El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-08-19

impossible for z German TO under
stand the American opposition to
the principle of state participation in
industrial enterprise. Take the rail-
ways, for example. He is astounded to
find that the average American is op-
posed on principle to government own
ership of railways. His attitude is ex-
actly the reversible still would ap-
prove of state ownership of railways
even if he were not convinced that it
is profitable both for the government
and the people. The German believes
that it is necessary for the state, as the
representative of the people, TO have
something to say in the control of the
affairs of every form of industrial en-
terprise which affects the economic life
of the people.
Government Control of Railroads
Still using the railways for example.
1T is interesting TO note the different at
tftudes of the three great Teutonic ma
tiOns. which are the three greatest in
dustrial nations, upon the question of
the proper demaTcation between public
and private rights. Before ever there
was single line of railway in Germany.
Prussia and other German states enact
ed laws for the regulation of the pro
1ected railways. These laws provided
that the government always should
have control over the freight and pas
Senger tariffs, and that all rates should
be reduced at once whenever the rail-
way earned more than ten per cent
upon the amount of cash capital actually
invested in construction and equipping
the railway
Furthermore the Prussian law pro
vlded that after thirty years the state
would be entitled to buy in the railway
upon a fair valuation. This law was
passed in 1898, when Martin Van Buren,
was president of the United States and
when Andrew Jackson was bossing
American politics from The Hermitage.
The most progressive railway Iegisla-
ton of the administrations of presidents
Roosevelt and Taft does not even faint
" approach the radicalisrn of this first
German railway law. That is WHY Ger
mans cannot understand the nature of
American politics. The American dis
eusses the railway regulation question
from an angle incomprehensibIe 10 the
German mind
No Opposition TO State Ownership.
Long ago the railways OF Germany.
Tor the most part, became state Droper-
" and since have been operated by the
government There is no opposition in
germany, political, financial or social. to
the principle of state ownership of the
railways In Great Britain the govern
ment and the people are devoted adj
herents Of the individualistic doctrine.
ana the very suggestion of state par
t1cipatfon in any industrial enterprise
Is abhorent. ct the Englishman fails
utterly TO understand the American
point OF view regarding telegraphs. tel
epItohes and the carrying of parcels as
private business These. in the English
mans eyes, appear as a part of the post
al business
within the sphere of government con-
troi and operation. The EngIishfnan
also insists upon not only the right to
regulate the tariffs charged by the pri-
vately owned railways. but he has de-
creed that his government actually shall
make these tariffs. In great Britain the
railways are owned by private corpora
lions. bat the railway rates are made by
the government.
In the United States the government
recently has assumed the power TO reg
ulate railway rates by reducing Thorn If
they are found 10 be unreasonably high.
L ne right to change a rate upon its own !
initiative was given to the government
ny the last congress and has not vet
been exercised. Germans who see in the |
newspapers apparently sincere Ameri- |
cans questioning the ability of the ]
government successfully to I
oSPC with TIE business or railway rate
regulation. are utterly AZ a loss TO I'M
derstand the nature Of American poIf !
tics They ask of Americans in Berlin !
me question: IF your government /
cannot do so simple a thing as that.
what Is the use of your having a gov /
The patriotic Yankee may /
talk until he is blue in the face about /
republican institutions liberty. the rule /
1f the people, and American ideals. bur !
MS words carry no conviction to the
mind of German who has just refused .
10 invest money in American railway
securities because the American govern |
nent does not go far enough in its eff !
-orts TO control and regulate the rail I
ways OF the United States. II is a GU
'ious contradiction. but it is true that !
many European investors are afraid of
American securities because the United
states government does not exercise a
more paternalistic control over. Ameri- /
AN industrial enterprises