The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1907-04-06
HIS RAILROAD VIEWS
up BRYAN WRITES A LETTER TO
H, NJ. whitney.
FAVOR of State and National
Reoulation With Public Own
ership as Ultimate Solution of
Observation-Disclosures in No
Danger.

Roston. March III. M. Whitney
hos made public letter just received
form Mr.. Bryan dealing with the rail-
-oad question. The letter follows:
az am in favor of both state and
national regulations, and also believe
that public ownership is the ultimate
solution of the question. l have
noipted out that because of the danger
Of Capitalization of ownership by the
federal government of all the lines, I
nrefer system in which the federal
government will be confined to the nee,
essary trunk lines and the ownership
Of the rest of the lines be left to the
states. As an advocate of regulation
Of the strictest sort, can say to you
that there is no danger whatever that
this regulation will be carried to the
point of preventing a reasonable re-
turn on the money invested in the rail
roads of the country. And also as
sure you that whenever public owner
ship is adopted by the states or by
the nation, the stockholders mry ex-
pect to receive a price at least equal
to the value of the physical properties
of the road; but no such assurance
ought to be necessary, because the
public has shown no disposition to re-
duce railroad earnings to a point
which would deny reasonable return.
Value Should Be Ascertained
81 have commended that the present
value of the railroads should be ascer.
tanned by the interstate commerce
commission and the commissions of
the various states in order that invest
ors may know when they are buying
stocks of intrinsic value or whether
they are being cheated. As long as
promoters are permitted to issue stock
that does not represent real value
there must be fluctuations in the stock
market, for every disclosure of bad
railroad management necessarily
Affects the value of railroad stocks,
The stockholders therefore who desire
to purchase for legitimate investment
should have as much interest as the
patrons in reducing the railroad bust
ness to an honest basis, but the rail-
roads have thus far prevented the
passage of a law authorizing the in
terstate commerce commission to fix
the value of the railroads.
Should Return Reasonable Dividend
"When the value of the roads is
ascertained 1 am satisfied that the
public sentiment will insist that the
returns shall be sufficient to pay a
reasonable dividend upon the money
invested. should say that any maxi
mum rate for this dividend fixed by
the people should be a little higher
than the rate fixed by competition in
the purchase of stocks. If, for in
stance, stock which pays per cent
dividend can be sold at par, a maxi
nun dividend ought to be enough
above that to provide for possible fluc-
tuations in business. If it requires q
5 per cent dividend to make stock.
sell at par, then the maximum divi-
dend contemplated by legislation
should be above per cent or six per
cent
IL OoSC OuO tdl1Ou6 6tOVCo Va OAAO
nation should decide to enter upon
public ownership of the roads, there
would be no disposition to confiscate
the property. l am satisfied that in
the purchase of roads the public would
be much more apt to pay more than
the roads are worth than less.
Il think can speak for those who
believe in regulation. know that
there is not and never has been dan
ger of injustice to the owners of rail-
rloads,and if can speak for those who
believe that the ultimate solution of
The railroad is to be found in public
ownership, can say there is not a.
disposition to confiscate railroad
property even if the courts would per-