The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-01-20
GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP FROM
THE STANDPOINT OF \ RAIL-
ROAD MAN.
QUESTION OF EFFICIENCY.
BEST DAMAGED LINES OF THE
WORLD ARE OWNED BY
COMPANIES.
PROBLEM OF PRACTICAL POLITICS.
Most Serious Considerations Are
Ah"se involving the Spells Fea-
ture of the Proposition.

CHICAGO, Jan. 19-E. P. Ripley,
president Of the Atchison, Topeka &
Santa Fe, has written letter TO the
Kansas Commoner, a Populist paper,
replying to a communication published
IN that paper citing the number Of
people killed by the railroads of the
United States as a reason why these
railroads should be put under govern
ment control. Mr.. Ripley saws that tba
latest report of the interstate COM
merce commission, that Of 1896. divides
the persons killed by railways into
three classes: Passengers, employees
and other persons. Mr.. Ripley deals
with these seriatim. He says the re-
port shows that in the year mentioned,
ISl passengers on all the railroads Of
the United States were killed. He says
that this is, of course, deplorable, but
that the TACT should be taken into con-
slderatlon that in the year 1896 the
railways Of the country carried nearly
! OIL, OOO'OOO passengers; that the number
OF passengers carried a distance Of one
mile was over $4,000, 00o, 00O or in the
words Of the report: THE number of
passengers carried for one passenger
Killed during the year was 2,827,474''
Mr.. Ripley points out that the rail-
ways carry the whole population of
the state of Kansas two and a. half
times over before one passenger is kill
ed. He says that taking into consider
alton all the contingencies, such as
land slides, washouts, floods and hui
man weaknesses which have to be
guarded against, it would hardly an
pear as if the railways were negligent
in the matter Of caring for the safety
Of their passengers, and he quotes from
the Kansas City Journal the statement
that accident insurance companies
recognize in their policies the fact that
the danger of accidents on railroad
cars is only half as great as that Of
other accidents. In other words, that
1t is more necessary to buy an acct
dent policy when one gets off the cars
than when one gets on. =
MATTER OF ACCIDENTS.
Mr.. Ripley, in reply to the charge
that accidents on railroads are in
creased by the employment of over
worked and exhausted men," points
out that the engineers are generally
paid by the mile, and not by the day,
and that the efforts of the officers Of
the road are always eXerted to pre-
vent men from OVERRIDING. This is an
evident necessity, as these men have
in their charge trains the wrecking Of
which is liable to cause the company
half million dollar loss.
Mr.. Ripley draws conclusion that tha
plea Of government ownership because
Of the number of persons whom the
railways kill, is entirely worthless
Coming down to the question of own
ership. he says, that to himself and
other railway officers it is q matter of
entire indifference. If the government
nod tha- 1~oil NHoHr
as many, and probably more, men to
operate them, and he expresses himself
as entirely willing to take his chances
on getting as good a position as that
which he now enjoys. Next, he says,
comes the question whether or no the
owners Of railways are opposed to gov
eminent ownership. On this point he
says, the strongest plea made in be-
half of government ownership is that
Of T. B. Blackstone, president Of the
Chicago & Alton road He urged it as
a measure of justice to the railway in
Vestors. He says there is no holder OF .
railway securities who does not believe
that those securities would be advanc-
ed in value if there was any prospect
of the government buying them.
Mr.. Ripley says If he is opposed to
government ownership, it is not as a
railway man, but as citizen. The ar
gument has been made, he says, that
the government SUOulu nave CHdISe VI
the railways because private admins
tration of them is unsatisfactory.
POLITICAL PROBLEM.
AS a matter Of fact, however. the
best managed railways of the world
are the English. They are all owned
and operated by private companies.
Next to them in good management arc
the private owned lines of Holland and
France, while the government owned
lines in France are very bad.
Coming to another feature Of the
question, Mr.. Ripley says there is
grave doubt whether the government
has the legal right to obtain owner
ship Of the lines for the purpose of op-
Grating them, and there is still the
more formidable question as to wheth-
er the government, after it had got
possession of the lines, could operate
them inside the limits of the several
states without radical changes in our
constitution, and in the whole, pre-
sent fabric of the relations of state
and national authority.
The most serious considerations are,
however, Mr.. Ripley says, political
ones. There are $4,000 railway en-
ployes in the United States. Under
government ownership each of these
would be a political appointee. This
would not only lower the character OF
the service, but would be appalling ir
the tremendous political supremacy