St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-02-27

cause, among other sufficient reasons.
the general freight agents, who make up
the schedules, pay no attention to 1t, and
he asserts that no one of them could
tell off-hand what the bonded debt of
his road is. He would adopt the defini-
tion given by the national interstate
commission, that reasonable rate was
one ''thtt will make fair aud just re-
turn to the carrier, when 1t is charged
to all who are to pay it, without unjust
discrimination against any, and when
the revenues it produces are subject to
no improper objections" with the addi-
tional provision added by Mr.. Becker,
land which is not oppressive or burden
some to the shipper"
The shipper really is everybody, be-
cause he handles the produce which
everybody buys or sells. AS Mr.. Stick
ney said in his paper: Railroad trans
portation permeates everything. When
one buys food, clothes. articles of lux
ury or necessity, he buys railroad trans
portatiou" And In this as in some
other cases-in fact,as in all other cases
the shipper is again the Forgotten
Man." Els business is just as sacred
as is that of the railroad; he is as much
entitled to his profits as it is; he Is as
much entitled to have his business pro-
tected from loss as is the railroad; and
If, in the nature of things, the former
must take the chances of the mutations
of markets, there is no reason why
railroad should not share the same liza
bilities. Why, for instance, should rail-
road rates be practically the same for
wheat when 1t is so cents bushel that
they were when it was 81 ? Why should
the roads be exempt from the common
fortunes of all those on whom it de-
ponds?
But we apprehend that no court or
board of commissioners will ever adjust
the matter either rightly or satisfac-
torily. There is a factor not sufficiently
taken into account, and that is time;
just as the conditions are not given
their due consideration. We forget
that the era Of railroads dates back not
half century; that the world never
saw such revolution as has been &C
compllshed in these less than fifty
years. 1t is the unavoidable accompani-
ment of all revolutions that injustice is
done and wrong suffered. The oppor-
tunities for sudden wealth tempted the
rapacity of men. 1t was speculative
capital, bold, grasping, sordid, heartless,
that Initiated and managed these enter
priSeS. 1t was this spirit which fixed
rates at what the traffic will bear"
That condition has largely passed away.
1t is now investing capital that controls
for the most part the railways. 1t has
bought the stocks and bonds, not at
their face, but at :heir market value,
made by process which Inexorably
SqueeZes water out, and whose reSiduum
is actual value. 1t Is more anxious to
conserve than to make great increase.
1t may not be more just. but it is more
tlmid. 1t realizes that its properties
are subject to legislative control, and it
does not care to invite that.
Out of these changed and changing
conditions Will come the conduct of the
railways on purely business basis,
aimed conservatively, not to make as
large margin Of profit as is possible.
but return on actual investments of
capital such as is yielded by longtime
investments in absolutely safe Securi-
ties. When that time comes-and it is
rapidly coming-the chronic agitator,
the professional farmer, farming his
fellow farmers with his mouth, as we'll
as the greedy promoter of railways. will
disappear; and there will go with them
that other perniclous and dangerous
creature, the legislative boodler, who
now finds lucrative occupation in
threatening with drastic laws those
managers of roads. Survivals of the
earlier class, who are guiltily conscious
that they cannot rely with confidence
upon general acquiescence in the just
ness and reasonableneSS of their rates.