The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1916-10-07
R. R STOCKHOLDERS !! !
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By SCOTT NEARING.

People of the United States are pay
ing the owners: of railroad. bonds and
stocks nearly a. billion dollars year
in interest and dividends.> -
Sometimes 1T is a little more and
sometimes 1t is, \ little less but each
year those who ride on, the trains and
those who use the shoes and tin dip
pers that have been carried in freight
cars, pay this huge sum. to the owners
Of the-American railroads.. :. =:
Note that these property owners
are not resp onsible for the. operation
of the: railroads.. Every railroad man,
from president, to track hand: is paid
salary or a wage in return for the
part he plays lin keeping the trains
moving. -
The bond and stockholders take no
active part in:srunning the railroads,
yet they receive nearly a billion a year
out of the earnings from railroad
operations. i
A part of the stocks and bonds did
represent actual investment once
upon a. time. "A part-and a large
part represents the increased value
of the land and franchises that the
railroads received free from tho peo-
pie in the early days of railroad ex-
pansion. But :today-people buy
railroad stocks and bonds as invest
ments'' or harnesses by means Of
which one man compels another to
work for him, and then to hand him
part Of the product of his effort
Lincoln, in one of his debates with
Douglas, described it as 1.-The prin-
ciple that says You toll, and work,
and earn bread, and I'll eat it,
Some people talk as though they
believed that. the investor in rail-
road properties is paid Interest and
dividends because he has saved his
hard earned money, dollar by dol
lar, and finally takes it from the old
teapot and permits the railroad to
use it. Note that this is not neces-
sarily the case. The investor in
railroad property Is never asked how
he got his money. He may have
begged 1t, borrowed it, earned it, in
herited it, found it, bambled for it,
or stolen it-no matter. If he can
get railroad stocks and bonds he is
paid dividends and interest.
A part :(about one-third) of all
the money that the railroads collect
in freight rates and passenger fares
is paid to the owners of railroad
property because they own it. Nearly
billion a year goes to the owners
Of the American railroads, for no
other reason than that they are own
ers of the American railroads.
If the amount Of dividends and
interest. paid to railroad stockholders
and bondholders does not increase
at all during the next fifty years
and there is avery reason to believe
that it will increase considerably
the people Of tlfe-=Vnited States will
pay As billions to tho owners Of O.
property: whose. paper value is only
20 billions. And at the end Of the
so years, thu" owners will still own
the property, and the American peo-
pie will go merrily on paying, in
each 20 years, the full maximum
value Of property which they
neve: get.
If the amount Of dividends and
interest paid to railroad stock and
bondholders does not increase at all
during the next 100 years-and there
is every reason to believe that it will
increase considerably-the people of
the United States will pay 80 bill
lions to. the owners of a property
whose paper value is only 20 bill