowledge fealty only to the Omaha
principles.
Ex-Gov. George T. Anthony, having
secured stenographic reports of the
speeches made by both these gentle
men, has fully answered them in the
following interview:
Mr.. Harris entire speech is on rail
road management and railroad legisla
| ton, in which he assails the intelligence
and integrity of our government, and
| denounces the owners and managers ol
| our railroads as thieves or worse, espe'
| cially the Kansas Pacific company. He
refers to our lawmakers as microscopic
statesmen and railroad companies as
forcing donations from them absolute
ly in the nature of Matchmaking
81 believe it is well known that Col
| Harris came to Kansas as civil engineer
with the Shoemaker, Miller tE Co. syndi
| cate, which built the Kansas Pacific road
| and received the fruit of its subsidies
/ He was at first an engineer and later
an agent of the land and town com
pany.
| 'His position as engineer and agent
made him a confidant of the company
| in these matters to an extent that he
must have known all about the acts
which are now denounced by him. His
I vegetables all grew in the railroad gar
| den at that time, and the colossal fort
| une with which he is credited was gath
/ cred from the generous boughs of the
! Kansas Pacific tree. 1t seems little
| strange, however, that it required Il
| quarter of century for him to ecall
| truths which, if divulged at the time,
might have saved his state and country
/ from spoliation to the amount of tens
of millions, and stranger still to com
| prehend good motive for telling II
! now. when its recital can bring no pos
sible restitution, and when a repetition
of the wrong, or anything akin to it
has been beyond the area of human pos
| sibility for so many years.
MICROSCOPIC CRAFTSMANSHIP.
"Col. Harris strikes the keynote of his
party by denouncing everything Amer
lean and lauding everything foreign.
| just how an American citizen can
| gather comfort from comparisons which
degrade his own country is mystery
| to me. Whether he does it through
! ignorance or design, it is alike an un-
! pardonable offense against reason and
! LOYALTY, and yet it is being dinned into
our ears by pretended reformers con
| stantlv. Belgium and France are first
used, in this instance. to bring shame
to Americans by comparison between
royal wisdom and republican micro
scopic craftsmanship
''Mr. Harris credits King Leopold with
the construction of magnificent sys-
TEN of railroads by the government OF
! Belgium and joint system of govern
ment and private lines, which he quotes
| Charles Francis Adams as saying pre-
scented the first class in railroad history
/ where competition was possible anc
| combination impossible, and it had q
! marked effect, not only on the railroad
| systems themselves, but on the whole
people: they flourished and prospered.
SIT seems strange that this distin-
! guished student of railroad history
| should have failed to enlighten his
/ hearers about the causes which impelled
King Leopold to enter upon the first
construction of railroads in his kingdom
| and how it happened that later con-
| struction was turned over to private en-
| prise and capital.
''He must have known that railroad
| construction by the government of Bel
/ gium. and France also, was entered up
| on only when it was found that private
! capital could not be tempted to under
! take such great enterprises in that
early period of railroad development
that it was only when the offer of fran
! chises and subsidies had utterly failed
| to enlist the conservative, unenterpris-
I ing capitalists of that period that gov
eminent entered upon the work, anC
then only as a military measure of para
mount necessity. More than this, Col
| Harris must have known that in both
| Belgium and France specific reasons
and patent conditions existed which de-
TERED private capital from all great en-
terprises of production or Transports
! ton at that time. Both countries haC
recently been rent and distracted by
revolutions, attended by radical anG
| repeated changes in government These
conditions of instability and uncertain
ty put fear in the place of public conf.
dence, compelling these two govern
ments to project and construct railroads
within their respective territories or dc
without them. and about one-half Of
their present mileage was built and
equipped under this pressure of neces
sity, and not as voluntary business
enterprise.
HIGH RATES MAINTAINED.
Not only were these early roads
built to an existing national necessity,
but by excessive rates for public service
they We're made at once a source of rev
enue to the crown, and rebulle to the
timid who had declined gilded offers tc
come forward and build them. Then
came corporate grants and private en-
terprise. as the result of restored con-
fidence and assured results, adding
about an equal mileage under private,
as under government, ownership.
although the government had built
upon the most favorable lines, geo
graphically and commercially, the pri-
waite lines were built so much cheaper,
and operated with so much greater
economy and efficiency, as to make sue
cassf,,l cnnnntitinn with them By the