The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-11-22
RAILROADS PROSPEROUS.
Commissioner LOngstreet Suggests
Government TrnnscOntinentaI.

Commissioner LOngStreet Suggests
Government TrnnscOntinentaI.
WASHINGTON, Nov. q. - Cen
James Longstre.t, "the commissioner of
railroads. in his annual report, made
public today, calls attention to the gen
eral prosperity in railroad affairs and
recommends the government construc-
tiCn and operation of a first class
double track railway from Kansas
City, Nc, to San Diego, Cal, by air
line routes. He dwells pointedly on
the Importance of our new trade re-
lations in the Pacific.
The report says the physical condi-
ton of our railroads generally is bet
ter than ever before. Commissioner
Lorsstnset points to the spectacle of
reads. which only two or three years
ago were in receivers hands. now pay
ing dividends en- their preferred stocks
and piling up surplus, which in the
course Of very short time, his report
says, will be distributed among the
common shareholders Many roads,
which in 1899 were forced to cut salaries
20 per cent, have voluntarily restored
the old basis of wages. In April, 1894,
receivers controlled in this country 210
roads, embracing about 20 psr cent of
The total mileage of the United States
On June 80, of this year, there We're
only 119 railroads iE the hands of re-
ceiveTs, and Gen. Longstreet predicts
that under the present prospect Of
prosperity, that within another year
the list of insolvent railroads will be
as small as in the years Immediately
preceding 1893
Reporting on his inspection of the
properties of the Union Pacific and
Central Pacific, and of several of the
land grant railroads in the West and
on the Pacific slope this autumn, the
commissioner says subst ant al improve-
nlents have been made in the rcadbed
Oh the main lines, steel rails have
been substituted for iron; wooden
bridges replaced by iron and steel, and
the ballasting is more extensive and
much improved. He recommends a
government airline transcCntinental
route in the following language:
The annexation of the Hawaiian ISL
anGS-the possible, probable control of
the Philippine ard LadrOne islands.
must open up new-trade relations of
such growing proportions with them as
to so materially increase the business
of all the bond-aided roads as to be
we'll within the scope of reason to an
ticipate their ability, at an early date.
to pay principal and interest OF their
debt to the United States. The vast
volumes OF wheat and other cereals,
middle Western grain prairies TO Asia
and other countries of the Western
Hemisphere, via the Atlantic seaports,
will, in very few years, reach these
Same destinations via Pacific seaports,
ard with this changed condition will
come vastly increased tonnage and
revenues to all the transCOntinental
lines. The diversion of this very traffic
on this idea is now receiving the care
fIll ottaDHjnn and cODSi dora riOD of the
executive managing officials OF some of
the leading lines between Chicago, St.
Paul and other middle Western grain
centers and the Pacific slope, and thsre-
fore it seems to me, the interest the
United States has in bond aided rail-
roads and especially in the Central Pa
cific railroad, should not be scaled
but that we have every reason to look
for repayment of collar for dollar,
principal and interest. loaned or ad-
Vamced by the government originally
to these corporations.
1T may be timely just now to sug-
eeSt that the government construct
and operate a first-class, double track
railway from Kansas City, Mo. to San
Diego, Cal, by air line route. This
win open the shortest line, measured
by the map, from Boston, New York
and Philadelphia to the Pacific coast,
along and near the coal fields of the
East and the West. Of this side OF the
Rockies. and making the most direct
line fromeour great commercial centers
TO the Sandwich Islands and the Philip
pines. This, w tn ether lines now work
ing overland, may prove ample for thz
wants of commerce to the Pacific coast
ard the Orient, holding trade and
travel within our borders pending the
experiment of a canal through the
fevered climate of the iSthmuS"