Omaha daily bee., 1902-07-20

cent, which means par, II shows a capital
ization Of $4,000 per mile for every mile
Of the 191; therefore that main line Is as
sessed at about one-thirtieth Of what we
say It's value Is. valuing a. on a basis Of
4 per cent: It IL one-thirtieth and is refus-
ing to pay anything 10 speak Of In the
citiesl
Your honors. you cannot take the great
mischief the railroads do in our cities, and
they do more in the great centers than in
the country, you cannot take that and
spread II out on the mileage basisi The
wrongs they do In our cities we cannot
spread out on q mileage basisl And yet
they want to be taxed and assessed on a
mileage basisl And the gentleman, the
g~randiloquent mar the talking man Of
the Union Pacific I believe he is called.
pleads for justice for the railroads. He
wants your honors TO keep cool and not do
them an injustice, not to listen to this rab-
BILE, not to listen to these three disap-
pointed agitators, who are full Of hate,
they say. Well / am full of Il. l admit I
am full Of bate and that l am disappointed
that for thirty years this wrong has been
going on! I feel encouraged now and
frightened Ut, because Il seems to me a
better day has dawned and q juster one.
II arguments OF counsel have been
made up, as I have stated. from their tax
commissioners figures In the main. When
your honors get q little insight into these
exhibits, you need only to glance at them
and you will be amazed, az we have been,
that gentlemen should bring In here before
this tribunal such arguments, such i'm
peachable figures, that are adapted to a
board hat is willing and anxious to be
h~umbugged. but out Of place before q ju-
dicial tribunali I could prove that easily,
detail by detail, but Is there any doubt
In anybody's MIND why these gentlemen
were driven to such expedients? The rea-
son Is, these railroad companies and these
members Of the board we're all standing
in a hole together. The paramount prin-
ciple that governs railroads, as we all
know, is, I'VE must stand by our friends.
That board has stood by US and above all
other things we must Justify their figures,
even to taking the tax commissioner state
ments; we cannot go back on them!" That
is the only excuse that can be given to
justify these gentlemen In producing such
figures here.
Now we will glance at a few thing with
reference to the Union Pacific. Their own
attorney has e~ndeavored to confuse the
issue, to muddle It w. by bringing in three
great transportation comprehensive Union
Pacific system. he says, is composed of
three separate transportation companies.
That Is said for muddling purposes and
nothing else. The two Oregon companies
operate under their own charters and have
no property in this state. We have nothing
to do with them. We wnl take that one
paper in evidence, the Union Pacific state
ment. showing mileage. capital stock,
earning and operating expenses" Of the
Union Pacific Railroad company for the
year ending December 81 and the earnings
for its mileage In Nebraska alone; 1t can
be read in two minutes. 1t gives gross
earnings, operating expenses and net earn
ings for Nebraska. 1t shows its net earn
ings were 34,711 for each and every mile
in Nebraska The Union Pacific is stocked
and bonded for over $4,000 for every
mile OF it's road. Every mile is treated
like every other mile. Its stock and bonds
are worth in the market over 1920, 900 per
mile. Taking. however. these earnings
only. and they equal Al NEARLY 81 per cent
on 800. 000l
Now take all their figures, what do
they amount to as compared with that
solitary fact? That tells the whole story.
And yet the Union Pacific has part Of it's
line, sixty-hve miles and a fraction, sep
arated from the parent company as a
separate concern, although 1t shows It is
operated under the Union Pacific charter,
and assessed at $4,000 a mile. One thou
sand seven hundred dollars less per mile
than the net earnings of that same COM
panyi Three thousand dollars is less than
one-thirtieth of a hundred thousand dol
larsl There are Ala miles assessed at 50, 500,
or Sh per cent of 500. 900. ST. 200 less than
each and every mile Of 1t earns net! The
great main line that carries the trafic of
the continent and of the occident and
orient across the continental divide IL as
sessed at less than 10 per cent-only 9.S
per cent on 800 900 $4,000. Your hon.
ors, II that is not fraud. II that assess
ment Is not improbable, what is the
matter with It? Is It full of righteous
mesa or Of unrighteousness7 At the very
lowest, their assessment should be double
what It is on the main line, on every mile
they have in the state.
And while / am on this Union Pacific
question I want to say l have forgotten
something. I said in opening my argument
that I have for twenty-five years witt
messed the wrong doing OF these railroads
in this state. / referred to the old Union
Pacific company, not the new one, and I
want to do that much Justice to the new
one. 1t is four years old. II is on trial,
It has a gentleman and a scholar for its
president. and. so far as I know. 1t is we'll
of1cered.
might have said, with reference
to the B. & NJ. Company in Ne
braska, that It has been dead for
twenty-five years. The concern was con-
solidated with the parent company twenty
two years ago, last January, and the rec
ords OF the secretary OF states ONCE con-
tain the record Of it. Before leaving the
Burlington. I will say that all Of its lines
here, its fifteen lines, are operated under
the Q charter-the Q franchise, every milo
Of 1t earns an equal amount, and every
mile must be assessed alike, main line n
branches. So we say that property lie
worth, according 70 Mr.. H~arrington's ng-
ures, $50, 900 q mile, and its market value
SIS, 900. Its earnings, taken from the peo-
pie, some OF 1t unfairly taken, make large
interest on that, and not for one mile, but
for every mile Of that system.
Yes, truly, We may get some eompensa-
ton for the wrongs I think re have suf-
fered from that company's presence in our
s~tate-for the last quarter Of a century. We
will not ask the court to 60 back and re-
assess those properties for these past
years; they have had these great benefits
for all those years, but We will forgive
Although they have not taught US to be
! generous. and they never have shown US