The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-06-27

to themselves t, of3its principal functions
the building aid ownership Of the great
national highways Of commerce, and the
making and Issuing of the nations money.
We have given t. Re railroad and bank
n1onopolies. as herers and usureres.
an almost uni Bited power of taxation
The people in oranf e and fear, hopeless.
these usurpatio1( tosEo on Had the rail-
road corporations lis the exercise Of this
function Of the state been wise, moderate
and faithful to the trust; had they been
content to exerI se this power conferred
fit, receiving dH compensation for their
services. their lease of power might have
been longer; but 1t was clearly impossible
for them to so act. Organized capital knows
no law save thai wheh serves it's agumen-
tation. The few restraints put opon rail-
road corporations were like pack-thread in
the hands OF Vaint The interstate COM
merce act has proved to be dead letter,
as Mr.. St1ckney, great railroad owner
and manager, admits in his book 1.-The
Railway Problem" The federal courts re-
versing their former decisions for the per-
iod of 80 years, al last decided that a cor
poration was a Citizen for purposes Of
aggressive warfare upon the public, while
only corporation with stockholders of
limited ability for purposes of defense.
Ihus equipped, of such nature necessarily
merciless, clothed ON with sovereign power,
a function of the state owning and control
ling what has developed into the most vital
fundamentally of civilization-for all traf-
nc, all commerce depends upon 1.-THE rail-
road corporations have rivaled the rapacity
and ravages Of the East India Company
In India during the reign of Warren Hast
ings, and along with other corporations and
| monopoies are the efficient cause of the dis
tress poverty and wretchedness which is SO
widespread today all over the land.
While exercising this function Of the
state" these trusted agents, railroad cor
porations, breed a swarm of other corpora
in that soulless neutrality-suspicious.
companies, land companies, elevator COM
pan1es, town site companies, coal compan-
les; and by means of these adjuncts-engi-
neries for rObbing the stockholders on the
one hand and plundering the people on the
other-railroad managers and officials have
literally been highway robbers" and have
held up the whole community and made it
stand and deliver" The robber barons of
the Middle Ages robbed each other; the
| modern robber barons rob the common peo-
pie.
Government control will always prove
farce, so long as corporations exist. The
government is completely in the hands of
corporations, and government control Is
corporation control, in other words I'M
bounded license to spoil the people. The
only remedy is government ownership.
Let these great public highways be a func-
ton Of the state in reality as we'll as in
now they serve private peculation Instead
of being a monstrous plot for the purpose
Of enormously taxing the people SO that
life is of but little worth to them, let them
be source of revenue to the people. Is
it not better for the people to own the
railroads than for the railroads to own
the people? Labor has built the railroads,
receiving a scant subsistence for it's pains.
Labor has paid for the railroads many
times over, while what is called capital
owns them. Capital has converted the rail-
roads, which it has filched from labor, into
an instrument of torture upon which labor
is racked. The simplest principles of econ
omy demonstrate the necessity that the
| people who hayA buNt and paid for the
railroads should sownSsthem, even if they
have to pay foretherhs over agin. Interest
| on watered stock is the tribute the people
now pay. In those countries where the
government owr& am operates the rail-
roads, statistics shSw that fares and
freights are far less than here, while a
large revenue is derived from this source
Davis, formerly raAfoad manager, and a
competent authority, has shown that the
people Of this country have, during the
past Is years, BEEN mulcted by the railroad
companies in the shape of tolls based Who'll
ly upon watered stock to the tune of ST.
422, 58S, 455. He also says that the maxi
mum cost of all the railroads of the United
States is $4,000, 0OQ, 0O0,E and he further esti-
mates that the cost 0fs the railway service
under government management would be
$40, 0OO, 900 less annually, than under cor
porate management.
The people have paid for the railroads,
over and over again, and it stands to rea-
son that the next time they pay for them they
should own them. Under the present sys-
tenn, it is like hiring a man to cut your
own throat, and paying him all you have
got for the service. Ownership can Ibe Sc
cured by the government by invoking the
exercise of the right of eminent domain
and condemning the roads at their actual
value. Should the corporations object to
this legal proceeding, the government could
build new roads, which would render the
old roads in private hands comparatively
worthless. In that contingency the rail-
their roads to the government for their
value. AS for paying for the roads, it is
sufficient to say, that Uncle Sans money
is good enough, provided it is issued by
himself. The people must pay for the roads
again, in any event, in few years, but
this time they will pay for them and own
them
When the government owns the railroads
either by new construction or condemna-
ton, an era of prosperity will dawn on this
country unparalleled in it's history The
greatest of all the great poverty-creat ting
agencies will be swept away, and the way
will be paved for the elimination of the
whole brood of monopolies, both natural
and unnatural, which ahve cursed the land
almost beyond endurance
SUMNER LADD.