Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1896-04-22

valley. The Southern Pacific can easily
and promptly 90 all the work within
reach of its lines with great profit to
itself. and yet LET thesfarmers live; but
it has extorted ever cent the traffic
will bear. This is the motto of that
corporation and the sarmer is left witt
nothing. The railroad takes all. Be-
sides, in the arrogance of its power, it
in many cases refusesfto move grain for
months, knowing that the freight can
not escape it.
The building of thesSan Joaquin val
ley road, under such circumstances,
shows to what extenGthe cupidity and
extortion Of this corporation has driven
the people. Will thiscongress be found
supporting the Southern Pacific in It's
eXtortions, making ifsa present of many
millions of money, w1ile the farmers OF
{ fornia are. struggling to save their
ies from being saczificed to this gov
e:.- .nent-endowed monopoly? l can
not believe it will.
One OF the most significant things In
connection with the building of this
farmers road is that every safeguard
known to the law is pht into its charter
to prevent the road falling under the
control of the Southern Pacific, Among
other things, It is provided that no di-
rector or stakeholder OF the Southern
Pacific shall hold Office in the Valley
Railroad Company and the amount of
stock that can be held by any individ-
ual or corporation is limited. Such Is
the detestation OF the people of Call
fornia for the monopoly. They have
seen several other Independent rail-
roads partly built in California, and all
swallowed bodily by the Pacific cor
morant.
Why shouldn't these corporations
pay their just debts, the same as any
be passed by congress TO relieve q few
rich men and estates from the payment
OF their just debts? 1t would be a
rank piece OF favoritism. Look at the
braZen propositions and statements of
those who are asking the passage OF
this bill. It Is known that these few
men and estates are enormously rich.
yet they say the road the government
built for them, and from which, by dis
honest methods and defrauding the
government and the people, they have
amassed great wealth, is now insolvent.
Why shouldn't 1t be insolvent after be-
ing subject for years to the mercy and
methods OF these men?
The representative of the Central
Pacific was asked, when before The
committee on Pacific roads, few favs
ago. IF the road would pay $25 OOG, 900
to the United States provided the GOV
ernment would give it the balance OF
the debt" which would amount to over
S5O,0OOOOO. The reply was that "the
road could not do ft"-could not pay
| one-third it's debts. And yet here is
proposed refunding bill which ex-
tends the time for the payment of its
debts for 100 years at 2 per cent inter-
est, while the government must pay 8
| per cent now (and if the present e.
nancial policy of the government con-
| tinues in force for five years longer,
will be forced to pay 10 per cent?, and
proposes to give this road as security
for the whole debt. Can effrontery go
| further?
| The official report of the secretary Of
the interior shows that taken together.
| the two roads-Central and Union
were intended to be one great through
| highway for the use of the peor.e,
which were built with the peoples
money, now, under the most adverse
circumstances, with the Southern Pa
cific diverting all possible trade from
them, are paying 6 per cent upon the
entire amount that the government has
paid in aiding and will pay if it takes
| possession of the roads. No reason
exists why the government should lose
| one penny of the debt due from these
roads, except the threatened passage Of
| a refunding bill, which will, of course,
mulct the people of this country out of
one hundred millions of dollars for the
sole benefit of few millionaires. And
yet in view of the statements that the
roads are not worth half the debt due
the United States alone, the most des-
perate efforts are heing made to hold
on to them through refunding bill.
To this end men and space in adger-
| tising columns of papers from Califor-
MIA to Maine are being hired to con-
tribute to the passage of this bald-face
refunding steal. The facts are, that
| these roads, under proper and honest
| management, are to-day as valuable as
ever. Their connections are estab-
lished, towns founded along the line,
the country in a measure developed
and the road cannot be successfully
! paralleled.
Let it be distinctly understood that
no action by congress is necessary at
this time to protect the interests of the
government in respect to these roads.
The government is fully authorized,
under the law, to collect it's debt, to do
all things necessary to secure it, with
out further legislation. Any refund
| ing act will be wholly in the interests
of those parties who are trying to avoid
| the payment of their just debts.
In his testimony before the senator