The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1894-08-30

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There is fixed limitation upon the
amount traffic will bear. and within this
margin there are numerous factors in
fuencing the establishment of rates. To
assume that the governmental operation
of the Central and Union Pacific route
would be Independent of these factors
is an assumption growing out of a want
of familiarity With the most primitive
principles involved.
1t is plain, however. that the popularity
of the proposition-and it is manifestly
popular-is referable to the belief that the
Government would operate the roads
without hope of profit, and that it would
simply set up a standard of rates be-
tween the Missouri River and the Pacific
Ocean, which would yield no return to
the capital invested. nor even pay the
cost of operation. The signers of the Ec-
onaaae1'S petition, the declarations of party
platforms, and all other manifestations
OF popularity are distinctly referable to
| the belief that a line between the At
lantic and Pacific seaboards operated by
the Government would be operated
largely at the expense of the whole
country, and distinctively in the interest
Of the people of the Pacific Coast. Yet the
thought and the wish underlying this
have even palmer definition. The popu-
larity of the proposition is actually
referable to that thought, so instructive
in the human mind, that it costs nobody
anything for the Government to lose
money; that if the Government were
actually operating a road from tide water
on the Pacific seaboard to the populous
centers of the Atlantic States, it could af-
ford to operate it at loss for the benefit
OF such shippers only as use the line.
Thus the petitioners are actually ask
ing the Government of the United States
to spend money from the Treasury to
maintain cheap means of communion
ton for the benefit of a single section of
the country. Since the Government has
no independent source of revenue. and
since all its money is derived from the
people, it follows that the proposition,
when Invested of its glamour, is to have
the people of the United States pay the
cost OF shipping the products of Califor-
mia by rail to the Eastern seaboard. This
is paternalism with vengeance. More
than this, it is paternalism in it's most
grotesque and unreasoning form. What
! the Government is asked to do IN this
instance it could not do with justice to
the whole country; or if it attempted to
extend the operation of the precedent to
the whole country, we would have the
spectacle of the Government of the
United States carrying the entire inter-
state commerce at a loss, and under the
absurd and even ridiculously silly prop
osition that the people of the United
States have something to gain by taxing
themselves to raise money with which
to make good the loss the Government
would sustain in performing their trans
portation service at less than cost.
We do not believe that the people of
the United States will consent to this alb
surdity or any part Of it. They will not
consent to perform the transportation
service for the Pacific States and Terri
tories. or any part of them, for less than
| cost. tbot would ba tba await aonixxolan
of taking money from the public Treas
ury for private benefit. If the plea is
made that the industries of the Pacific
Coast cannot flourish except through this
Government patrimony, then they are
not worth pursuing. No industry de-
pendent upon perpetual artificial pro-
motion is entitled to take rank as valu-
able industry; and if the commerce of the
Pacific Coast cannot stand alone it cer-
the munificence of the Government
The common sense of this is that the
Government of the United States should
extent the time for the payment of the
debt to become due by the Pacific Rail-
roads. This should be done; first, be-
cause the railroads should pay back at
some time the money borrowed; second,
because the Government should not be-
come q competitor with private enter
prise: and third, because the stockholders
who have invested their money in the
Central and Union Pacific Railroad prop
critics should have a fair and legitimate
opportunity to eventually discharge the
obligations to the Government, and thus
acquire a complete ownership of the
properties in which they have invested
their money.
The sum of this whole matter may be
condensed into a proposition in the fol-
lowing form; IF Government operation
of the road is with view of earning
reasonable interest On the money in
vested, then the Government cannot OPP
crate them more cheaply than a private
corporation. If the Government is to
operate them without hope of eventual
reward to the Treasury from the money
expended in acquiring ownership, and
interest on such money, then they are
to be operated at loss to the people of
the United States. and for the sole benefit
of small group of producers on the Pa