The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-01-07

tcateS of government ownership o.
railroads have been somewhat persist
ent in the public press and the matter
lis referred to here, not with any idea
of combating this propag anda, but
merely that the people may briefly
see both sides of the picture. So long
as lot of men welcome the wreck
ing of the railroads on the theory that
the government will take them over
and that such state Of Affairs would
be preferable to private ownership, It
will be impossible to obtain from
them a fair Judgment of the latter sys-
tenn which now prevails in the United
States. 1t is impossible to go into
this great question at any length at
this time, but here are few things
worth thinking about: Much has
been said in recent years about the
water, contained in American rail-
road securities, and, in this connec-
ton the valuation Of the government
owned railroads of Europe is very in
teresting. In Germany the state own
ed roads are valued at S114.1S5 per
mile, in Austria at $120,692, in Hun
gary at s69,210. in Italy at $126.SS6,
in Belgium at s19o,914. in Switzerland
at s1O2,95O, in Roumania at $90.11S, in
Japan at $SS,1O4, in New South Wales
at S71,391-while the privately owned
lines of the United States, regardless
of what water may have been forced
into them in specific instances, are
valued at only s6s,944 per mile. What
ever imitation may therefore have been
put into these properties in the past,
the fact remains, that their present
valuation is much lower than that OF
the government owned railroads OF
Europe, and, what is stir more inn
portant, the rates charged are the
lowest and the service rendered adj
mittedly the best in the world 1t is
also pertinent to remember that the
charge of watered stocks, after all,
can be made against but very few
American railroads.&c. lions share
of them having been managed without
breath Of scandal or criticism.
In this connection, "a statement con-
tained in the last annual rerort of the
Deutsche Bank of Berlin, which has
paid-up capital and reserve fund OF
SIS, 600 900, is interesting: American
railroads need higher rates. The pres
ent rates are the lowest in the world
but fraction Of the
English railway rates, for instance
and this in the face of the fact that
wages in the United States on the av-
erage are fully twice as high as in
Europe" Certainly this view of the
privately owned lines of the United
States, coming from Germany, which
has the most successful state owned
system OF transportation in the world,
is worthy of grave consideration.
In further confirmation of this state
ment we quote the following stats
tics: 1t costs mills per mile on an
average to haul a ton of freight in
the United States while in England It
costs an average of 2.33 cents, in
France 1.41 cents and in Germany LAP
cents. The average daily wage paid
to American railroad employees IS
1928, in England it is s1.15, and In
Germany and France it averages lit
tie more than dollar per day. Are
American railroads therefore entitled
to the wholesale abuse and denunc G.
Iiation which has been heaped upon
them from all sides in recent years?
lLETTiNG WE'LL ENOUGH ALONE
In view of these facts, the average
citizen may well ask himself whether
it is not best TO let well enough alone
rather than invite 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 plum ging this mighty indus
try into the whirlpool of party politics
for all time, with it's attendant 'oppor-
tunity for evil of which the past af-
fords such rich variety of experience
country, and in many sections only
partially developed Many new lines
and extensions are needed here and
there to give wider opportunity to
expanding agriculture and commerce
and nothing could be more unfortunate
or disastrous than that these fayors
could henceforth be obtained only by
leave of the dominant political fac
lions which will reign at the national
capital in the years to come. Political
parties are intensely human institu-
lions. and the average cautious citizen
will prefer to leave the railroad expan-
sion of the future to the economic law
of supply and demand of the different
communities rather than to place
such a temptation for power in the
hands of those who rise and fall in
the field of politics. Furthermore,
should the time ever come when the
government takes over the railroads,
it means that the people will have to
forego the millions of taxes which
they now pay and which help to sup
port the public schools, public high.
WAYS and other public expenses-and
that henceforth these millions of rev
enue will have to come out of the