Potosi journal. (Potosi, Mo.) 1894-1929, 1914-10-21
At One P. M.
MUSIC BY POTOSI BAND.

MOSIC BY t
: of the latter system which nov
| prevails in the United States. l
is impossible to go into this grea
, question at any length at thi:
time but here are a few thing:
worth thinking about: Much has
been said in recent years abou1
the water contained in Ameri
can railroad securities and il
this connection, the valuation o1
1.-THE government owned railroads
of Europe is very interesting. In
Germany, the state owned rail
roads are capitalized at $114,1e
per mile, in Austria at S120,692,
in Hungary at S69.2lo, in Italy
at $126. 1856, in Belgium at $780,.
1914, in Switzerland at $1O2,950,
in Roumania at 800, In Japan
at $s6, 104, in New South Wales
at $71, ,391, while the privately
owned lines of the United States
regardless of what water may
have been forced into them in
specific instances, are only cap
italized at S63,944 per mile.
Whatever imitation may therefore
have been put into these proper
ties in the past, the fact remains
that their present valuation is
much lower than that of the
state owned railroads of Europe
and what is still more important,
the rates charged are the lowest
and the service rendered admit
tedly the best in the world. In
this connection, a statement con-
tanned in the last annual report
of the great Deutsche Bank of
Berlin which has a paid up cap
ital of and reserve fund of $75,-
100000 is interesting: "Ameri-
can railroads need higher freight
rates. Their present rates are
the lowest in the world-repre.
senting, for instance, but a frao-
ton of the English railway rates
and this in the face of the fact
that wages in the United States.
on the average are fully twice
as high as in Europe. i Certain
ly this view of the privately own
ed lines of the United States,
coming from Germany, which
has the most successful state
owned transportation system in
the world is worthy Of grave
consideration,
Letting Well Rnough Alone.
In view of these facts, the av-
erage citizen may we'll ask him
self whether it is not best to let
well enough alone rather than in
yite other ills we know not Of
whether it is not wiser to cure
such defects as may cucumber
the present system rather than
run the danger of plunging this
mighty industry into the whirl-
pool of party politics for all time
with its attendant opportunity
for evil OF which the past affords
such rich variety of experience.
The United States is still a
young Country and in many Sec
tions only partially developed.
Many new lines and extensions
are needed here and there to give
a wider opportunity to expand
ing Agriculture and Commerce
and nothing could be more un-
fortunate or disastrous than that
these favors could heuceforth be
obtained only by leave of the
dominant political factions which
will reign at the National capital
in the years to come. Political
parties are intensely human in
stitutions and the average eau
tious citizen will prefer to leave
the railroad expansion of the fu-
ture to the economic law of sup
ply and demand of communities
rather than to place such q
temptation for power in the
hands of those who rise and fall
in the fields of politics. Further.
more, should the time ever come
when the Government takes owe,
the railroads it means that the
people will have to forego the