Omaha daily bee., 1896-12-13
NOTHING TO Sttnw FnR IT.

OF popocrats In both houses. whose ultimate
purpose It is to bring about govern
ment control and management OF the
roads. That contamination seems to
them so desirable that they are quite
willing the government should lose
the entire debt, II necessary, in order
TO effect II. The sale OF these
roads under foreclosure would, It is true,
settle the question Of their Indebtedness for
good and all; but what would the govern
ment have TO show for It? The government
lien is forestalled by the first mortgages
I which must be paid before any OF the
purchase money received from the sale can
be applied to the payment Of that lien The
roads were constructed in war times, when
the prices of labor and materials were
| abnormally high, and 1t Is stated on the
authority OF those who are best fitted to
form an intelligent judgment that the
properties would not sell for more than
would satisfy the first mortgages Assuming
that this unbiased judgment. based upon
careful consideration of the subject, after
years OF the most searching investigation
into the financial affairs of those companies,
is correct. the result of sale under fore
closure would pay the first mortgage bond
holders and leave practically nothing for
the government.-New York Tribune.
This is fair sample of the kind of
| argument which is being advanced in
support Of the Pacific railroad debt fund
ing bill now pending in congress. After
having defraudcd the government out of
| thousands and millions of dollars and
dcfaultcd for years on the interest and
principal of the government loan, the
Pacific railroad magnates suddenly eX-
hibit Il most pathetic solictudc that if
the roads should be forecloscd and re-
organized on an actual value basis the
| United States might have nothing to
show for its money. The same men, in
other words, who had no compunctiOn
whatever in robbing the people and the
government right and left through con
struction rings and stock speculation
| pretend now to be very much alarmed
lest The government should fail to col
| lcct every cent of the debt which, We're
it not for them, would have been paid
| long ago.
What the Tribune above quoted for
gets. and what every one else who speaks
for the Huntington combine that is
pushing the funding bill forgets. is that
! if the debt is extended to be re-
paid in fifty or one hundred
years it will be repaid only by
grinding the money for it out of the
| patrons of the roads. The patrons of
the roads are not only the people of the
western states which are dependent on
the Central Pacific and Union Pacific
for transportation of the articles which
they sell and consume, but the entire
business community of the. country
which has trade relations with them.
If the present colossal fictitious capitali-
Zation of these roads is to be perpetuated
| it means that the interest and sinking
i fund charges must be met by continuing
| cXorbitant rates on traffic of all kinds
| The people will have to pay this debt in
one way or another. Is it not far better
for them, then, to pay it now in the loss
of n part or all of the government loan
rather than have it to pay over and over
in eXtortionate transportation tolls for
the next one hundred years and then be
no nearer having the principal repaid
| than before?
The objection that under foreclosure
| the government would have nothing To
| show for its money can be sustained
only by closing the eyes to the facts
| The bill to SubSidiZc the construction of
| the Pacific roads was passed by con
| gresS before the close of the war and
one of the deciding factors was the
| general desire to strengthen the re
public by binding together the eastern
and Pacific coast states. The law was
| largely in the nature of war measure
and the completion of the transconti-
mental railway removed for all time the
! necessity of Il great croSS-continent
military road. In the transportation
of troops and supplies alone the govern
ment has had great deal to show for
its money.
More important still, however, are
the pioneering and civilizing effects of
the roads. Without them the opening
and settlement of the great west would
have been retarded for years and the
great empire which has been carved out
west of the Missouri and whose people
are contributing annually huge sums
to the support of the government in
taxes and payments for lands previously
worthless, would still have been but
partially realized. Because the roads
were constructed i'm war times. when the
prices of labor and materials were
abnormally high, must the people of the
west continue TO pay interest on IN
inflated wartime capitalization when it |
is admitted that the properties would not |
now sell for more than would satisfy |
the first mortgages? Must the people |
of the western states alone bear the |
entire burden while the whole country |
reaps the benefits? Is it not far pref !
cradle that the government should lose |
the whole Pacific railroad debt if neces- |
sary rather than that the vast domain |
west of the Missouri be weighted down |
another half century with the incubus |
of watered stock, fraudulent bonds and |
floating Indebtedness which make up |
the imaginary capital on which the
Pacific roads are endeavorng to bring |
returns of interest and dividends?
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