The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-07-05
COMPARATIVE RAILWAY RATES

COMPARATIVE RAILWAY RATES.
The Minneapolis Evening Press fun
bles badly the comparative rates of
railway freight and passenger carriage
here and in the foreign countries re-
Gently given In the Globe. The
G l o b e did not offer them as an eX-
cuse for any watering of stocks that
may have been done, but to show that
the truth lay in the mean between the
habitual declaimer against all railways
and those VINO think that railways,
like ancient kings, can do no wrong.
We grant readily that there has been
much that was utterly indefensible in
railway management in the past, and
that today the managers of those enter
prises are moved by quite the same
motives that actuate managers OF
newspaper plants, We will say, just
for an illustration. But the fact I'M
pleasant to these as it should be pleas
ing to those whom they serve, is that
work superior to their own powers that
have steadily reduced charges until
they are lower in this country than in
any in the world. We are Of the opin-
ion that there has come In recent years
a subsistence of the speculative and
graSping spirit In railway manage
ment with the acquired control of con-
sentative men, and the direct inter-
ference Of the men who have their
capital invested in the management.
But the Evening Press claims that
the comparative rates given utterly
ignore the difference in conditions and
situation, among which are territory,
diffused population, and immense mile
age of the chief lines of transporta-
ticn." 1t refers to the expanse Of our
territory as compared with the COM
pactness of population in France and
argues that the greater distances to
be Travelled make the cost greater to
Americans, even If the mile rates are
lower. 1t is true that the conditions
are vastly different, but the difference
makes the comparison all the more fav-
orable for American roads. If, with
our great distances, long hauls and
sparse population, our roads are able
to haul ton Of freight one mile for
97-100 mot 81 cents), or carry a passen-
ger one mile for 2.14 cents, how much
cheaper should not the roads in any
of the foreign countries named, with
their short hauls and dense population,
afford to do 1t?
1t Is true that man will have to
pay more in the United States to ride
from Minnesota or Dakota to the ma
tional capital, or to have carried ton
of freight from the same localities to
the seabOard, than would a French
man to reach his nearer capital or
seaport. But we fail to see how even
this important and indubitable fact
affects the argument or the conclusion.
1t remains true that a Frenchman.
travelling or sending freight the same
distance as the Minnesotan or Dakotan.
would pay from 80 to 60 per cent more
for the service. 1t is one of the unes-
capable conditions of life in this coun-
try that it has it's magnificent dis
tances, and we know of no way in
which even railways can avoid that
fact or legislation can mitigate it, The
records of our courts amply attest
that the railways whose promoters dis
counted the future heavily by fictitious
capitalization have not reaped the an
ticipated harvest, but have met with
bankruptcy, their autocratic power
proving inefficient in it's effort to make
freight rates than would pay dividends
on the watered stock However good
their intentions may have been to
saddle unjust and wicked burdens on
the American people," through "the
American iniquity of watering stocks"
We should all find cheer in the ref1ec-
ton that they have not been able to
do it, but that forces mightier than
theirs have defeated their malign de-
signs They have squeezed the water
out of their stocks with relentless
hands and given the American people
the cheapest and the best railway
service in the world. And we believe
the same forces are working for still
furt her reduction