The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-08-31

| tltlOn Is IHpOSSlDte. 90 not know IL
the country is ready for this change.
| do not know that a majority of my
own party favOrs it. but / believe that
! an increasing number of the members
| of all parties see in public ownership
Ithe sure remedy for determinations be-
| tween persons and politics and for the
extOrtiOnate rates for the carrying OF
freight and passengers.
Government and State Ownership.
Believing. however, that the opera
| ton sof all the railroads by the federal
government would result in central
ization which would all but obliterat tie
state lines, L prefer to see only the
trunk Hines operated by the federal gov
Continued on Page 3.
state governments. Some have opposed
inns dual ownership as impractical but
investigation has convinced me that IL
IS entirely practicable. Nearly all the
railroads OF Germany are owned by the
several states. the empire not evcs1
owning the trunk lines, and yet the in
terstate traffic is in no wise INSTRUCTED
IN travelling from Constantinople to
vienna one passes through Turkey
Bulgaria, Servia, Hungary and a part
OF Austria without a change of cars
and yet each country owns and ope-
rates It's own roads and different Ian
guages are spoken on the different di-
visions of the line. Sweden and Nor
way each owns its railroads but they
nave no trouble about interstate traf-
f1c, although their political relations are
somewhat strained. The ownership
and operation of the local lines by the
several state governments is not only
feasible but ii suits itself to the con-
Oltlons existing in the various states.
In those states where the people are
ripe for change the local lines can
be purchased or new lines be built at
once. while private ownership can con-
tinue in those states i'm which the peO-
pie still prefer private ownership. Some
states have been more careful than 9TH
ers to prevent the watering of stock
and In the acquiring Of roads each state
can act according to the situation
which 1t has to meet
No Doubt Of the RIGHT.
AS to the right of the governments.
federal and state, to own and operate
railways there can be no doubt. IL We
can deepen the water In the lakes and
build connecting canals in order tO
cheaper railroad transportation during
halt the year. we can build a railroad
and cheaper rates the whole year; If
we can spend several hundred millions
of the Panama canal to lower trans
continental rates. we can build a rail-
road from New York to San Francisco
to lower both rens-continentaf and To-
cal rates. The United States mail is
increasing so rapidly that we shall soon
be able TO pay the interest on the cost
OF trunk lines out of the money which
we now pay to railroads for carrying
through mails.
IF any of you question the propriety
NJ
remind you that the president could not
have secured the passage of the rate
bill had he not appealed 10 the fear of
the more radical remedy of government
ownership and nothing will so restrain |
the railroad magnates from attempting
to capture the interstate commerce !
commission as the same fear The |
high-handed manner in which they
have violated law and ignored author |
ity, together With the corruption dis |
covered in high places. has done more
to create sentiment in favor of public |
ownership than all the speeches and ar !
guments of the opponents of private |
ownership. 1 have refer: ed 20 the rail- |
road question as a part of the trust |
question because they are so interwOv-
en- that it is difficult TO consider one |
without the other.
Trusts a Political Development.
Just a word in regard to the trusts /
Some defend them on the ground that |
they are an economic development and |
that they cannot be prevented without |
great injury to our Industrial system.
This may be answered in two ways
First. trusts are a political develop
ment rather than an economic one: and |
second, the trust system cannot be per-
mitted to continue even though il did |
result in a net economic gain. 1t is po-
litical because 1t rests upon the cor
poration and the corporation rests up
on a statutory foundation. The trust.
instead of being a natural development
is a form of legaliZed larceny. and can
exist only so long as the law permits
them TO exist That there is an econ
Omic advantage in production on a
large scale may be admitted but be-
cause a million yards of cloth can be
produced in one factory at q lower
price per yard than one hundred thou
sand yards car be proiuC.,i in the same
factory. ii does not follow that cloth
would be produced at n still lower price
per yard if all the cloth consumed in
he United states were produced I'm one
factory or under one management |
There is point beyond which the econ
)mic advantage of large production
ceases. The moment an industry ap-
the position of a monopoly it
y.
mon opoly discourages invention. in
vites deterioration in quality and de-
stroys 4 most potent factor in produc-
ion viz. industrial ambition.
Cannot Be Justified.
But the political objection TO trust
)vercomeS any economic advantage
which it can possibly have No econo-
mic advantage can justify an industrial
lespotiSnI or compensate a na ton for
he loss of independence among its pro-
lucers. Political liberty could not long
'ndure under an industrial system
which permitted a few powerful mag
lates To control the means of livelihood
# the rest of the people.
D." LandlOrdism. the curse of Europe is
In innocent institution in comparison
With the trust. when the trust is carried
o it's logical conclusion. The man who
lrgues that there is an economic adj
'antage in private monopoly Is aiding
socialism. The socialist asserting the
superiority of the monopoly.
insists that its benefits shall accrue &c
he whole people, and his conclusion
.annOt be denied If the SuperiOrify of