The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-11-02

rails to be about seventy-five pounds,
while Mr.. Kouns's own statement Of
the average weight of rails on the San
ia F'e lines in Kansas shows less than
seventy pounds. I estimated s., 800 for
branch lines. 1t is my opinion that
fully one-half the life of the railroad
ties now being used has been exhaust
ed
''Win Mr. Kouns say that I could
not replace these ties at the price
named in my estimate?
Il allowed $4,000 average cost for
each depot, and I can reproduce all
the depots in Kansas at an average
cost of $1,000 to $4,000 each. I esti-
mated the cost of ballast at $4,000 a
mile and I challenge Mr.. Kouns to
state over his own signature that the
average cost of ballast for all the lines
in Kansas exceeds $1,000 a mile. The
late J. E. Hurley, general manager,
said in sworn testimony before the in
terstate commerce commission in 1907
that rock ballast cost the Santa Fe 81
a yard in the track, and said the bal
last was divided into three classes
2,400 yards to the mile, 1880 and the
heaviest ballast $500 yards to the
| mile. Even taking the heaviest bal
/ last, which Mr.. Hurley said was used
only where traffic on the main lines
was very heavy, at $500 yards mile,
this would leave me 500 profit mile
on the ballast alone.
What an Authority Says.
"In discussing the cost of railway
construction in the United States ex-
| Governor William Larrabee of Iowa,
| one of the most widely known authori-
! ties in the United States, made the fol-
| lowing statement: Tens of thousands
of miles of railroads have been built in
recent years that did not cost to ex-
| coed $4,000 a mile. Very recently
! the Union Pacific Railroad company
proved, by the testimony of engineers,
| that the average cost a mile of the
/ I, n univ ct oQS On a
mile.
sIn a recent article Mr.. C. Wood
| Davis states: Many auxiliary lines
have been built at costs ranging from
| $4,000 to $4,000 a mile and capitalized
| at two, three, four and even five times
| their cost, as in the case of the 107
miles of the Kansas Midland, costing,
! including a small equipment, only $1O,-
| 200 a mile, of which 80 per cent was
| furnished by the municipalities along
! its line Yet with construction profits
| and other devices this road shows a
capitalization of $4,000 mile.
"'And that the Missouri Pacific line
from ElDorado to Mcpherson, Kan. a
comparatively expensive prairie road
being built across the line of drainage,
cost much less than $4,000 mile, as
have thousands of miles of other prai-
RE roads,
Let Them Give the Facts.
IF the railroads are going to make
public campaign throughout this
state and want the people to accept
what they say as facts, 1 insist that
they furnish detailed, itemized state
ments of the cost of rails. ties, grading,
showing all their specifications, pro-
files and copies of their contracts. I
insist that they shall tell the whole
truth about their surplus earnings. In
1909 their surplus earnings were So
So 1000, and yet throughout this cam
paign of education in Kansas, carried
on by the Santa Fe railroad officials,
in a private car, they are telling the
public they had only $365,000 surplus
in 1909, when, as a matter of fact,
they appropriated nine million dollars
of their surplus for Improvements and
future betterments which eventually
will be capitalized.
This is a fraud on the face of it
and is not worthy of men of high
character such as Mr.. Ripley, Mr..
Kouns, Mr.. Copeland and other Santa
| Fe officials are.
II have no quarrel with the railroads
and would protect their interests as
| quickly as any other interest in Kan
sas, if it needed the protection of the
state government, but my duty is to the
/ whole public, and if I failed to be as
/ loyal to the people of Kansas in pro-
| tecting their interests against unnec-
essary increased charges in rate, which
| would mean increased cost of all the
| necessities of life to every wage Garner,
| farmer. and business man in this state,
/ then 1 would be unworthy of my posi-
| ton as governor of Kansas; just as Mr..
| Ripley would be unworthy of his posi-
| ton as president of the Santa Fe, if he
| did not work faithfully to protect the
rights and interests of the property
| which he represents.
A Case of Bad Judgment.
| There is no occasion for any per-
sonal feeling coming into the discus
| sion of a great problem of this kind. It
is inopportune in my judgment for the
railroads to try and drag this question
into a great political campaign. and