Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-03
THE KANSAS RAILROAD SITUATION.

THE KANSAS RAILROAD SITUATION.
The Populist legislature is about to pass
legislation TO cut down railroad charges
| in the state of Kansas. One senator ad-
| vocates cutting the rates 80 per cent. There
| is pending a bill which will cut down the
rates on freight something like S5 per cent.
! There is also pending bill which will
| cut down the rates on passengers about
80 per cent. There are also pending other
! bills which will either cut down tariffs or
| increase burdens and expenses. 1t is not
yet clear how much of this proposed legis-
Iation will pass, but a large number of
Populist members seem determined to in
nict serious injury upon the railway in
terests.
Up to date about 200 miles of railroad in
Kansas have been abandoned. There is
not the slightest doubt that two-thirds of
the mileage in the state of Kansas does
not pay operating expenses and taxes and
the remaining one-third has not for the
past two years paid any more than fair
rate of interest on what it would now cost
to build the roads. A good deal of the
total mileage has been now run for three
or four years on hope. Somebody had the
idea that away in the future there was re-
muneration for present losses.
In the light of the attacks being made
on the railroads, the people OF Kansas
confront a very serious situation. If 200
miles of road have been abandoned with
out adverse legislation, what may be ex-
pected If rates are reduced, as is proposed,
from 80 to S5 per cent?
The truth is that railroads in Kansas
have suffered in the last fifteen years more
than any other interests. The amounts of
money which have been sunk in Kansas
railroad enterprises are simply enormous.
In 1880 and for five years thereafter rates
were good and business was abundant
From 1850 to 1857 from 100000 to 100000 peo-
pie migrated from Eastern states into Kan
sas. In the first instance, the railroads
got the profit of hauling in the people and
hauling in such personal property as they
brought with them. These people settled
in Kansas and took up lands and began
developing their farms and building homes.
They all brought some money with them
and they began to borrow in wholesale
manner. With what they borrowed they
bought lumber. hardware, fuel and all
sorts of merchandise from outside the
state. This made a large traffic for the
railroads. But since this golden period the
reaction has come. People stopped de-
veloping and they stopped buying and be-
gan paying their debts. This is shown by
the fact that the decrease in the railroad
tonnage shows almost solely in traffic west
bound; the east bound traffic keeps up.
This simply means that the state is SELL
ing its produce and paying off it's debts
instead of importing lumber, dry goods and
pianos. Not only has the traffic fallen off
enormously, but rates have fallen. For
example, the rates per ton per mile on the
Santa Fe system have fallen more than
50 per cent since 1852.
There are about $1,000 persons all over
the world interested in securities of rail-
roads that reach into Kansas. What has
heretofore been done to hurt the credit
and standing of Kansas is as a mere drop
in the bucket compared with what would
result from the passage of the anti-rail-
road legislation now pending in that state.
If Kansas, in the present condition of rail-
road interests and in the face of the un-
disputed facts regarding the earnings and
losses of Kansas railroad mileage, deliber-
ately cuts the present low rates of car
riage, the state will gain the active aver
sion and hostility of $1,000 persons of the
very greatest influence in financial circles
all over the world.