The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1906-10-25

MsrSM1ngsy eonsanea1 Tar hAEk--SNFs&aM.
~ prtor To- itsI--shax the Railroad
charges we're excessive, and oppressive.
and thai relief eoula rot be haa froxa
the voluntary Eefiuetaon Of tAem By those
receiving railroad ineomss. bas uauss be
ordered by the people, IN righs 81 their
sovereign powir 30 fin the rates Of eoan.
non carriers Again be says: THAT
- to say propkrty invested Of 30 yooo,-
60 lbut costing prescnf owners far
| lsssl il allowed rates hIgh xnough %
earn nearly y, 200 100 net, or Is per
cent. Interest," annually out Of the PEG
pie Of North 4 Carolina Il seems singu-
lar that sath words from 50 dlstin-
guished n democrat should have been
50 entirely Undecided by Democratic
commission.
Analysis Of Statistics.
Let Us examine these statistics for
the year zoos little more closely. We
must ASSUME $50 ,5T3, 334 to be the value
Of all railfoa property in the state be-
cause theE commission has so fixed il,
and the railroads complained that il was
too high( The net earnings admittedly
are ss.3fe,4s3. LIZ we allow the rail
roads for per cent. net earnings on the
value oftheir property, they would have
-, 49,, aB3.36, which would leave q sur
plus of bet earnings Of Is, 1887 ,549.64 for
one YER alone. Dedueting from this
surplusD the amount necessary to reduce
passenger fares to a rate of two cents
per mile, we still have q surplus of
81 ,4S7 lJ49.64 to be applied to reduc-
tion d freight rates.
Thif question of freight rates, while
apparently not attracting as much pub
lie attention as passenger fares, is of
equal Importance, as they enter into the
price, of every pound of sugar and cof-
fee ,hsed by our people, as well as into
the profit of every pound of cotton or
otheF products sold by our people.
Freij ght rates are too high, and must be
rea&justed on a just and reasonable
basis. Great injustice in freight rates
is done by unlawful discrimination,
viii file by an ingenious system of re-
classification, the actual cost of ship
ping certain goods can be increased with
oft any apparent increase in rates. Ship
pfrs can also be favored by special
classification of their goods. What re-
dbction should be made in rates can
he ascertained only after careful and
impartial investigation. All that shall
yask is that the railroads be entirely
eandid with the commission and with
the people. Let them render full, fair
land truthful statements of all necessary
facts; and then let us have a square
deal all around. But there must be no
attempt at shutting or evasion. We all
know how the assets of big insurance
companies have been juggled by gentle
men deeply interested in southern rail-
roads.
Four Per Cent. Enough.
It may be said that four per cent. is
too little to allow on railroad property.
This may be so; but why is railroad
money worth more than anybody else g
money! 1t is well known that small
amounts of money can be loaned to
much greater advantage than large
sums. This is so universally recognized
that all life insurance companies cal
eulate their reinsurance reserve on a
basis of from three to four per cent. and
collect premiums accordingly. That is,
they recognize the fact that they cannot
rely upon obtaining greater average
rate of interest upon their investments.
In the north, this reserve is usually
calculated upon basis of per cent. in
terest. Our savings banks pay only
per cent. interest, with millions on de-
posit. Our state bonds bearing 4 per
cent. interest are above par, with ap-
parently none for saae. United States
per cent. bonds are quoted at 129;
while the Panama Canal bonds, bearing
only per cent. interest, recently sold
for. about 104. None sold lower than
t log ,867 according to the treasury state
ment. It may be said that these bonds
are non-taxable; but all railroad bonds
are liable to taxation, and the bonds
of the Atlantic Coast Line, bearing 4
per cent. interest, are quoted above par;
while the 5 per cent. bonds of the South
ern Railway Company are quoted at
l15A. A singular fact is that the ag
gregate assessed value of the three great
railroad systems in this state is slightly
less than their bonded Indebtedness. The
report of the commission for 1905, and
all my calculations are based ON that
report, states that the Atlantic Coast
Line is assessed at $25, 173.55 per mile
and bonded for ST. 1886 per mile; the
Seaboard Air Line is assessed at &c.
982.69 per mile and bonded for &c.,
644.61 per mile; the Southern Railway
is assessed at $24, 721.25 per mile and
bonded for $31 ,312 per mile. I must
confess / cannot understand why a mile
of the Southern Railway, carrying over
thirty-one thousand dollars in bonds,
selling In the open market at 115k,
should be worth only $24, 721 for pur-
poses of taxation. Us the stock utterly
unrf bloSss TT doos NOT Soam 90 from
the prices at which it is selling; but for
purposes of taxation it seems to be non
existent. Further comment on that
matter is unnecessary.
Assessment of Private Property.
/ know it is said that private prop