The Miller sun. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 190?-19??, 1907-06-22

along his line rather than in close touch
with the speculative market: who oper.
ares MS line with view to the advantage
he can legitlmately get out of his rail.
way as permanent investment by Civ
ing falr return to the stockholders and
10 the public good service with reasonable
rates VINO does not operate his road with
view to the temporary sDeculatiye od-
vantage which will follow canitaIizinp an
uncertain future and unloading the securi.
ties on the public.
4, we wish to make 1t to the interest of
h the Investor to put his money into the
th development of the railroads, and
therefore we wish to discriminate AGAINST
Tue man who, while enriching himself
rays upon the future owners and patrons
Oh oi the road and. above all, upon the hon
est 'uen whose duty ii may become TO OBJ
era.e the road, a burden of additional debt
WITHOUT adding correspondingly TO its actual
worth: Much Is said about tho inability
OF railway presidents to agree among them
serves as to what policy should be adyo-
Gated and what plans followed in the effort
10 WORK out the problem: which noT pre-
sent themselves P
In SO far as the law Is concerned. all
f,i ASK OF them Is willingness to comply
1ully with the spirit, and a readiness TO
move along the lines Indicated by those
VINO are charged with administering IT.
our poncy Is built upon experience, and
. our primary purpose Is TO insure the fu-
ture against the mistakes and delinouen
Giles of the past.
, Ihere has been much wild talk as TO
lne extent OF the overcapitalization of our
IallroadS' The census reports on the com
mercial value of the railroads of tha conn
Try, together with the reports made TO the
Interstate Commerce Commission by the
railroads on their cost of construction tend
10 snow US that as a whole the railroad
properly or the country is worth as much
as Ihe securities representing IL. and, that
IN the consensus of opinion of Investors the
tO'ai value OF stocks and bonds is greater
IMAM their total face value Notwithstanding
IN e water that has been injected in par
ticular places.
Real Value Great
The huge value of terminals. the i'm
mense expenditures in recent years In dou.
Die tracking, improving grades, roadbeds
ana structures have brought the total in.
yeStmentS to point where the oninion
that the real value Is greater than the face
value Is probably true. No general state
ment such as this can be accepted as hav-
ing more than general value; there are
many exceptions; but the evidence seems
ample that the great mass OF our railroad
securities rest upon safe and solid rounda.
lions; II they fail In any degree TO com.
mand complete public confidence Il is be.
cause Isolated Instances OF uncomfortable
STOCK watering and kindred offenses arouse
suspicion, which naturally extends to all
other corporate securities so long as sim.
ii&r practices are possible and the tendency
10 resort to them Is unrestrained by law.
There Is an essential difference between
private and quasi-pubic property which
Justihes setting somewhere limit beyond
which the accommodating value in quasi-pub-
lie properties, due to the necessity of q
growing community, shall not be capitalized
one OF the most important features OF
the Hepburn act IS its having given the
commission absolute control over the &C.
counts OF railways. The commission has
Just issued an order to the effect that on
July next all the railways Of the coun.
try, subject to the Jurisdiction of the COM
mission, must standardize their accounting
methods, and the commission Is now organ.
lzlng a bureau Of special examiners, whose
duty 1t Will be, among other things to see
that the books Of the carriers are kept in
conformity with the rules laid down by the
commission.
Thus the means are already at hand
and the machinery already created which.
when perfected, will put the public in DO.
sltlon TO know the facts, so that the small
investor can exercise an intelligent judg-
ment when entrusting his money to the
promoters Of great railway enterprises We
hope as one Of the chief means for bet.
terment of conditions to secure as CON.
plete publicity in the affairs Of railroads
as now obtains with regard to national
banks
There need be no fear on the part OF
investors that this movement for national
supervision and control over railways will
be for their detriment. If they doubt
this let them study the history of the
as Iowa 1t would be hard TO find any.
where more prosperous or more intelli-
gent community community Of thriv-
Ing farmers and thriving townspeople.
Iowa did It's share IN the work Of build.
ing railroads when the business was one
that demanded men of the utmost daring
and resourcefulness men like that gallant
soldier and real captain of industry, Gren-
Vile NJ. Dodge; men who ran risks and
performed feats for which it was difficult
to make the reward too high men who
staked everything on the chances Of bust.
ness which to-day happily involves no such
hazards.
Iowa was at length forced to undertake
the work of regulating the railways with.
in her borders. There was great cutlery
against it, 1t was proclaimed that such
effort would ruin roads already built, and
prevent building more. But Iowa proceed.
ed with the tNsk, aud it resulted, not in
ruin and stagnation, but In increased safe.
ty and profit to the honest investor. In.
stead of putting roads into the hands of
receivers, 1t was followed by prosperity
that rescued many Of them from receiver.
ships.
No State, Of course, can do for the rail.
ways what the national government has al.
ready done for the banks, and that govern.
ment should do something analogous for
the railways. National bank stocks are
bought and sold largely On the certificate
Of character which the government, as
result of its examinations and supervision,
gives to them.
Grave Abuses.
The grave abuses In individual cases OF
railroad management in the past represent
wrongs not merely to the geneShl public,
but, above all, wrongs to fair-dealing and
honest corporations and men of wealth,
because they excite a popular anger and
distrust which from the very nature OF
the case tends to include in the sweep OF
its resentment good and bad alike. From
the standpoint Of the public cannot too
earnestly say that as soon as the natural
and proper resentment aroused by these
abuses becomes indlscriminate and unthink.
ing, 1t also becomes not merely unwise and
unfair, but calculated to defeat the very
ends which those feeling 1t have In view.