The Advocate and news., 1898-02-09

tion recently made by Justice Walter
Clark, Of the Supreme bench OF North
Carolina, the able iurist showed from the
returns made by the railroads operated In
that commonwealth for 1896, that the net
earnings of the three principal roads were
$3.50 900, or almost 10 per cent. on the full
actual valuation Of the railroads, Valu-
alton which according to the railroad cor
porations Is In excess Of the value Of their
entire property.t Yet though according to
their own reports for 1896 their net earn
lngs were almost $S,OOO,OOO, the claim OF the
roads Is that In addition to large interest
on the actual cost Of their property, or It's
real valuation, they must pay interest on
T0OOO,OO0 of fictitious capital, or water.
But | ask, in the name OF reason, justice,
or right, why should every farmer, every
traveller, and every shipper In North Caro-
lima be thus systematically plundered to
pay for capital which never existed except
on paper2 Why should the wealth-creators
of North Carolina pay 10 per cent. on a
liberal valuation Of the entire railroad
properties, after all running expenses, In
cludng princely salaries to favored off,
cials, have been paid, when under state
ownership per cent. would yield q hand
some profit for money invested, and IL per
cent. would remain with the proper own
ers, or real creators OF the wealth.
In the case OF the New York Central, as
very ably discussed by Governor william
Larrabeef similar revelation 10 made;
while in the cases Of the Atchison, the
trunk lines even more astounding Is the
story Of the corporate plunder OF the
public. The methods pursued by the Penn
sylvania, as pointed out by Governor Lar
rabee, while more ingenious are scarcely
more credltable than those OF other lines,
But, as have already said, the story Of
one of these great corporations which own
and control these vast public utilities is
with slight variations, the story of all.
When we come to quasi-public utilities in
MI vtn hn 60 TnpnPd
public plunder for private gain. Take, for
example, the metropolitan street railway
of New York, which furnishes fair illus
tration. The New York World OF October
II, 1897, published O carefully prepared and
somewhat exhaustive history of the rise
Of this giant monopoly. The story shows
that there is to-day about $20,O0O,0OO OF
water in the body Of this one child Of cor
porate greed, which enjoys an enormously
valuable street franchise, and in return
compels the travelling public to pay divi-
dends, or interest, on $40 $50 900 more than
the total cost Of the property. Here is
a summary made by the World OF the
extent of water in this one corporation.
1t should arrest the attention of every
thoughtful person. 1t is a fairly typical
illustration OF the way In which the people
Of every great municipality In the new
world are being plundered for the enrich
ment of the few:
From the Oficlal reports filed with the Railway
Commissioners by the Metropolitan Street Railway
Company and its constituent companies up to June
80 1896, It appears that 900 N water goes to
make up the capital stock Of Sl66000O0 and bonds Of
s9OO0OOO of the Metropolitan These are the figures
In detail:
S50000 excess Of amount paid In stock and bonds by
Houston, West Street, and Pav0niA Ferry
Railroad Company for the purchase OF prop
erty Of Avenue railroad
S30O0 excess of reported cost in 1888 over report
Of 1882, for which no equivalent In value is
&OO,OOO excess of stock payment for Chambers
Street railroad over fair value for road and
franchise.
@OOOOO amount OF bonds Issued in 1891 1893 by the
Houston Street Company, and for which no
report Is returned. except that they were
exchanged for stock
SOOOOO paid TO promoters for franchise of thesouth
Ferry railroad, according TO report In 1886
$95O,OOO Broadway Railroad Company capital stock
over and above the amount paid for the
property at the receivers sale In 1888 Of the
assets Of the Broadway Surface Railroad
Company
Ss5OOOO Of the stock and bonds of the Metropolitan
Crosstown Railroad Company Issued in ex-
cess Of fair value Of property.
S00000 OF the 100000 900 Of the stock and bonds of
the Lexington Avenue Railroad Company,
being the amount above the cost of tho
property
M5OOOOO OF the 0OOO 600 stock and bonds OF the Co
lumbus and Ninth Avenue Railroad Com
pany issued for construction and equip
ment, being In excess Of the cost OF the
property.
sl9, $50, ,OOO-tOtal water.
The same paper makes the. following
comments on the facts disclosed:
The tremendous loss 10 the people Of this city
through the gift of It's street railway franchises 20
private corporations is clearly shown by the reports
made to the State Railroad Commissioners by the
Metropolitan Street Railway Company and the COM
panes which make II mp.
BY the figures In these reports II appears that fully
OF the entire capital and bonds OF the Met
rOpolitaR Company issued up TO 1895 is water.
This immense sum was divided up among host OF
neoDle-prOmoters constructors and manpulatOTs.
IL represents the profit In deals with the property
Of the people
Some OF IT, perhaps represents the cost OF 'secur-
ing franchises. II certainly does In the case OF the
Broadway line Obtained by gross corruption on the
part OF Jacob Sharp.
But more clearly than anything else, this stock
watering means high street car fares 70 the people.
II means vastly increased amount on which Interest
and dividends must be paid, and consequently II
means that fares will not ne reduced.
The New York Journal published some
valuable articles showing the enormous
revenues which properly belong TO the city
of New York but which through the con-
troll OF quasi-public utilities by private cor
porations are diverted into the pockets Of
the few Thia naDeP also published a table