Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1903-07-22

OWNERSHIP
Of Railways Exhaust
lively Discussed.
Interesting Series of Articles in
Course of Publication by
Railway Age.

The Railway Age has commenced
the publication of series of articles
by Mr.. H. X. Meyer on Government
Ownership of Railways. These ar
ticles are the result of an exhaustive
study extending over long period of
years, and embody, we believe, the
most authoritative and valuable discus
sion of this most important subject
ever presented to American readers.
The following outline is from the au-
thor's introduction:
The state ownership of the railways
presents two distinct problems-the
adjustment of the railway rates, and
the Engagement of the railways. The
nature of the first of these problems
is illustrated in dramatic manner by
the experience of Germany, Austria
Hungary and Russia; the nature of
the second problem is revealed in no
less striking manner in the experience
of Australia, a democratic English
speaking community with very high
level of general intelligence and a
body of politicians who, whatever
their shortcomings, are absolutely
clean handed. 1t is the purpose of
this series of articles to set forth in
summary manner, and yet by means
of recital of facts, the experience of
the two groups of countries, Europe
and Australia.
Europe's lesson for the United
States is, that any thoroughgoing and
effective effort to regulate railway
rates will arrest the decline of rail
way rates, will prevent the railways
from developing volume of traffic
sufficiently large to justify the build
ing of railways of the American stand
ard of efficiency, will check the devel-
opment of the resources of the coun-
try, and will demoralize the politics
of the country. All these things the
state ownership of the railways has
done in Europe, and would do in the
United States by bringing into poll
tics one of the most perplexing of
modern problems-the problem of the
relative reasonablenesS of the rates
made by the railways leading from
rival producing and distributing CEN
tiers to common markets and to rival
markets.
The disastrous consequences of any
thoroughgoing effort to regulate rail-
way rates by public authority Except
ing of coruse, measures taken to abol-
ish secret personal Discrimination
has not been brought home to the
American people, because the consti-
tuition of the United States, and the
supreme court of the United States
thus far have prevented the several
state legislatures, the several state
railroad commissioners and the fed
eral interstate commerce commission
from pursuing the course upon which
time and again they have sought to
enter, the course of which would have
parlayzed our railways, our trade and
our industry, as il has paralyzed the
railways, the trade, and the industry
of Europe.
Australia's lesson for the United
States is the visible helplessness OF
the politician, the absolute inability
of the politician to safeguard and to
foster the long run interests of the
country in a community of which
every class and every section has be-
come demoraliZed and debauched
through an extension of the functions
of the government carried so far that
every class and every section of the
community has come to regard the
state, not as the common judge be-
tween man and man, but as the great
source from which flow material bless
ings. Australia's lesson is that the
politician in charge of the state never
will be permitted to become a bust
ness man, that politics never can be
made business, but that great deal
of business can be imported into
politics, and that in community in
which the politicians are absolutely
clean handed.