Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1893-06-09
CHE 8ismartk TrihMne.
by NJ. II. JEWELL.
HI DAILY
poPUL1sr RAILROAD PROJECT.

A populist convention is to be held in
Lincoln, Neb., this month, says the CHI.
cago Herald, to promote the project of a
state railroad from Bismarck, n. D., to
Galveston or some other point on the
Gulf of Mexico. The scheme, as out.
lined by Governor Lewelling, of Kansas.
is ito tax the acreage of the farming
lands" Of the several states through
which the road is projected, and in this
manner raise the means to build, equip
and operate the road. The populist
governor of Kansas does not expect that
the road will be Immediately profitable.
Indeed he does not want it to be profit
able ever. He wants to reduce freight
and passenger tariffs at the expense of
taxpayers.
The grand object in veiw at the out
set is to enable the wheat and corn
growers to get their products to market
at the lowest possible rates. Governor
Lewelling believes that with such a road
as the n contemplated, shortening the
distance to the seaboard considerably,
and with reduced rates for a given dis
lance, the channel of trade would be
changed from east to south, and there
would be satisfaction in Furnishing the
east for preferring good money to bad.
But there is a still gra,der remote OBJ.
ject. The populist philosophers expect
that their state road will eventually
bankrupt all the roads owned by cor
porations, and that the general govern
ment will then buy them at it's own
price regardless Of consequences to stock.
holders and bondholders. And they
further expect that the next step to-
ward the economic millennium will be
the humiliation of all corporations.
When it comes to that the government
will not only " and operate all the
railroads, but it will monopolize all
branches of business in which large
amounts Of capital are employed. Beyond
that the populists have not yet advanced
in their Bellamizing projects. But if
people should still be unhappy they
would, perhaps, be prepared to turn
over every industry and business to the
government boss, the little as we'll as the
big.
If the populists succeed in carrying
out their great railroad project they will
furnish the country with an object les.
son which probably will not be wholly
wanting IN value. That the results will
not be what they expect may be pre-.
dicted with much confidence. Expert
ence IN this country as we'll as elsewhere
has demonstrated pretty conclusively
that state ownership and operation of
railroads is not productive of good re-
cults. The results of an experiment
made in Georgia many years ago were
not such as to encourage any extension
of the state ownership plan. In Prussia
the condition of the roads and the equip
ment have greatly de~teriorated under
government ownership, while the ser.
vice is worse and the rates, both for pas.
sengers and freight, are higher than
they were under corporate ownership.
The populist road, if constructed, may
carry passengers and freight at reduced
rates, but if so it will be at the public
expense, and the taxpayers will see to il
that no more experiments of that kind
are made. With the populist example
before their eyes the people of the
United States will be in no hurry to
make the general government the sole
owner and manager of American rail.
roads. The populist road may possibly
injure some other roads. It may render
it necessary for the government to take
the Union Pacific, on which it has a sort
of lien. But if so, the re I'D will be so III
profitable under government manage.
ment that the people will not be in.
clined to sanction any extension of gov.
eminent railroad operations.