The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1896-03-03
.x.S.RcHrsr on THE RAMPAGE.

atOr II. X. truman, Oh Sou'" N"'N'
come TO New York and spend TWO Gays
in Wall street and its surroundings ana
TO write out his impressions OF the place.
which it publishes in its last sunday
issue where they occupy all Of one side
of q page. Tillman's rawlings are entire-
~ Characteristic Of Tillman, ana are such
as might naturally be expected lloi"
Tnlman. Their purpose is to attack ac-
cumulatei property and capt.
tai, and TO suggest where they
do not plainly state. that large ac-
cumulations OF property should be seized
by the strong arm Of authority and divid-
cd OFT amongst the people at large. 1t
would be idle to say that there is no
element of harm IN such a blast as
Tilman blew in Sundays World. His
propositions are insidious. and they are
put forward with a certain malignant
ingenuity that will befog the minds OF
the unloarned. No ultimate harm comes
from them. because they are examined
and discussed by the intelligent men OF
all localities. and their fallacies are ex-
posed and come TO be understood In
time. But in a period Of this sort. when
there is so much unrest and there are
so many idle men. publication like this
is liable TO add very greatly TO general
restlessness and discomfort. There was
no occasion for the World to publish this
enusion, and It ought not to have done
so, though that sort Of a suggestion is
lost on the World, If It sees a chance 10
sell ten papers.
We have gone carefully over all that
sillman has said, and we can canditly
say there is not. in our opinion, but one
thing in all that he discusses that the
public can Justly complain Of as an injury
TO IT, lie tells us that the railroad system
OF the country has stock out to the
amount Of s5.15O0oO.c0O and a bonded in
debtedness of nearly s5,7OoOoo,ooO. lie
then says:
An examination would show that the
money honestly expended in the produc-
ton Of all railroads ana their equipments
Is but 1.-THE of the capital nominally in
vested In them. the rest is water pure
and simple; but it figures as invested
capital" as vested interests" upon
which the capitalists claim the protection
of the courts and the whole Government
machinery, and always get It.
This IS a fair specimen of the reckless
ness Of this man. Here is a deliberate state
mcnt that the railroads of the country
did not really cost onetenth OF the
money for which they are bound. 1t is
not possible to get an accurate statement
Ct the figures in the case, but every one
who has any knowledge upon the sub
jet at all knows that the proportion
of their fictitious obligations to their gen
uine and bona fide ones is very small in
deed. 1t would be perfectly safe TO re-
verse Tillmans' statement, and say thGs
not one-tenth of their obligations are
fictitious.
But while there IS an element Of wrong
TO the public in the obligations of the
railroads which are fictitious, there IS
also an element of equity connected with
them which makes it necessary that Gov
eminent should be exceedingly circum-
specl in declaring such obligations void.
If they were I'm the hands of those who
fraudulently or improperly issued them,
and destroy them. But the law of the
land put the officers who issued them into
places Of authority in the railroad COM
panies; they clothed them with an appa-
rent authority TO do whatever they did
they put these securities out into the
markets Of the world as and for genuine
securities, and an innocent public bought
60 81, .-f
the companies. 1t would now be an in
Justice and wrong Of the grossest char
acter TO say TO these innocent people
who had parted with their money in
good faith. that they must surrender
their securities to be destroyed, because
the managers of a road had no real
authority TO do that which the law had
clothed them with full apparent authority
TO do. Such procedure could never be
tolerated in a civilized country.
1t would serve no good purpose to 80
over Tillman's complaints in detail. The
idea at the bottom of them all is that
cooperative work amongst men who have
brought together large sums OF money
as working capital is wrong to the
public at large. and there is a strong
suggestion, If not an open claim, that
whatever such combinations have accu-
INFLATED should be seized and divided
out amongst the people.
We say, to the contrary OF this. that
the inevitable tendency OF improving civil
lization is TO cause men TO bring their
means into a common stock, and TO
work together in cooperation, instead OF
separately and in rivalry. This is the
inevitable tendency Of the Improvements
in the methods of doing business-im-
provement in transportation, in communi-
eating intelligence, and in spreading
banking facilities. II Is as vain for man
to seek to control this tendency OF bust
ness by human laws as II is for him to
attempt to control the law OF gravitation
by act of Congress. Business can be
done more economically and with great
or profit in this way. and 50 business
will certainly be done in this way. Nor
is there any element OF danger 10 So
ciety in it. 1t carries with itself its own
corrective. and always cheapens its pro-
ducts TO the people-not in a month. or
a year, perhaps, but inevitably in time.
The cheaper il sells the more it sells,
and the law of the case, therefore, is
that combinations will gradually reduce
their wares to the lowest point consistent
with reasonable profit 10 themselves.