Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1894-10-12

order to have as many miles Of road for
each square mile of area in the United
States. exclusive of Alaska, as there are
in Great Britain, we should have to add
1928, 523 miles to our present mileage,
which is l76.461. .,%
It will be necessary to build in the
United States several thousand miles
of new road each year for many years
to come.
How. When. and Where Would New Lines
The advocates of government opera
ton and control are called upon to say
who shall determine how much new
railroad shall be built each year, who
shall say how it is to be assigned among
the several states, and how the money
to nav for it's construction is to be OBJ
tanned.
These questions present problem
almost as serious as any other connected
with the scheme, and one which has
been entirely overlooked. If the amount
of new road to be built and the distrl-
button of it among the states should be
left to congress or to department.
created and Differed by political lntiu.
ences, it would lead to carnival OF
corruption and injustice. Favored sec
tions would get all the new roads, and
gigantic system of log-rolling would be
built up to secure to each community
its grab from the public treasury.
But even if we made up our minds to
bear that, in addition to our other
political ills, we should still be in the
greatest difficulty.
7 The resources and credit Of the coun-
try would be strained to the breaking
point to acquire the new roads now
built.
In the past we have been adding to
our mileage from 1000 to $4,000 miles
Of new road each year. 1t is not prob"
able that less than 1900 miles per
annum would satisfy the requirements
of our people and our business for gen.
erations to come.
The most radical Populist does not
place the cost of construction in
prairie country, where it can be done
the cheapest, at less than $50, 900 per
mile. Even at that ridiculously low
figure, the annual expenditure for new
construction would be $3.50, 100000.
All our experience shows that it this
work were done by the government, 1T
would be done less economically and a
reasonable estimate would place the
cost at not less than 5000, DOC, 900 a
year.
To all tho other expenses and diff.
culties incident to government control
must be added this annual outlay, for
which some new source Of income must
be provided.
10 give US comparatively as large
mileage as Great Britain would cost,
at $50, 900 pei mile, about $l6,500, 000,-
600 more.
No means by which this money
should be raised has ever been sug-
gested.
Last, but not least among the objec-
tons to state ownership and control, is
the fact that it could not be realized in
the United States until we have entirely
reformed and readjusted our civil SER
vice system, without eminent danger
of overthrowing the republic and de-
stroying the liberties of the people.
1t ID a common habit of the Populists TO
Jump at some great conclusion, ignoring
the most obvious obstacles that must first
be removed.
If man were really in earnest about
introducing here the naturalization Of
the railroads, his first step, If he were
rational creature, would be to build up
q system Of laws that should forever
divorce the control of the civil service
from party politics.
The countries where government con-
troll prevails to any considerable extent
are mostly monarchies. It offers no
objection, under such government,
that the army of it's employees should be
multiplied; that those in power should
be provided with host Of willing and
devoted servants supported at the pub
lie expense.
In q country like ours, such system
would necessarily lead to party despot-
ism.
The railway employees in the United
States are said to number altogether, at
the present time, not far from one
million men.
We have seen that the effect Of throw
ing into the political arena, to be strug-
gled for by hungry leaders, the one
hundred to one hundred and fifty
thousand offices now in existence, has
been to encourage corruption, degrade
politics and debase the civil service.
No such system as ours could possibly
stand the addition of q million new
places to be filed at the command Of
party leaders.
No political party, once entrenched
behind such an army as this, whose
daily bread depended upon fidelity to
it, could ever be ousted by anything
short of actual rebellion. E.: -
Tho existence Of FREQ Republican gov
ernment, operating tho railroads Of the
nation, under the spoils principle. ID An
lmpossibility. n
It Is a. reasonable 70 ask an advocate
Of state ownership 70 first provide
complete reform of the civil service
and the Punishment Of the spoils prin-
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