San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-01-31
STATE OWNERSHIP
Of the Highway and By-Way

Vi Nhv ANA6A""J oAN
(For the Daily LIGHT. by Rev. n. Schultz
The street car strike in Brooklyn
again calls into prom Inence the
argument in favor OF state owner
ship of railway lines. l remem Der
not many years ago, before the
famous strike in Pittsburg in 1877,
when it was said that they had no
labor question in Americas but
since then a labor question has
come home to us with as much
force as in any Of the coun-
tries OF Europe. AS long as
the United States offered vast
tracts of land for nothing it
had an outlet for the disconnected
elements. The Henry George
theory Of single tax even had but
little weight as long as the man
willing to labor could go out upon
the fertile plains and found him
self a home.
That golden age Of the United
States is however past. Uncle Sam
has been too liberal with some of
his possessions. What lands Of
any agricultural value remain I'M
occupied, are in the hands OF rail
way and other corporations, and
cannot be taken up without ready
money, or at least without the
settler getting into debt. A few
years. hard labor with good crops
will bring the settler on green
limb, but, alas The uncertainty of
the climate of the west in some
cases makes absolute failures and
brings his farm and possessions in
to the hands of the sheriff.
The discontinued masses there
fore have no outlet as they had
only ten or more years ago, and
thus they are being crowded into
the cities, where they are depend
ent upon the demands of industry
for their livelihood. Perhaps that
by proper assistance on the part of
the government in introducing
system Of irrigation on the arid
plains the tide may be stopped for
a while, at least, but it will not
be of any lasting benefit. The
swelling numbers OF the discon-
tented masses will endanger the
we'll being OF our republic more
and more and the state will have
to take the matter in hand in a
somewhat different way than what
it has done. 1t being against the
spirit of our institutions to have
any class legislation, there is no
way out for the government but to
take under its control those sys-
TENS upon which depend the well
being Of our diversified industries.
And to these belong in the first
place the railroads, telegraph and
the express. This is only what
some of the European countries
have done successfully long ago.
1t is but natural that in on r
country some objection should be
raised against that system on &C
count of the power which this puts
into the hands of our politicians, but
we have seen it again and again
that the people will rise en- masse
whenever they think that their
rights are being injured and by
| means of the ballot bring about
political cyclones as we have seen
at the last election and before.
There is no doubt that the govern
ment can manage the railroads
! cheaper than private corporations,
all their arguments to the contrary
notwithstanding. Our mail system
bears witness to the fact and If our
letters were to be carried by pri-
vate Carriers : they would, as do
the express companies now, charge
| us for every "change Of cars" [
do not think that it is right to
speak of the state ownership Of
public highways, ETC., as paternal-
ism. Our mail system, our public
schools, our public parks, harbors,
light houses, life saving institu-
tious, asylums for the infirm, court
houses, city halls, public libraries,
ETC., etc., ETC., might all be called
paternalism, but in fact, all these
are merely the growing embodi-
ment Of the spirit Of Christ: Fra
ternalism, i. O., brotherhood.