The Portland daily press., 1901-01-23


the railroads Of the world. It's success
was due TO the difficulty TO which
have referred. experienced by the farmer
In ee ting hts goods to market. Since
then the railroads have become the
fuIcium on which rest the levers Of the
worlds complicated industrial maohin-
cry.
Railroad in this country went on In
somewhat desultnry fashion In this ocun-
try until the needs Of the government
during the Civil War put them upon
their feet
In the beginning, railroads were short
links taking the place of the stage lines.
Experience taught forcibly that. some
thing different must be found and then
began the consolidation Of these links
into great systems. The enlargement
OF the traflic-which is simnly your traffic
lis the result by which ssrvi,s IL given
at the lowest cost consistent with the
expenses and reasonable profits. Now
everything that goes into the exFenses-
whesher fuel or taxes--comes out OF the
net re-eiuts provided they are liked
charges. These fixei charges that must
he borne come first out of the gross re-
eeipts, but they really come out OF the ret
receipts.
Take the Maine Central railroad as an
Illustration. Thee are many ideas as
to the way in which it should te taxed,
but am inclined to think that your sys-
tenn of taxing gross receipts is the teit.
IL l.. valuation
but il you ask me what Is the valuation
Of the Maiue Central or the Boston u
Maize should have to ask on what
basis you propoEe1 to estimate the val
uation, and If you Rskei 20 me1 to make
valuation trey could not agree unless
theJ Ie)kouet on the sam basis ana it
seems to me that il the gross elTnings
are tase1 as the la IL, it is a fair meth
cd A citizen OF Augusta who wants 10
move away from the city can sell his
property for sny purpose the purchaser
wants to put it to, but the railway prop
srty can only be used az railway; u Is
vaIueless for other purposes. L will give
you an Illustration. In the city OF Bos-
ton, the and on which the Union station
stands has been used for a railway sta
tion aud for nothing else It was bought
Mt low plice and the building oil the
new station has CAUSED the pIice Of sur
rounding lands to go up until they
have multiplied many times in value.
yet you cannot say that the land on
which the Uni5n station stands should
be taxed for value as great as that
OF the surrounding lands, because tire
railroad land must always oe used for
railroad purposes aud has no value for
any other. SO 1 say that your system of
taxing gross earnings seems to be the
correct one.
Ii You tax a railroad abnornally, you
place a tax unon the people for the
railroad has no source of revenue other
than the people. 70 get its return It
must eithsr raise It's rates or decrease
It's facilities and In either case the peo-
pie pay just as they pay the duties upon
tea and coffee.
There is one matter which l cannot
forbear to mention, though 1t NAV not
be my business to say anything about
1t. l have read in the papers that You
klill LbA l16 Ohhpts VI NAo tAAkNAbt 80
Its full value and also tax the man who
lends the money and taxes mortgage
on it, 1t seems to me that that Is rslic
OF the days of the robbsr barons But
IL s your hunt anu not mine. We used
to do the same thing In Massachusetts,.
but we're Wiser now.
l have not said much about the Boston
a. Maine because its earnings are SO
great that whatever systsm you ceylse
we hal hsvs to pay the highest rates
and look pleasant and we shall look
pltagan5, The Boston 81 Maine must
pay tlxes ON earnings OF S1S. 900 q mile
and tue recent acquisition Of the Fitch
burg road means an increase of 10 per
cent In its Maine taxes
MI. futile then spoke particularly OF
the position OF the Maine Central. he
said:
MIR. Tuttle smoke at some length on the
reductiops made by the Maine Central
and Boston and Msine In various CLASSES
Of Treyht, placing the producers Of this
state ina pos tlon to compsts for the
trade OF the great mark e. of the coun-
try. He then faid; II want to tell You
some thing of what voluntary reduo-
ton OF rates in period of years meant
to the Maine Central Fifteen years
Ago-snd / tell you the last 10 years OF
my life have gone SO quick thdt do not
know where they are, and presume
you are all In the same box--in 1880, the
Maine Central received from Its passen-
ger traffic its uniform rate of 2, 46s cents
and for the year ending June 30, leUl,
1t received 2.22s, q reduction OF .234. or
2 mills ard "a 100 upn each passenger
psr mils When you figure that up on
the basis OF the passengers carried by
this Maine Central railroad, 1t would
have made an increase In the revenue on
Maine Central of Ssl2, ,2S7; in other worls,
10 the voluntary reduction; ana l am
glad to say that the legislature of Maine
has shown It's wisdom In never undsr-
taxing or rather in never passinR any