New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1898-10-12

" oPSOOH W Cdy lHdG Jlm I'LL 10 III pal y.
nership with every farmer along the line
of his road. He divides every bushel Of
grain, every pound Of beef, even the but
ter and eggs, with the farmers. Now IS
it Lot vital to the interests of the farmer
that the earnings Of this partnership
should be fairly divided? And III the
long run it is equally important to the
railroad. No element or factor in So
ciety can permanently oppress another
without suffering injurious consequences
in return. y!zs
It is almost equally essential that a
feeling of mutual interest and good will
should exist between these partners. A
partnership without confidence an d
hearty cooperation is invariably fail
ure and usually winds up in court. Any
suspicion of fraud, concealment or un-
fair advantage by member destroys his
confidence in the partnership. The con-
viction on the part of our people that
their railroad partners in business had
not put in the amount of capital for
| which they exacted profit has been and
IS the root of all our trouble. And the
worst feature of it was that our state
6 overnment had provided no means by
which the truth in regard to the matter
could be ascertained. .-@-.>t, ":
| But fortunately our supreme court
has solved the dilemma so far as our
state is concerned. The judges, with
full appreciation Of the situation, deter
mined to accord full justice to the inter-
ests Of both producer and carrier,
disposed of the question in way that
Will not only produce a fair division of
tie result of their joint labors-if the
principles of that decision are faithfully
administered, but that will go great way
toward estoring that relation of conf.
dence and good will which ought to ex-
| ist between interests so mutually con-
cerned
The supreme court said in substance
and effect to the parties: We cannot as
certain how much money was actually
put into this road and if we could it
would not be conclusive, for some of the
money may have been foolishly expend-
ed. The test of the value of piece of
property is not necessarily the amount
of money put into it, but rather what 1t
would sell for. An an article never sells
for mnch more than it would require to
buy an adequate substitute, so the true
test of the value of your railroad, Mr..
Hill, is what it would cost to duplicate
it, and you, Mr.. Farmer, must pay
freights that will produce iair income
on that cost. Mr.. Hill could not, and
did not gainsay thelogic of the propo-
sition, and the farmer was content with
its eminent fairness. The controversy
ended. The rate on the commodity in
question was fixed in conformity with
the principles laid down as nearly as
could be. My friends, the far-reaching
effects of this decision can hardly be es-
timated. The principles enunciated by
the court apply as we'll to your street
railway, telephone and telegraph compa-5
nies as to the railroads. I noticed by
the papers that the attorney for the
strees railway company stated before the,
State Equalization board the other day,
that if the ground had not been broken
OF rail laid, the whole street car sys-
tenn Of the Twin Cities could be .dupli-
Gated for s., ,O00, 600 or less. He un-
donbtedly knew what he was talking
about. # my information is correct tho
public is made to pay interest on many
times this amount. Will the people con-
tinue to do sol
What we need now to obtain the full
benefit Of this decision IS an able, fear
less and honest Board of Railroad and
Warehouse COMMISSIONER "a board that
will not be trammeled BY any partisan
or political consideration; that will be
just to all interests and command their
respect board that will apply the primo
4 s Il = = &
iples of that decision to all cases Of un-
just rates IN this state. Such q board
the people Of this state shall have if I am
entrusted with its selection. This board
also. has another important duty to per-
form the establishment Of the grades of
grain and the selection and control Of the
inspection force. Have these duties
been properly performed Are they be-
ing properly performed now? Our FARM
ers say no, with one voice. Ny opponent
tsays that this is one of the questions that
will keep until another election. Wilt
YOU allow it2