The Topeka state journal., 1898-01-20
GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP.
As Railway officer the Matter is One
of Indifference.

In approaching the subject of govern
ment ownership, let me say at hrsr,
that to me, as a railway officer, and to
all railroad officers, as such, the matter
is one of Indifference If the govern
ment owned the railways it would need
men to operate them, and should be
entirely willing to take my chance OF
holding my presenter some other
equally good-position. AS a railway
officer have no prejudices on the sub
ject.
Nor on the other hand, are railway
owners-the holders of stocks and
bOnds-Opposed to it? The strongest
plea that has been made in behalf OF
government ownership was made by
Mr.. T. B. Blackstone, president of the
Chicago & Alton, and the ground on
which he urged it was justice to the
railway investor. There is no holder
of railway securities who does not be-
HeVe that those securities would be ad-
Vanced in value if there was any pros
pect of the government buying them,
because they are at present below their
intrinsic value. So when any man ar
CUES in favor of government ownership,
let him not suppose that he is arguing
against the interests of existing COM
panies or against the interests OF rail-
way stockholders and bOndhOlderS. II
I am opposed to government ownership
of the railways, it is not as a railway
man, but on quite other grounds, as a
citizen.
The most serious considerations are
the political ones. There are about
$4,000 railway employees in the United
States. Under the government owner
ship, each of these would be a political
appOintee. It is certain that the appH-
cation of politics to the railway service
would lower the character of the SER
vice, but still more appalling is the tre-
mendOuS political supremacy which
those $4,000 offices would give to the
party in power. In Kansas there
would be about &c, 600 ofhcehOlders more
than there are now to support the ad-
ministration.
Worse still would be the political re-
suits of the contracts for construction
of new lines. etc. The scandals and
jObbery of the river and harbOr apprO-
priations or of the tariff bill would be
nothing compared to the field which
would be opened to the spOilsmen by
the railways. If two towns in Kansas
wanted a new railway built, their get
ting it would depend entirely on the pO-
litical pull of their representatives in
Washington. Districts or states of
political complexion opposed to that Of
the party in power would have to wait
lines; and in districts where the friends
of the administration came from there
would be lines as thick as stripes on
a cats back. If there were nothing
else to be said against government
ownership, the political argument alone
would be enough to condemn it forever
or at least until our politics and gov
ernment were run on entirely different
principles from what they are now or
until the American people was convert
ed into race of angels. But there is
much more to be said as we shall see.
Even in Prussia, where the conditions
for state ownership are the most favor
able of any country, the railroad min
lister said, in his report for 1892: The
rolling stock is absolutely worn out;
the trains overloaded; the track out Of
repair" And the Budget report for
April, 1898, asserted in still stronger
terms, The department cannot satisfy
the needs of the system" Service in
Australia is even worse, for the COM
missions of the principal colonies con-
fess their utter inability to provide suf-
ficient rolling stock and locomotive
power; and that where traffic is not
increasing. Those countries are COM
paratively small, either in area or pop
ulatiOn, and the demands of commerce
easy to satisfy; but in all government
service has proved a failure.
Even after all this experience, Ger
many has been compelled by the pres
sure of localities for unnecessary roads,
to abandon the construction and opera
ton of new local lines to private COM
panies. Very truly,