The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-10-19
CRITICIZES HADLEY.
Says Doctrine Advocated by Him
Is One of COnfiscatiOn.
Other Items CT Interest to
Railway People.

ment he gave the railroads side of the
controversy now on.
81 have here" said Mr.. Ripley, TAX
ing from his desk folded newspaper.
in which an article had been marked
for his attention. 'an editorial COM
ment upon Mr.. Hadley's statement. 1t
is from a Kansas newspaper and it
carries into specific detail and applica-
ton the principle which the attorney
general of Missouri enunciated."
The blue-pencfled paragraphs read
as follows:
We have had some discussion here
in Kansas on that point, and not only
President Ripley of the Santa Fe, who
took a prominent hand in it, but quite
number of disinterested citizens, in
letters to the newspapers of the state,
have failed to make this fundamental
distinction. In one of Mr.. Ripley's
letters to Kansas he quoted from a let
ter from one of his stockholders
showing that. as an investor, he had
made less than per cent compound
interest on his investment, where he
could have doubled this rate. as he
claimed, in his own line of business.
Cases were cited of men who had
bought land cheap and doubled and
redoubIed their money. The COM
parison of stockholders in railroads
with such public agents as county
commissioners holds good. They are
deputized by the public to perform
certain public services and they can
pTOnIS
performing this service than county
commissioners can maintain the
roads, bridges and buildings of the
county, pay the salary budget and
then f1xt the tax rate at figure to en-
rich themselves. Railroads are public
highways, railroad companies are au-
thoriZed as agents of the government
to perform the duty which belongs to
the government of aintaining high
ways open to all alike on equal terms
a reg 1.h1 10 IN h.
railroads have exercised of fixing their
own charges at will is neither a moral
nor a legal right.
Now" said Mr.. Ripley. "ff this
position represents the sober judg-
ment of a majority of the voters of
Kansas and Missouri it is important
that people with savings to invest
should be made aware of it. These
two states own very few railroad Sc
curities, having been always able to
find more profitable investments, and |
money for further development of |
their transportation facilities must
come from other states or from |
abroad. If it is settled that capital so |
invested shall never be allowed to re- |
ceive more than a fair, rate of interest |
(the measure of fairness to be deter |
mined by the users of the transporta- |
ton and the investor to nave no voice |
in the matter, though assuming all the |
risk) the sooner 1t is understood the |
better.
Can there be any justifica ton for
the application of this principle, or
lack of principle. to one class of in
dustries out of the whole list of hu-
that if this principle had been in force
or even proposed in past years there
would have been any railroads built |
Would Mr.. Hadley now. or at any past
time invest or advise his friends to
invest in railroad securities upon the
that the profits belong
to the public and the risk to the in
vestor?"
you do not believe that the privi-
leges granted by the people to the
railroads place them in the relation of
the peoples agents and put them in a
different from that of other
business concerns?"
"a comparison between the owners of
railroad property and the highway
commissioners is unfair, beyond all
question. No other industry in Mis-
souri, and Kansas has done one-quarter
IS much to develop the states as have
aw-abiding; no other so public-spirit-
ID, or helpful, or charitable; no other
10 patient under unjustifiab1e attack {
ia abuse-yet 1t alone is singled out
or Sersecution and its owners calmly
nforrned by high officials of the state
md editorial trainers of public opinion,
hat they may not share in the pros
,erity in which they have been the
|
money in developing a wilderness, hav- I
ng hauled the emigrant and his NOV
Lbles into the territory practically free;
laving given him seed wheat and pro-
isions in time of hardship; having
one to the rescue in times of trouble; :.
aving, in many cases, for years had
10 return whatever on their investment
they are now in the time of fullness
nd plenty to be graciously allowed a
fair return on their investment That, 1
instead of being investors for profit .
hey are merely agents employed by
he public to perform public service.
ates' as may be allowed them by Off
ers elected by the users of the rail-
Dads for the openly avowed purpose of
CRYING the interests of said users r
My" i
do you believe. then. that the rail- !
pads should be unrestricted in the con-
uct of their business?"
mo. 1t is right that the public
hould have a voice, through it's elect d
i authorities, in the supervision of /
ublic utilities. which, from their ma G
Ire, partake somewhat of the nature y
monopoIies,- but this supervision I
Mould be exercised in a judicial instead t
{ partisan spirit. 1t is right also d
lat the corporations should be repre- n
,nted on any judicial body that has to a
cal with this complex question. The
1estion Of the amount of original in 4
has no place in a discussion :,
rates to be charged the public I'M -
IS the public is prepared to guarantee =
turn on that investment from the be- -
ming. An attorneys general or a =
.ilroad commission owes an equal duty
the corporations chartered in and by
e state and to the community; it is II
much their duty to protect the rail- G
ads against unreasonable public 8
amor as to protect the public against Il
rporate injustice-and quite neces-
ry. But the doctrine promulgated by b
r. Hadley is pure confiscation. under c;
hatever name il may masquerade. If Il
represents the view of the majority
voters and if it is to be adopted as t.