Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1896-05-08
OWN THE RAILROADS.
PEOPLE HAVE RIGHTS AS WELL
AS CORPORATIONS.
Brother Hinckley Discusses Some of the
Reasons Why The Government Should
own the RaIlroads-Only n Question
of Common Sense.

Macaulay, in an essay written In
1924, makes this observation:
1.-THE blind reverence for things an
Gent is indeed so foolish that it might
make wise man laugh If it were not
also sometimes so mischlevous that 1t
would rather make good man Weep"
Vested rights" belong in the cate
CORY of things ancient blindly rever-
enced," the absurdity and seriousness
of which, in this latter day of the nine
teenth century, cannot be better exem-
plified than in the treatment accorded
to the railroads of this country. The
rights" by which few men control
with an iron hand every avenue and
outlet of our gigantic, far-reaching
commercial system, and out of which
they have accumulated fortunes so vast
as would put to shame even the vivid
oriental imagination that conceived the
Arabian nights, were vested" in them
by laws enacted by legislators who
were elected as representatives Of the
people.
ness which have followed the peoples
blind reverence of the rights which
they have conferred upon railroads are
about equally divided and are worthy
of few moments consideration.
A corporation gets charter for a
railroad, then, on the ground that its
construction will benefit the public, it
appeals to the various counties, town
ships or municipalities through which
it has located its line on paper for aid.
The assistance is voted, say, by given
county to the extent of 100000. The
construction of the road begins, but
in its progress through the county in
stanced it runs up against the farm of
some Independent (O tiller Of the soil,
who enters an objection to its passage
through This" place and declares that
his vested right" in his farm shall not
be sacrificed for any railroad that ever
was. But the railroad gives bond"
for the settlement of any damage
which the farmer may sustain and goes
through, and when the case comes to
court, the farmer learns for the first
time that his "vested right" in the
farm, although of as ancient origin as
most vested rights, must give way to
the "weal of the public" as represented
by the railroads "vested right" to go
where it pleases. The 100000 voted
in aid of the corporation was more
than sufficient to construct every inch
of the road through the level prairie
county voting it, and today the state
auditors report shows that the entire
property of the railroad in that coun-
ty is assessed for tax purposes at less
than $150,000. This means that the
company is not only not taxed on any
property of its own in that county, but
has $4,000 capital furnished by the
citizens of that county upon which it
pays no tax. But this is not social
ism" or 'paternalism;" oh, no, its
business"
The same state in which the above
instanced railroad is located Qllinois),
has on its statute books a law which
provides that If person be killed by
any railroad in the state the surviving
relatives shall not be allowed to COL
lect exceeding $4,000 damages. If the
person be only crippled, however, he
can get any damages that he can prove,
and it has happened that cripples have
collected more than double the amount
their relatives could have obtained If
they had been killed outright.
This state also happens 10 be the field
in which the power welded by rail-
roads over the personal liberty of the
citizen has received its most startling
illustration. The Imprisonment of
Debs by injunction" instead of by a
jury of his peers has dignified the pop
ulists' proposition for government
ownership into the most important
question before the American people
today. The money question, even in its
entirety, involves no such consequences
as the continuation of this newly risen
but rapidly becoming omnipotent des-
potism which spurns the personal lib
erty Of the humble citizen from its path
with the same cold blood that it buys
legislature or corrupts court.
How are you going to get the rail-
roads? asks a doubling Thomas.
The people, under God, are omnipo-
tent They must take possession of the
railroads exactly in the way that
railroad takes possession Of the land
it needs. The railroads do not pay
fancy prices for the citizens land,
neither should the citizen pay fancy
prices for the railroads. The value of
the railroads is fixed by their owners
at about $10,0OO,OOO,O0O.
Squeeze the water out of this and the
residue would represent very little
more than the amount Of the national
debt at the close of the war. Let the
government print this amount of full
legal tender money, not promises to
pay, and pay 1t to the railroad owners,
and it will not only own the roads, but
it will have partially solved the money
problem. But the increased patron