Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1896-03-21
Shall Il DO Government OF Private
Ownership?
A Hodintd -Uavsrnmsnt owner.
ship Of Road Hsds, private opera.
tIou Of Irsins-somo Advantages.


roads In the United States sfe nov 10
the hands Of receivers. They are vlf.
tually being run BY the Judicial branch
Of the government Tor the benefit o.
the creditors. when their financial
nfialfs are slaughtered out they are
turned over to private management
agsiu. This does not speak vsry well
Tor private management We never
hesrd Of any Of tho managers Of the
roads becoming bankrupt on account Of
tho foaIs gong into toe hands Of re-.
receivers, lnurI that ths roads ever
'ailsd " chHfKe all tho tfsillc wOuiI
bear The bankruptcy Of the roads
generally cme through eEtrav.
asance, mismAuagcmen and u -.
honesty. a rsad h tiled at dozen
points by iuside fings who use the road
tot their own benefit. The Iubiic auI
the stocshJidsfs are the sufferers.
The attempted contfoi0 of the roads ty
the government has also proven
farce. EGcessiye rates and unjust dit-
cfminatiUus " 90 Just ASH thOtc was
ne intefstste commerce commission. IL
IL we'll known fact that the chief
reason why Salt Lake IN not q manu.
featuring anu Jobblug point iOr ths
intstmuuntain country 10 because the
railways discriminate In favor OF ME.
souri, river points, aud that the Salt
Lake shipper ~ barred out n the terri.
tory that naturally belongs " him.
Additional TailWays do not help
matters very much, Tor combinations
are soon formed anu there are two rail.
roads TO keep up then instead VI one.
The fact " you cannot create competl.
ton In that which Il natural mono.
poly. Human Laws cannot overcome
natural ones.
Since, then, government control IL a
farce aud private ownership is burden.
some 10 the public aud Ia 20 many
cases unpf0titable 10 the stockhOldsfs
VI the roads, tue only thing lett l.
government ownership and manage.
mrnL The NEWg has pointed out In
recent issue the difficulties In the
way 81 government ownership. The
fifsI IA the excessive cost Of acquiring
the roads. The figures given uy the
NEWS, however, are greatly In cKcss.
VI the actual cOst anu value OF tue
rUads. A well known writer on this
subject estimates that the bonds Of the
railroads represent about the actual
cost Of construction. That the stock
anu other forms OF Indebtedness arr
water anu nclicious capital. This
would reduce the NEWS estimate 20
about $500, 100000.
But even this ~ n very large sum.
IL l. not ~ be- supposed, however, that
government would Immediately pto.
Utei 10 buy up oil tue railroads Ia
case government ownership was de.
tofminod upon. The change from
private To government ownership would
be gradual. Probably the fiut stop
certainly tho easiest aud most dosifa.
ule ont-w0uld DO the acquiring Of the
Pacific roads by foreclosure ofths mort.
cages held ~ the government. This
would require the expenditure OF no
money Tor purchase pTice. The other
legitimate obligations OF the roads
could Ur paid cut " the receipts after
they came under government owne..
thip,
Tbs requirement VI two or three
great trunk roads ny tho govufnmen.
might be suiiieient 10 secure low anu
impartial rates on nearly all the other
roAds. Certainly the rates on the gov.
utnmont roads would form basis OF
comparison which would tend 10 keep
tAttswithin moro reasonable bounds
than they now are. Excessive rates
or unjust determination would create
a demand for government ownership
Of roads making such eKaoli0ns. II
the owners desired 10 keep tho roads iu
their possession they would have 10
keep their rates within reasonable
limits lfthey were willing to coll 10
government they could only get the
actual value Of the road.
We thus see that government own.
ership Of even = few roads which might
be- acquired by foreclosure In some
cases and through guaranteeing Ihe
legitimate obligations OF the roads iu
other cases, would undoubtedly be- OF
very great great benefit. liths eKper.
imsut were found successful ia these
cases the government could gradually
increase IT. possessions, making tho
income from It's roads pay their tx,
penscs ana cost. Under such plan
there would ue no Necessity for oleAt.
ing great bonded Indebtedness u
buy out ell the roads In the country.
II tue experiment proved unsuccess.
iul tbs government could Teliuquish
the roads 10 the stockholders or b9nt-
holders again,
But the CHIEF objection 10 govern.
mUut ownership aud management u
railroads IL, o. pointed Out by the
NEWS, the fear that the roads would
uH "A great political machine 10
be used by the party IN power
Tor lhot benefit. That positions 90
the rosds would be among the spolls Of
Uillcr, Ne too many government poe.
tons are today. | admit the force Of
this objection and would not favor any
extension Of government functions
until ID rigid civil service law was la
force that covered all branches Of the
service. We certainly have made
some Improvement Ia this direction.
II VIZ admit that We cannot finally gu.
iOTce civil service regulations among
all departments " the government, wv
had better IOuCed6 at once that AIlepub.
llcan form Of government IL failure,
that the United States IA Incapable OF
governing Itself, anu invite a strong
European monarchy to take charge Of
uur government The British empire
has a civil service that Il never Affected
In the slightest degree by any change
NJ party, anu Ia outside tue Influence VI
the most powerful politician. We
ought to be ashamed 90 admit that we
will never no able 10 place our public
service beyond the reach VI partisan
luNuVuOe