The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1894-06-30


pose Of defeating the billP That is
49, acctnpeishea faet. sneiieying
shat it, Only object could besso en-
tighten the people q the suAiect,
and 20 be usedsfor futsre srefefsnce,
I have considered il my duty to lay
before the readers of your paper. q
few authorities on railroad manage
ment aud railro.d legislation, which
I believe viii in measure, If not
altogether counterbalance the views
of your esteemed contemporary.
The action of that journal, to say
the least, was very inopportune,
when the threats by the management
of the Southern Pacific Company
against this community made after
the defeat Of Mr.. Mouton's bill, are
considered.
1t is with reluctance that enter
into this discussion, at this parti-
cular time, and it is only a high
sense of duty that impels me to
defend what I consider to be the
rights of a free people, against
tyrany and oppression.
I will not attempt in a news
paper correspondence to refute
s<ria<:,u the several argumets pre-
sented by that journal. For the
present I will only submit for the
consideration of your readers, few
authorities on railroad management;
on the effect of railroad legislation;
on the cry of eve need more rail-
roads" and on competition in rail-
road traffic.
will certainly not contest the
correctness of the position taken by
that journal that restrictive legisla-
ton is affrim<nkal to the unre-
stricted exactions of railroads. My
purpose is only to show that restric-
tive legislation, against unwarranted
taxations by railroad companies, is
6enefelalto the beepIe to whom as
their masters, they owe considerate
treatment. On the cry of s'more
railroads" and it's effects under
certain circumstances, the Hon. Mr..
Ta} lor, u. S. commissioner of rail-
roads, in his report to the Secretary
of the Interior on Nov. I 1889, says:
ssThe unparalleled development of the vast
resources Of the western states and Territories
has attracted capital there, and railroads have
opened inviting fields to investors. As re-
suit railroad building has been carried on
far in advance of the needs of the country
and again, 81 believe that in many sections
of the West, conspicuously in the states of
Iowa and Kansas, the mileage of railroads
is greatly in excess of the legitimate needs of
the carrying trade. If this be true, then
ties there must fail to yield rcnumerative
dividends the schedules of rates be fixed
SO high as to prove >Hi"oHsLy 6"rHc"sos"<
to traffic. For this unfortunate condition of
companies are wholly to blame. Both have
contributed to bring it about. The people
have encouraged railroad construction wher-
ever it could be secured, regardless of exist
the railroad companies have been unduly
eager to control trade by building new lines
and feeders for established ones where the
volume of traffic was not sufficient to support
them. This eo'dikio" eI things present a
problem difficult of solution. 1t is safe to
say that the remedy is not in the levying of
charges or the waging of reck
less rate wars. The security of a railway
system lies in administering it with careful
respect TO justice and the public welfare. If
it's oppressive hand is laid too heavily upon
the people, revenge and revolt will be sure
to follow. If investors in railroad properties
have expended their capital in the construc-
ton of lines not demanded by the present
trade, they must share the fate of all who
invest in improductive enterprises. Relief
can only como Through increased settlement
business and developing natural
resources"
So much to show that the cry of
ssmore railroads" should not be
blindly; that railroad build
ing, like any other enterprise, should
be gone into, only when popu lation,
business development and the
natural resources of the country
justify it; that the people should not
and investors should not
the building of railroads,
of existing necessities or
future complication, and that when
ever these principles are ignored,
are detrimental to the
public as we'll as to the investors.
On the question of railroad man.
or railroad competition
and necessity of the enactment of
restrictive railroad legislation, I find