The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-01-12
WHEN MISSOURI
 OWNED RAILROADS
Experiment Cost the People
 About S15,O0O,0OO
ALSO SOME HARD THINKING
The Governor of the State Became a Railroad Manager, Establishing Rates, Maintaining Tracks
 and Running Trains.
Walter B. Stevens in AppletOn's for Jan-

l Walter B. Stevens in Appleton's for Jam uary.
 l It is almost forgotten that some 40 years ago Missouri tried state ownership of
 railroads The experiment cost the peo- pie about $15,0OO,00O, not to mention sev-
 eral years of hard thinking
 The governor of Missouri became railroad manager. He established rates, ran trains, maintained the tracks, even added betterments to the property. He showed balances on the right side of the ledger The governor was proud of the
 record of railroad management by the state He gave the facts in his messages to the general assembly. But he did not advise continuance of state ownership. While the experiment was on scale
 somewhat impressive for those days, it did not suggest to the popular mind permanent policy. The governor told the legislature and the people that "the par amount want was completed railroads.
 In that view public sentiment coincided.
 State ownership found no advocates. Hav- ing ownership the state deliberately dis
 posed of it and substituted power to reg
 ulate
 The policy of state aid to railroads be- gan in Missouri in 1851. Charters were granted and bills were passed authorlz- ing the issue of bonds, guaranteed by the
 state to construct railroads. The con
 dition attached to the aid was that the
 railroad company must put up $5OO0O or
 its own funds for each grant of S50,O0O bonds by the state. This policy was given free trial until 1855, when the peo-
 ple of Missouri made the disagreeable discovery that the state had authorized
 the issue of $9,00O,000 of bonds; that the | ef.aer slowly; that the cost was twice or three
 times the original estimates; that these bonds which had commanded premium when issued were below par and selling at an alarming discount. A change in the policy was imperative, but the change that took place seems inexplicable to this generation, which cannot realize the rail-
 road mania of that decade before the
 war.
 The railroad companies admitted that they were at the end of outside re- sources. They had raised and spent all. that could be obtained in subscriptions from counties, cities, and individuals. They made the astounding proposition that the state authorize the issue of sl0,- O000O0 more In aid bonds, $19,00O,OQ0 in all They asked that this aid be made available to them as they contributed. not dollar for dollar as before, but H of their money for $2 of state bonds. Fine promises were made that with this aid the roads would be pushed through | to the western and southern borders Of l Missouri Strange to tell, the legislators
 were convinced by the reasoning that l with this additional $10,000000 the roads
 would be completed and that without 1t l the state might lose what had been put l in. The bill passed, authorizing the is-
 sue of $10,0O0,000 to be applied In the pro-
 portion of $2 of state money to Sl or
 railroad subscriptions.
 With the return of peace in lS6o, MIS- l souri faced a railroad problem that re- uuired four years for solution. It held | first liens on the roads. Principal and 1 interest of this railroad aid debt reached 1 S31, ,735, GOO before the policy of settlement
 had been fully carried out. No advocacy | of permanent state ownership was de-
 yeloped. Popular sentiment almost uni- | versally demanded completion or the
 roads across the state. Under such con- 1 ditions of public feeling, Governor Thom- | as c. Fletcher recommended and the | general assembly passed measures Whlcn | at the same time foreclosed the liens and | transferred the roads on conditions in- 1 tended to expedite construction and to save as much as possible on the bonded
 debt. Each road presented problem l different from the others. One road which gave the state most trouble and ] prompted the experiment in railroad op- | eration by the state was known then as | the Southwest Branch; 1t Is now part | of the main stem of the Frisco system 1 Of this road the state took actual pos | session.