The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1911-10-13

written by our fellow t0WnSman,
Judge Lester Warner, for the Doster
(Mich.) Journal as early as 1892, in
controversy with Senator Potter OF
that state. The article, we are sure,
will be read with interest by Judge
Warmers Marion county friends. His
friends will also be glad to KNOW
that he will soon return to his home
in this city.-Ed. BannerO
Behind the ranting of demagogues.
back of the marching, counter-m'rch-
ing and masquerading of political
parties. and in spite of all the efforts
of a parasitic plutocracy to "bstrie
it. there is coming into view we'll
defined issue upon which the Amer
lean people must soon divide. II at
issue is, shall the rights of the peo-
ple be held as less sacred than the
so-called property rights OF monop1-
lies.
The question is, shall the people
own the wealth, or the wealth own
the people? Is the purpose and OBJ
iect for which this republic vas es-
tablished, the advancement OF hui
mainly in intelligence, liberty and in
dustrialism, or is it to allow unbri-
died greed and avarice to fatten and
absorb all the natural rights of man
while labor sinks to ignorance, rags
and slavery.
Property has rights. So have men
and women, and it is not of natural
and inherent property rights that we
complain, but of the artificial and
false. The asserted right of avarice
to acquire wealth beyond all human
needs and reasonable proportions,
has been dinned into the ears OF hui
mainly, forced down their threats
with swords and driven into them
with cannon, until it is established as
commonplace, and human nature &C.
cepts it, because it dares not ques-
ton it. 1t is the purpose of this ar
ticle to show that public necessities
should be under public control. Not
necessarily under public ownership,
but certainly, the public has a right
to demand that the price of food, raj
ment, transportation, ETC., shall not
be subject to the dictation of individ-
uals or corporations. | believe l have
stated in an article to a contempor-
airy newspaper that the cost of
ticket by railroad across the CONT
nent should not exceed S.. At the
time that statement was made | had
not examined the statistics furnished
by railroads already under govern
ment control, and the figure stated
was only rough estimate.
l wish to quote some figures and
statements from a treatise by F. r.
Gordon, and what l offer will be
mostly quotations from various au-
thorities upon the subject.
The Hon. Edward Atkinson este
mates that there is an average in
crease in the cost of every article
used of eight per cent for transpor-
tation.
Mr. Gordon says: when the his
tory of the construction, management
and operation of the railway system
of the United States shall be record
ed, we shall have history of fraud.
political corruption and grand lar
ceny against the people.
THE iliegitimate profits from con-
struction are most appalling. Let me
illustrate how we, the people, build
the railroads. First, charter is Sc
cured, often by political corruption,
for right of way The road will cost
perhaps $4,000 a mile to build and
equip. 1t will be capitalized at $780,
900 per mile (average in the United
States). Many thousand dollars in
gratuities, land sites, for depots, sid
ings, ETC., are given the road. It's
promoters furnish little money to
build the road. Someone else does
that, and it is accomplished in this
way: First, mortgage bonds are is
sued, placed upon the market and
sold for cash. This buys labor and
material. Another set of bonds is is
sued to buy rolling stock, and then
the roads are "watered" up to double
their cost. U. S. railroads are CAPT
talized at over eleven billions of dol
lars and their honest value is less
than four billions. The N Y. c. & H.
r, R. in 1869 was capitalized at $45,
100000, In one year it was watered
up to $9O,oOO,OOO. and is now capital
lied at $146,O00,OO0.
For the year ending June 9Th, 1896
the total earnings of this road were
$45,144,9s7; the operating expenses
were S3O,455,570, leaving as net earn
ings the sum of S14,6S9,3 1897. Now the
railroads have been built on borrowed
capital and the corporation makes
them pay not only dividends on the
capital of the road but also interest