The Saint Paul globe., 1905-02-19

life. 1t contains over half of the working
and and voting voting population, and more than
three ffths of the farms and railways.
The internal commerce. the product of the
labor and capital of this central empire,
is many times our total foreign trade.
Through the $500 canal passes a freight
tonnage nearly double that of the SueZ
canal and not far short of that of all our
Atlantic ports The lake port of Duluth
Superior alone handles a tonnage one
third that of all the ocean tonnage of the
United States. The so-called 'agricul-
tural state of Minnesota, which leads
the world in bread and butter, besides
standing first in the manufacture of flour,
produced last year one-half of the iron
ore of the United States and one-fourth
that of the globe. The star of empire
is westward. The other day the steam
ship esota-product of the transpor-
! tation genius of the North Star state
steamed out of Seattle for the Orient.
carrying the greatest cargo ever shipped
within the holds of single vessel in the
sources, the energies and genius of the
West the nation looks not only to build
up its commercial and industrial great
ness, but its moral and political strength.
Nations Gravest Peril
am not among those who believe the
nation is tottering. but among those
who behold grave danger and have
| faith that this danger will be avert
obliviousness of the many to the existence
of disease and one of contagion and in
fection. In Shakespeare's time, Foul
subornation was dominant" Today IL is
rampant in almost every state in the
Union. 1t shows itself in legislation and
administration, in commerce and finance.
Lawson tells us an appalling story OF
financial chicanery and ruin; good men at
the head of vast industries appropriate
the money of the people to their own uses.
Steffins tells us Of municipal corruption
that makes the story of Nero and Rome
seem cheap. And all this time the man of
affairs will allow business interests TO
| flNn
he shudderS and stands aghast at the
Wrongdoing Of an ordinary criminal. we
boast today OF a commercial reign un-
equaled in the worlds history. IL almost
equals the Bourbon splendor which pre-
ceded the French revolution and which
Carlyle designated as the rainbow over
Niagara. 1t may be that our era OF COM
mercial splendor is but rainbow over our
own Niagara. In this city are scores or
multi-millionaires. In II are 100000 VINO
cloy the hungry edge or appetite py tne
bare imagination of feast Not all this
is due to our political or commercial syS-
tenn, but in a measure to lack OF personal
effort. But there Is much on which the
hungry can predicate his complaint our
political system and our commercial sys-
tenn are out of tune; The tendency OK
indifference of the elephant to the worm,
is too common
False capitalization is one of the great
causes that has brought shock to the
faith of the people. Watered stock is the
mirage in the desert of our commercial
life. The billion dollar steel trust, quoted
at rs cents on the dollar today ana at
cents tomorrow. typifies the class. Wa
tered stock has become common Phase
of legaliZed larceny. III the mad race Is
to stop before the runner falls. corporate
business must be reorganiZed on ration
al basis. No corporation should pe per-
mitted by law to issue share OF STOCK
that does not stand for pald-ln caSn anu
certified to by state examination EVERY
dollar invested in a commercial enterprise
should earn a fair profit and every In.
1al fnfr f-atn nf
On his investment. But IL is not entitled
to a rate of interest and profit on STOCK
which has no capital basis. Public ser
vice corporations, railway corporatlons'
and other corporations, fix charge alto-
gether out of proportion to the investment.
Electric Railway Instance
1 have in mind an electric railway COM
pany with $50 miles of track, and win
an equipment to correspond. Whlch earns
8 to per cent interest and diyldends on on
stocks and bonds amounting to $3O,O0OOVO.
If it cost to equip and build the road as
high as $4,000 per mile, or total OF
81 500, 900, we have a corporation charging
the public and collecting profits On an IN
fation or franchise value four times
actual cost. This practice is common TO
steam railway companies In 100 sIedt
degree and vet more common TO the IN
duStrial trusts. Added to the gross mis-
use of franchise privileges, rallways are
guilty of the still worse crime of diScTlml-
nation Is ii "A wonder that the president
has taken up the war or the people 10
regulate transportation charges! Is IL
wonder that governors or states ana les-
islatures are stirring themselves TO cor
rect the evil? The corporation baseu on
an inflated value complains OF conIscaII
tion when the matter of governmental
control is suggested. Governmental con-
troll is coming and the people VINO oppose
it want to remember that the pehqu1,uIn
has been too long on the one Slue- when
if comes back it may swing as tar 10 ule
other side. Railway interests want 70
bear in mind that if control
41rr
ownership is apt to follow, which would be
still more undesirable. at least from lhelr
standpoint. ,,,,a,1s
to the great Middle West. Chicago IS
the greatest railway hub and the cehleI
of the greatest internal commerce on lhe
globe What London is TO ocean com
merce, what New York is to the world IS
bank cleaTings, that is Chicago 10 lnLerhai
commerce carried by rail. The United
States has over one-half the ran nllle &c
If has terminal in Chicago. Your city
is the transcontinental gateway OF At
lantic-Pacific traffic The gross eaInllIss llss
of the railroads which enter Chlcago We're
enough last year to pay off 40 per cent
of the national debt, and greater than
those of all the railroads OF @ me DnIIeo l
Kingdom by over 100000, 600. Three
Chicago railroads running into Mime
sofa carry alone freight tonnage greater
than the total ocean tonnage OF the Onlted
States: while the total freight tonnage OF
all roads entering Chicago approXlmates
the ocean tonnage of the world. The
Western trend of industrial production is
told by the significant comparison, that
in 1908 railroads doing business in Mas
sachusetts showed for entire lines gross
earnings under 500 100000. in New York
something over $500. 000.000. and in Illi-
nois close upon s7OO, 600, 600. At o,,,t1e the
same time by reason OF greater volume
of fra ffic. the average rate per ton per
mile was 40 per cent lower in Illinois
than in Massachusetts,. In the settle
ment of the great railway problem or
America it is plain that this nation must
look, not to the Atlantic coast. which
now controls our stock markets and ma
tional legislation, but to the great valley
of the Mississippi. which already sup
ports as many people as Great Britain.
with a farm product equal to that OF
France and Germany con1biued.s and a
railway mileage which approxfnates that
of the entire continent Of Europe<1~
Speaks of Beef Trust
Railroad discrimination. namely, the re-
bate and the private car has brought into
existence, with headquarters in Chicago,