The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-07-07
SSSMiIz
9ailY X a9le
NJ. NJ. MURDOCH. Editor.
KANSAS RAILWAYS AND TAXES.


The railroads OF Kansas pay higher
rate of taxation than any other class OF
property in the state. That is, railway
properly is assessed higher in proper
ton 10 either its cost or value, than any
other property. The Eagle has said this
before. and frequently, and at times
when it was not the popular thing TO
saw. But il was the truth then, as we
demonstrated by official figures and un-
denjable facts, and. it is the truth now.
The railways may try to make 1t up
of the. r,eople in some other direction,
but VIC doubt it. In fact, what between
depressed conditions and low prices oc-
casioned by drouths and popular pre-
judice which materialiZes in antagon-
jst;c legislatures and crystalizes in strin-
gent laws, Kansas railway manage
ments are not only compelled to rustic
for sufficient money to pay liked
charges such as taxes and incidental
expenses. but TO strain every resource
Tor the bare chance of existence. As a
result of some Kind of Pop conference
lately held at Topeka, in conjunction
with the state railway commissioners
in which railway officials were invited
10 participate, an order or request was
made for a general reduction Of freight
rates on schedules named. The officials
endeay ored TO demonstrate that the re-
duction could not be made equitably, In
Justice to employees or TO those whose
money is invested in the roads; that
such reductions meant not only deter
ioration of The roads but bankruptcy
AMI a receivership. W. II. Truesdale,
third vice president of the Rock Island,
has Transmitted his refusal 10 comply
in writing He states the case with
marked emphasis. He starts out Win
The self-eyident proposition that any
business which could stand such re-
duo;.on would have TO be Immensely
PROSPEROUS, which Kansas roads are
not as the commission and everybody
else knows. Many Of them are bank
rupi. a number Of them still in the
hands of receivers, while none of them
are paying a fair return upon the cap
;ial invested in them. With more miles
of rad per capita in Kansas than in
any state or province the vicissitudes
are more numerous. AS to the question
of taxes, Manager TrueSdale declares
that the burden is enormous and that
the records show thaE over 40 per cent
Of the aggregate net earnings Of rail- |
ways in Kansas is required TO pay |
Kansas taxes, while for the United |
States. as whole. the rate is only 8 |
per cent This exactly bears out the |
claims of the Eagle made heretofore, |
only from q different point Of view. |
But instead of growing less, the burden |
is being increased from year to year, in |
the face of which discouraging fact |
comes the demand for heavy cut on |
the rates of the only commodities which |
are staple and steady. Truesdale de- |
olares emphatically, that the Rock |
Island cannot meet the additional re-
duction demanded, and therefore will
refuse to do so, as destruction from one
cause is no less TO be dreaded than
from another. He concludes with the
declaration that while Kansas has more
miles of road than any other western
state, that no road depending upon its
earnings within the state has for sew
eral years been able to pay the actual
operating expenses.
The books and expense accounts be-
ing open to the railway commissioners,
it remains for them to disprove Mr. |
FrIeSdale's emphatic and straightfOr
ward assertions, or otherwise to cOnfine
their demands within lines of reason