The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-04-17
AN IMPORTANT QUESTION.
GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP AND
OPERATION OF RAILROADS.
A Lecture Delivered in Duluth, Min
nesota, Before the Peoples
Party Central Club, March
18th, 1895.

18th, 1895.
BY JOHN RUsTGARD, Arr'Y AT LAW.
The question of government owner
ship and operation of railroads is one
closely akin to number of the social
problems discussed of late years.
What is said then on this subject, will
in greater or less degree, apply to
others, and it will be difficult to dis
cuss the particulars before US, with
out to some extent touching upon the
kindred questions of social reform
and social progress. Though the
question of government ownership
and operation of railroads has been
before the public for great many
years, and the pros and cons have
been discussed by the greatest minds
of our country; never did it receive
such earnest consideration, as during
and after the great pullman" strike
last summer. This is not because
that controversy brought out any
thing new; anything that the wide
awake man did not know before, but
the great mass of the business men of
the country, who never could see any
thing menacing or wrong in the pres
ent system as long as their own busi-
ness was good and themselves pros
porous; who looked upon every social
system as perfect and upon their less
successful, or more unfortunate fel-
low men, as fools: were brought to
realize the Importance of railroads
and the immensity of a railroad pool.
as well as the utter helplessness Of
the public, if pitted against the COM
bined strength of the railroad COM
bines. They were brought to realizes,
that by simply stopping the trains of
this vast country OF ours. it would be
turned into wilderness again. There
was a time when the world, as per-
tanning to humanity, consisted of
nothing but the coast around the
Mediterranean. In course of time the
race scattered over the whole of
Europe, but little aside from coast
lands around the CULTS and bays of
the ocean were inhabited. The in
land was little more than a wild for
est. This was due to the fact that
the inland could not be utilized, as no
| convenient communication could be
affected between it and the various
other parts of the country. The ocean
was the only highway, and on it's bord-
ers was found the only civilization
which existed. Civilization could
not exist anywhere else. Civilization
is the result of commerce and inter-
course; the result of interchange of
ideas, whether directly or indirectly,
by suggestions received from what we
see and hear from and of others. For
this reason it is the railroads which
have made civilization possible in
land. Without them the greater por-
tion of America could never be in
habited by anybody but savages,
either red, black or white. On account
of the immense area of this country,
the railroad question is of far greater
Importance to us than any other
coun try on the planet, and it is en-
titled to the honest, candid and thor
ough consideration of every patriotic
citizen. The old countries you could
starve out by closing the harbors and
shutting off commerce. This country
you lay waste simply by stopping the
trains. To u.s. far more than any 9TH
er nation is it important that the
railroad system of the country be of
the very best, that it's progress to-
wards perfection be in every way
facilitated, and that it ever and un-
der all conditions be operated wholly
for the full and unreserved interest
of the people and for the people exclu-
sively. Has this been the case up to
date? This certainly cannot be an
swered in the affirmative. The public
have never been considered by the
railroad corporations as anything but
a prey and have never been treated
otherwise. We have in this western
country seen again and again how viii
lagos and cities have been laid waste
purposely by the railroad companies
and new towns started that the COM
panies officers might make themselves
rich on the sale of new townsite
We have seen again and again how
they purposely injured one city and
doomed another, accordingly as the
owners of the road we're interested in
the real estate of one place or the
other. With relentless cruelty they
| nave p1UJCO VlUll U1C pplACSS duN
prosperity of the public as their fancy
or greed would dictate, and as they
have made and unmade cities at their
will, they have made and unmade
business houses. BY slight increase
in the freight rates for one firm they
: have driven that firm out of business
or into bankruptcy, as it could not
compete with its more favored rivals.
BY decreasing the freight rates of a
favored one, that one has been allow
, ed to drive all its competitors out of
the market and obtain monopoly in
his district in his particular line of
business. We have seen whole rail-
roads wrecked and rendered useless
for the mere purpose to bull or bear
the market of the stock. This was
, Jay Gould's favorite scheme.
During all this competition be-
tween stockholders and during all
f this fight between bulls and bears on
Wall street, the people suffered and
their interests were of no cOnse-
: quence. AS business undertaking, a
railroad has no duty to perform as a
public institution. Again and again
: stagnation in all lines Of business is
brought on by railroad strikes and
, leckouts, which bring suffering te
thousands Of people and cost the
n country millions of dollars. It esti
mated that the pullman Strike, ;
? aside from the injury il caused those