The record-union., 1897-10-28

and it is needless to discuss the econo-
my of good roads as connected with that
measure. If two horses can draw
bigger load on a good road than four
horses can draw on bad road, the
economy of the former proposition
needs no theoretical demonstration.
The time to make good roads is at
this season Of the year. One dollar
spent now is worth two spent next
spring.
A CASE OF IGNORANCE ~.
Santa Barbara Press: The Marion
Brooks-Congressma Barlow episode
develops the astonishing fact that the
gentleman who represents US in the
House does not know a railway pass
when he sees one. This sort of igno-
rance is of course laughable, Con-
gresham and a railroad pass is always
a legitimate subject for a joke; witness
Brother Bryan's monkeying with corpo-
rate favors. But now comes our Rep-
resentative, and calmly owns up 10
pressing a claim against the United
States for a large sum or money, with
the understanding and agreement that
he shall obtain % per cent of the
amount so obtained. He makes mat
ters worse, if possible, by claiming ne
did not know it was loaded--or Illegal.
X man with the slightest sense of hon
or or propriety-with the most ruda-
mentary knowledge of the law-with
the sense of a shyster attorney, would
have known that he must not be an
interested party in legislation.
AN INDUSTRY BUILDER.
Oakland Enquirer: Our socialist
friends represent competition as being
solely a struggle for cheapness, but the
history of George NJ. Pullman, the mill
ionaire car builder, who has Just died,
is good Illustration of the shallowness
of this view. AS competitor in bus
mess which was open to all the world,
Pullman was tremendous success, but
he never worked on the plan Of pro-
ducing the cheapest article, but rather
of producing the best. There were
sleeping cars in use on long lines of
railroad long before his time, and they
generally cost no more than five or six
thousand dollars to build. Pullmans s
first car cost $4,000, and his second
cost $4,000. Ultimately he ran up the
cost of constructing modern style
sleeper to 100000 or $125,00O.
Before Pullman commenced running
sleepers the price for a berth had been
only dollar a night, but in his more
expensive cars it was found that it
would not be profitable to rent berths
at less than about two dollars 1t was
freely predicted that no such increase
in price as this could be made, and that
therefore an improved style of sleeper
would be a failure But the direct re-
verse proved to be true; comfortable
sleeping cars became popular at once,
and the two-dollar berths rented more
readily than the old ones at a half that
price. This experience, which he had
early in his career as a builder of cars,
was repeated throughout all his subse-
quent enterprises, the whole object of
his labors being to produce the best
style of car and to get a fair price for
it,
Another secret of the great and long
continued prosperity of the Pullman Car
Company, whose capital stock amounts
to $50 1000, 600, is doubtless found in the
circumstance that it was never it's poll
CIV to make extraordinary rates OF dlVl-
dends. Had the opportunities, which
probably arose at times, to make 70 per
cent. dividends been taken advantage
Of the invasion of the business by COM
petitors would have been invited; but
Pullman's policy was to declare per
cent. dividends, and to hold over the
surplus from good years to assist IN
keeping up this uniform rate or dlVl-
dends in years when business was bad.
In that way the stock was given sta
bic market value, and it came to be re-
garded as a safe investment for all
classes of persons, so that, as Pullman
stated in the interview which the En-
quirer'' reprinted yesterday, about one
half of his thousands of stockholders
were women.