The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1894-02-02
Free Goal and the People.

AS to what free coal will do for the
people of the country at large. The
Post has already expressed its opinion
more than once. That it will iniure
ninety-nine where 1t benefits one,
, seems to us as clear as the MONDAY
sun, Now comes MIR. John II. In.
man, man of affairs, leader in the
, financial world, a profound and a sue
cessful student Of the problems of
economy, who has his doubts as to
the remaining one after the ninety
nine shall have been disposed of.
Mr. Inman says;
at is highly problematical whether
free coal would benefit the poor of
even single Southern seaport, but,
on the other hand, it would prove a
tax on many thousands of Southern
consumers at inland points. Take
away the through traffic of railroad,
and it is inevitable that the loss will,
as far as possible, be recouped by the
raising Of local freight rates. The
people in towns between the mines
and the seaboard, along lines of rail
having long hauls of either coal or
iror, ought, from standpoint of self
protection, be the most vigorous re
sisters of either free wool or free ore,
or the cutting to as1 per cent. ad
valorem of the duty on pig iron."
We quote from an interview with
Mr.. Inman published in recent is
sue of the Manufacturers Record, in
the course of which he discusses the
significance and probable operation Of
the Wilson bill should that measure
eventually become a law. 1t may be
said, OF course, that Mr.. Inman is a
railroad man and that he speaks in
the railroad interest. Friends of the
bill may easily attempt the argument
of prejudice and in that way seek to
break the force Of Mr.. Inman's propo-
sition. In all likelihood they will
But it seems to us that his warning is
all the more weighty in that he knows
whereof he speaks, and forecasts the
course of the railroads in the light of
perfect familiarity with their neces-
sites. No one, we imagine, will de-
ny that free coal will Gu. down the
through freight business of many of
our great trunk railroads, and no one
except poet or a dreamer expects
the railroads to be conducted at a
loss. 1t is only rational to assume,
therefore, that if legislation should
curtail their revenues in one direction
they must recruit them in another or
close out entirely. If they adopt the
latter expedient, untold misery will
be entailed upon millions of people
If the former, every patron of the
railroads will have to contribute to
make good the deficit. In either
event, free coal becomes costly lux
ury to the people. In either event it
is blunder.
Only dupes and demagagues declare
that the railroads are curse and that
the country would be better off with
out them. Honest and intelligent
men know that they are the most po-
tent agents of civilization and the
largest factors in our National pros
perity. All the blatherskites that ever
brayed to credulous rabbe are not
worth as much in the scheme of hn-
man progress as tramway from here
to Bladensburg. Railroads build up
waste places they populate deserts
they make nations homogeneous and
therefore strong, they furnish employ
ment for whole communities of indus
trlous and frugal people. And legis-
lation that strikes at them strikes at
everything useful and wholesome and
clvilizing in the entire country.
Washington Post.