Omaha daily bee., 1895-11-27
BRYAN IS MADE PRESIDENT
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miles, but the canal was only twenty-six ard
| four tenths miles In length. Thus 143 miles
| OF fresh water way was supplied by his lake.
| The lake was 1l0 feet above the level Of the
! sea. so that six docks would have to be con-
structed to raise the vessels to enter the
| lake and lower them TO the level OF the
| ocean on the opposite side. The fact that the
| ships could pass through this expanse OF
! fresh water would be appreciated by sea
men. The fresh water was poison to the
| marine growth which accumulated on the
| bottoms Of vessels and thus every vessel
! would be thoroughly cleansed in its passage
through Lake Nicaragua.
! The speaker thea told OF the immense com
| mercal advantages to be gained by the use
| of the short passage and which were Of
| tremendous extent and importance. ihe
| people OF the west could not bring their
| product by rail to compete with the product
| Of sections which had no such tolls to pay.
| Even on their fruits they had to pay $500
| a car for transportation to the eastern
market. 1t had come to that point where
! the completion of this canal meant life or
! death TO the Pacific coast. The cost OF the
canal, according to the estimates, varied
from SOS. 900 900 to 1925, 100000, and, as
| suming that S1G0,000,000 was fair esti-
| mate he ci,ed figures to show that the canal
would pay II per cent interest on that amount
| after all emergencies had been provided for.
| The best that could be done was to complete
! the canal at the end of the century He
| urged the convention to cooperate with the
| people of the Pacific coast in urging congress
10 take immediate action.
REMEDY FOR SOME EVILS.
| At this point in the proceedings Senator
! Allen was voted the privileges of delegate
| in the convention and then James V. Mahoney
| Of Sioux City was introduced. His subject
was Freight Rates and Determinations" and
| he handled the subject from railroad stand
| point He contended that unwse manlpula-
. 50 eba ephtn had hnn laru al,- fpgt
mental in preventing the development of the
west There was no other business In which
the government assumed to dictate the man
agement and when 1t demanded what was
unjust it prevented the extension Of railway
lines and created distrust on the part of all
husiEtss concerns which required capital to
carry on their business. This interference
with the railroads, he declared, was not good
political economy.
The instability of freight rates under the
present system was cited as one Of its great
est disadvantages. While a cut rate war
might temporarily benefit certain district
the general result was almost invariably to
demoralize business.
Mr.. Mahoney then proceeded to discuss the
remedy for these evils. He believed that II
the proposed amendment to the interstate
commerce laws, which failed to psss at the
last session on account OF technicality, was
made Law it would work great benefit.
This bill provided that the various roads
should have the right to enter into legal
agreements as to rates. subject to the appro-
val Of the Interstate Commerce commission.
He argued that il the government should let
the railroads alone, competition would
naturally insure the maintenance of a fairly
equitable system of rates. To compel a rail
road TO put in rate that allowed of no profit
to the railroad injured the road and eventu-
ally became detriment to the entire com
munlty. In dealing with the railroads there
should BE- comfy rather than hostility, and
franknsss rather than distrust.
SOME GREAT MONEY MAKERS.
Captain Lon Bryson of Davenport Ia, fol-
low ed Mr.. Mahoney. He said that this sub
ject had been matter of dispute for many
years between the producers and the rail
roads. In past years these contentious had
been very bitter, but happily this time was
passed. But there still remained some very
unjust determinations on the part of the
railroads, notable among which were the
bridge tolls that were exacted by the various
bridge companies and which were pure en-
tortion. No statement from these companies
had ever reached the public and no one knew
the profit they were making on their
investments. The speaker cited the tariff
on the bridge at Davenport in illustration of
the extortion practiced by the bridge COM
panies and remarked that such cases could
be quoted to almost any extent.
Captain Bryson discussed the railroad rates
in Iowa when q tariff law in operation
that was intended to provide fair and
reasonable rate system. The railroads had
show that they had not earned a fair COM
pensation under its operation. The speaker
quoted the earnings of various Iowa roads
to show that they had uniformly prospered
under the present rate system. He held that
fair rate uniformly maintained, was of
more benefit than a spasmod.c cut like the
recent coal rate from Chicago, which only
benefited a few who were in a position TO
take advantage Of it.
The subject Of waterways was considered
in connection with rates and canals were
mentioned with favor as effective equalizers
Of railroad rates The speaker declared that
il the projected Hennepin canal never carried
pound of freight it would be worth
infinitely more than its cost for the service
it would perform in reducing exorbltant
freight rates
Fremont Knowles Of South Dakota took
the floor to reply to Mr.. Mahonsy. He said
that he had heard the speaker protest against
any infringement on the rights of the rail-
road but he had not mentioned the rights of
the people 1t was the right and duty of the
law making powers of this country to c, n
troll these concerns which eXacted every dol
lar the traffic could bear. He stated that he
had just paid $409 freight on car of paper
from Denver to Deadwood. 1t was not a
question of right or justice with the railroad
He alluded to the fictitious capitalization of
the railroads on which they fixed their rates
to earn certain per cent when the actual in
vestment was less than half the alleged capi-
taliZation.