The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-12-16

IL was the Only line tnere was anu
, there was on escaping its greed. II 1t
had said $50 the farmers would have
had to pay it. But $40 was enough.
That road had straight line to De-
trOit, no change of roads, and 1t charged
| the enormous price of $40 a car. But
the Flint and Pere Marquette road
got an extension to within ten miles
! of Gladwin, and now what do you
| think 1t costs to ship car of wheat to
| Detroit? You would scarcely believe
that 1t Is only $17, but 1t Is true.
Nov, do you suppose for minute
| that the employees of the Michigan
Central We're getting any more when
| the road was drawing wheat for $40
car than they are now with the
transportation at $17? Don't you think
so for minute.
In this connection I want to get a
law applying some of the principles of
the Interstate commerce act or the
federal government. There are SINH
lar determinations between people and
cities in the state that there are along
| roads runnig into different states
and there ought to be similar remedies
The Interstate commerce commission
can't touch our state roads, but the
Legislature can, and I want the legis-
lature to do this very thing this winter
when there are two cities equally
distant from Detroit, there is no reason
| why transportation of freight should
not cost the same on either road. But
If one city has railroad competition
and the other has not. then you Will
see a discrimination against the peo-
pie and the city with only one road to
release their products"
TO TAX RAILROAD PROPERTY.
The third topic the governor took
up related to the taxation of railroad
property and corporation property In
general. 1t is not third In Importance
with him. neither has it taken a back
seat In his advocacy Of different re-
forms. He spoke at some length on the
subject, as follows:
do you know of any legitimate rea-
son why the poor laboring man should
pay city, county and state taxes on his
cottage and lot. while the big railroad
corporations pay no city taxes and get
off almost scot free from state taxes?
When I was down east while ago
they looked at me in blank amazement
when ] told them that our railroads
never paid any city taxes. There ought
to be a law to compel them to pay the
same rate of taxes on their assessed
valuation as any man pays on the val
uatiOn of his property, say the farmer
or the laboring man.
You know. the railroads of Michi-
gan do pay specific tax from 2 to 3
per cent, according to amount per
mile, on gross earnings. That money
goes into our primary school fund, al
though / don't suppose half the people
know what becomes of it.
PEOPLE IN FAVOR OF 1T.
II expect the railroads will squirm
ilya n hot OF n
when a bill calling upon them to do
their share toward maintaining gov
ernment comes up, but the people want
it. They have paid taxes for the cor
porations long enough. Why, we give
franchises to the roads and let them
cut across our country roads and our
streets, and everyone has to get out of
the way or get killed. What do We get
in return? Not cent.
"They tell us it Is for the public
good. Maybe it is. but it's pretty much
Il private snap, too. We have been
hearing about equal rights to all and
special privileges to none for long
time. I think we shall try to put 1t into
practical use at Lansing and see II we
can't squeeze a little money out of
the railroads to support the govern
ment.
And it isn't railroads alone that
need attending to. There are other big
corporations that are sucking their eX-
istence out of the people without giving
anything to the government In return.
Do you know we exempt telegraph and
telephone companies from taxation jus,
the same as we do churcnes? Too
bad about these fellows that own stock
in those corporations. They don't en-
joy life, you know, because they are
afraid of receivers and such things.
/ guess If we taxed them the same as
we do other people they would appre-
ciate what the government does and
be more willing to pay for it.
AS TO STOCK WATERING.
"I want to see some measure that
will clip the wings Of the trusts and
monopolies in this state. One such
measure should be law prohibiting
stock watering and over capitalization
and such schemes for enriching stock
and bondhOlders. Stock watering Is
wrong, and 1t will never end in this
state till we have a law forbidding 1t.
/ shall do my best to make Vanderbilt
pay as much taxes as plain people pay
or shall make trouble.
CONSOLIDATION OF ROADS.
'This consolidation business is bad
thing when the railroads take 1t up.
They have gone and done It in the
street railway business in Detroit, right
squarely In the face Of the constitution
of the state of Michigan, too. When
you have consolidation there are al
ways lower wages and higher rates of
transportation. The effect on mer-
chants Is seen in the lessened ability of
discharged men to buy goods. The
farmers feel it, too, and the railroads
Crrffar o1Sn If fhav har rd
headed they could see it. But they try
to get even through excessive rates.
Combinations of this kind contemplate
the least amount Of work, the least
pay for labor and the greatest possible
charges.
There is not he slightest difference
between the Detroit street railways
and the Michigan Central and Lake
Shore roads, except in degree. Mr..
Vanderbilt owns the bulk of stock in
both Of these railroads, against the ex-
press provision of the constitution of
the state. If these roads were in COM
petition, as they should be. there would
be the greatest number of men EN-
plOyed, wages would increase and fares
and freight rates would come tumbling
down. Unfortunately, railroads are Op-
Grated to aid speculation and Overcap-
italization. The money gained by ex-
cess stock manipulation and mortgage
ing goes into banking businesses and
transportation becomes a side issue
with most of them.
THE FARMER.
Estate governments have created
possibilities that these shrewd corpor-
ations have seized. BY neglect on the
part of the state these burdens are
thrown on the producing class, espec-
tally the farmer. I have always
watched the farmer and guided my bus
mess according to his success. I think
farming Is the most depressed business
in the country. We manufacturers
cannot excect to sell our goods till
the farmer sees better times.
when I realize that all wealth comes
from labor 1t is plain why there is no
business in the country. The great
army Of people are consumers. All