The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-06-30

| able property, the charter determining
the condition Of holding the road-bed
in the nature CT a lease, and was to
revert to the government on its as
sertion of it's option of purchase. If
the government purchased before the
expiration of the limitation of its
charter, they were to pay an annuity
TO the corporation, based upon the net
proceeds of the road seven years pre-
ceding the date of purchase for the re-
naming uneXpired term of the ninety
years. This right of purchase, re-
served to the government, operated as
a strong inducement to the private cor
poration to manage its affairs on as
equitable a basis as possible, lest the
government should exercise it's option
OF purchase.
Public and Private lOvne-ship.
This mixed system of public and
private ownership engenders competi-
ton, but such a competition as the
public need not fear, for the private
corporation is governed by the sched-
ule of rates established by the public,
which will not be excessive, and the
state is held to rules of sound business
manag cement by the vigilance of the
private corporation. Though this
double system has been in vogue many
years in Belgium, being conceived at
its institution to be the proper solution
Z
dissatisfied and agitating the desira-
biIity of re-establishing it's original
plan.
The development of the railroad sys-
TEN in France opens up new field of
thought and speculation. France was
! considerab bly, behind England and Bel
GUM, not having elaborated a princi-
pie to control the railroads till 1850.
She had the result of the experience Of
| twenty years of railroad manipulation
to direct her in her ultimate decision.
She was thoroughly impressed with
the mOnopoliStic tendencies of private
ownership, also recognized that the
railroad was superior to the control of
competition, and finally adopting
system that had not hitherto been
tested that was novel and purely ex-
perimental in its nature. 1t was the
principle of Standardization. France
was highly organized industrially and
the most thoroughly centralized state
in the world.
Her territory was divided into six
districts for the purpose of its rail
road development, five of these CEN
tering in Paris. She granted charters
to private corporations who exercised
a, complete monopoly in, their reSpec-
tive districts. This system would I'M
avoidably have resulted in great dis
satisfaction in its inception had these
corporations been permitted TO operate
independently, but in their charters
there was a reservation of a supervis-
DRY control in the establishment of
rates to be exercised by the minister of
public works By this check in the
nature of a veto vested in the state 1t
prevented discrimination, for the min
lister presumably would guardedly fos-
ter and protect the interests of the
people whom he represented. The syS-
. !, f5A n
discomfort, the people urging the same
objections who were not represented
by lines that terminated in the over
throw of the Belgian theory. These
corporations, in their respective DIS
tricts arbitrarily directed the eNten-
sion of lines needless of the interests
of the people, Self-interest here, as IN
every department Of industry, formed
the basis of discrimination in the pro-
lection of lines Sections not favored
with A railroad complained; finally
charters were issued to local INES,
which occaSioned much confusion. rms
departure from their original plan lea
to over railroad building-an evil that
is ever incident to private ownership.
The railroad problem is one of the I'M
solved problems with when FRANCE
has vet to contend.
In turning our attention to the rail-
road industry in the United states, we
are confronted with conditions ato-
gether at variance with those OF Ihe
old world. The magnificent extent OF
Our country richly and protuSely en-
dowed bv nature with vast topograph-
ical diversity, resources of boundless
description with every variation OF
climate presents a prospect for the
development of railroad transportation
different from that of any other coun-
try, and peculiarly characteristic OF
America.
So vast has been the experience OF
the United States in respect to this
Industry. that the limits of this artt
Gle will not admit of more extended
observation than an exhibition OF the
more salient features underlying its
phenomenal development.
Two Great Parties.
From the organization of our gov
eminent to the present, there nave eA-
listed in the United States two greas
parties-strict and loose construction
iets differing by virtue of diverse in
terpretation of the constitution. Pub
lie improvements prior to 1880 were
protected by the federal government.
Canals and turnpikes up to this peri,
cd constituted the principal means OF
transportation, and were prosecuted
/ against the protests or those holdlLS
to the states rights theory at the in
I congress. -,
In 1880 the general government with
drew from the field of public improve
ments. and thereafter to 1850 the states
became the active projectors of pub
lie works. Some of the states contend.
ed that the national government had
no constitutional authority to invade
the Jurisdiction of a state in the prose-
cution of a public enterprise; so domi-
nant had this theory become that IN
| 1880 the federal government was de-
feated. In this year there were but
thirtv-nine miles of railroad in the
United States So eager and enthusi-
astic were the people for the extension
of lines that they voted through their
legislators the appropriation of vast
sums of money to aid in their COM
struction In many instances the
states became the immediate project
ors of railroads, but generally they
gave bonuses to corporations, and also
became large stockholders, exercising
theoretically supervising control over
them. They pushed this work of con-
struction far in excess of the
demands of the country and
the result was it bore most heavily
on the people. who mad to replen-
ish the constantly depicting fund by
taxation, so while the people were
kept poor by this increased burden,
the corporations ultimately became
wealthy. During the first decade Of
the history of railroads, there was so
much capital sunk in their construc-
ton that it drained the money from
other departments of commerce, Grip
ping them so bodily that we had a