Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1897-02-19
PUBLIC OWNERSHIP.
A JUDGE SAYS 1T HAS GOT TO
BE TRIED.
Discusses the Huntington Pacific Roads
Funding Bill-The Plutocrats Must
Come on" or There VIII BE Trouble
In the Country.

Interview which throws much light,
from high authority, on the railroad
question:
Judge Seymour d. Thompson, who Is
considered by the legal profession one
OF the ablest attorneys on corporation
law in this country, kindly consented
to be interviewed by a Journal report
er on that vital question, The gov
eminent ownership of railroads.
Judge Thompson's associations In
California give him an opportunity OF
fully approaching the inner situations
of the funding bill.
The judge, though very busy man,
informed the reporter that his time
was at the disposal of the public press
on such important matters as govern
ment ownership Following is the in
terview reported by stenography:
Judge, if the senate sustains the &C
ton of the house of representatives In
defeating the Pacific railroad bill, what,
in your opinion, will be the ultimate
disposition of this vexed question!
asked the reporter.
Il think that the natural, if not in
evitable result will be the foreclosure
of the governments mortgages"
''In the event of the foreclosure of
the mortgages, what disposition could
be made of the roads? Would 1t not
result in the ownership of the govern
ment of the roads-perhaps their oper-
alton by the government"
mo; at least not necessarily. II
you have mortgage on my farm, and
/ can not pay it when due, you fore
close the mortgage and the farm is sold
under the order of foreclosure. Ii there
is anything left after satisfying your
claim, it comes to me. The govern
ment's position in this matter is pre-
cisely what yours would be in the
above supposed case. 1t will proceed
In the same way to sell the mortgaged
property. Doubtless if the road were
put up at auction under an order OIL
foreclosure there would be a combina-
ton formed to buy it in. AS the gov
ernments mortgage is only a second
mortgage, and as the first mortgage
bonds amount to an enormous incum-
brance, it is quite unlikely that any
syndicate will bid enough to pay the
governments claim. That, of course,
is risk the government must take,
and one which should have been
thought of when the government al
no An dc IN
the first mortgage bondholders. You
are no doubt aware that the govern
ment originally had first mortgages for
all the money it advanced to build these
roads. When they found that they
wanted more money-either to COM
plete the road or to fill their own pock-
cts, they persuaded congress, by sup
Elementary act, to allow them to put
a mortgage on the properties which
should take precedence of the govern
ment's mortgage. This first mortgage,
which is ahead of the governments
mortgage, is immense in amount-per-
haps it exceeds what the whole prop
erty is worth. The Union Pacific is,
believe, in the hands of a receiver, so
that it does not seem to be able to pay
the interest on it's first mortgage bonds
and its running expenses. The Cen
trail Pacific is leased to the Southern
Pacific Company-not the Southern Pa
cific railroad, but a Kentucky corpora
ton, which controls the latter and
many other roads comprising what is
known as the Southern Pacific system.
1t has always been thought by the out
side public that the earning power of
this end of the line-the Central Pa
cific-was far less than it ought to be,
from the fact Of its being under the
control of the Southern Pacific COM
pany, possessing rival line, all it's
own, whose revenues it did not have to
divide with any one else, as it had
to do in the case of the revenues of the
northern route. The malign influence
of such a control is apparent to the
humblest intelligence. 1t not only led
to the starving Of the Central Pacific,
but of the Union Pacific, which had no
other outlet to the coast"
do you think it best for the gov
eminent to foreclose the mortgage or
allow the companies to continue in the
ownership of the roads, as contem-
plated by this bill?"
"The men who compose the Central
Pacific Railroad company and the
Southern Pacific company are q gang
Of public criminals, and the govern
ment ought not to treat with them.
The four original conspirators have
been succeeded in part by men of the
same flexible morals.
you perhaps know how they started
this vast enterprise. Huntington and
the rest had, at the outside, 100000
some say only $10O,OOO-of their own.
Everything else was furnished by the
government, or by the first mortgage
bondholders. They are all enormously
rich, or have died rich-Huntington
Stanford, Croker and Hopkins. Hop
kins is said to have left S60.00O,0 900.
Crocker is said to have left $42 900, 900.
The Stanford estate was appraised at
$4,000, 900, probably much less than it
was really worth. AS to Huntington,
no one really knows how much he is
hic eli, NIL 30