The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-01-11
RAILWAYS ARE BUT
PUBLIC TRANSFERS
80 Declares a Shipper in An
swer to Transportation"
Decrying the Law.
DRAWS DEADLY PARALLEL
OF G-ENDURED ABUSE
Claims That the People, Espe-
cially in West, Have Been
Robbed for Years.

Editor The Tribune; The railroad man
who addresses the public through The
tribune on the subject of President
Taft's very sensible recommendations TO
congress concerning restricting railroad
abuses by federal law attempts to draw
parallel that does not exist when he
says that improved Salt Lake real estate
under the title OF "hotel" may "go up"
as high as 1t cam but that the same piece
OF real estate. when used for and called
depot" cannot increase In value with
out violating the law.
II the railroads would play fair with
the. people there would he no need for
such restraining laws. The people
they were false to their trust They
robbed the people Of every cent possible
and and still keep the people especially OF
money for the railroads TO take away
from them.
A Simple Illustration.
Before the railroads came the ranch
man came. He tracked west through
wilderness and set up his homo. He
plowed the land and planted a crop, and
hauled 1t TO market by wagon. or drove
the engine and great promises for help
ing the frontier farmer. More people
poured in and the wilderness became set
The farmer raised his wheat at cost
! OF say 40 cents II was worth 60 cents
at the other end OF the railroad and the
| farmer had to have 10 cents or he would
not stay on the frontier farm, so the rail-
road took 10 cents for hauling the wheat
to market. Living was high. as 1t always
| is on the frontier, but as the country
| settled up the cost OF many things: like
shoes or harness. became less To- the
farmer and he could raise the san same 1,,
promptly raised the cost OF hauling the
! wheat 10 20 cents.
81. Other prices also advanced and 1t
! cost The farmer 30 cents to raise the
wheat, This left so cents profit FOR some
body. Did the railroads continue to
/ ''all the traffic would bear?" They
promptly charged 'a!l the traffic would
| bear" The farmer would stay In bCsl-
ness II he made only 10 cents on the
! wheat, so out OF the so cents the rail-
J roads calmly took 40 cents, TINS went
on for years and Is the condition In Utah
! today.
Keeping Everybody in Business"
! In other words no matter how much
/ the farmer reduced the cost OF raising
/ HIS wheat or how high the wheat sold
railroad always took every cent 1t could
md left the farmer only enough TO keep
| him raising more wheat. The farmer had
! TO raise wheat or get oat OF business
and 10 cents was better than nothing:
! better than starva tlon. so he had TO take
\ tho 10 cents and see the railroads get all
! the rest OF the profits on his labor. no
matter what these proilts were
So much money poured into the
pockets OF the railroads that their earn
lngs became a scandal Dividends year
| ~ Of 100 or 5000 per cent. as Trans
portation'' sighs for. could not reasona-
bly, be paid on the capital invested, so
| the railroads issued more stock. increased
! their paper capital TO billions. and paid
low dividends on such watered stocks at
/ 10 per cent
| The railroads have gone up higher
in proportion than has real estate. What
tho railroads can he reproduced Tor to-
! day represents the actual money Invest
! ed In them. At first this may seem
Wild statement, but on examination II
is true Hundreds OF millions have been
wasted in railroads have been stolen by
the railroad officials from their com
| nanIes under the gliise OF construction
companles" and many other devices.
! This money cannot be said TO have been
invested in railroads
Railroad Alone Responsible
II 500. 900 900 is put up by the invest
ors, but s50.000,000 OF that amount goes
into the pockets Of others. or Is wasted
and 500 900. 600 goes Into the railroad IT.
self. then the railroad represents an In.
| 81 90 600 900 The railroad stockholders
cannot expect the shippers &c pay rail
road rent" as "Transpn9r6629ttio3 20 c9ns hs
stockholders allowed their officers to dl-
vert from the railroad company into
other pockets. usually their own, The
The Investor against crooked work OF the
| Investors agent That is matter be-
tween the investor and his agent with
| which the shipper. has nothing TO 90.
When a bank cashier goes wrong and
steals 81 oOo. 900 from bank. the loss
must come on the stockholders. not on
tbc dcposItors. But the railroads claim
that tho shipper who is 70 the railroad
what the dcpositor is 20 the bank, must
stand the loss. must pay 'rallroed REM
on al tho money !M5vS 2sf S'o as "7S@ "Trans
portation' says.
-Four Universal Partnerships.
Transportation is Of two kinds, that OF OF
matter and OF energy Itahspproi, ''o' art W
energy includes electricity. heat, ana
oiIIde such i3 things as telephones. tele-
graphs power. light. In fact all the prac-
tical uses Ia which energy Is put LnerEg ,S;
under the form Of coal or Ice. where the
transportation OF matter is required TO
transport the energy. comes In praGtico p,,l,'
under the form OF Transporting Ing mater: aa f.
Combining ourselves, therefore, to the
transportation OF matter we get 10 suGi' .,I
and the rallroad That every person Is
! by necessity a partner in the r9llToaa
has a vital personal interest in how rail.
roads are conducted, and having such
vital unacceptable interest every person
must by necessity have the right 10 some
| control in the operation and IN every
, thing else pertaining TO the railroad. on
J this basis the right Of the public 10 reSu-
late railroads cannot be honestly ais
putcd even By Transportation. every
person, who all together form the pup
: iIc. is either directly or indifeG,iy
shipper. so for convenience. we VIII use
tho term shipper TO represent the pub
] lir r- ,,.
The railroad and the shipper, tnere-
| In hIic
. 10 make The case more clenr. consider
, them as Two men In partnership ,hG
shipper raising wheat and the railroad
, babIinc the wheat to town In "A wagon
r Let them be two brothers. one former
Z and the other tcanistcr clearly III
a such cases tho two should work together
> Rnth start poor and practically on equal
. terms This Is the relation Of thc PuD,
tic and the railroad reduced TO me lasS
d if,, rlr nnlnnf lnIIQc. I.cl u6