The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-01-05

Townley's discussion favoring pubs
lie ownership Of railroads. I herewith
enclose a discussion Of the same.
This question is before the Amer
lean people and believe it should
be discussed in = broad fair man
ner.
Sincerely yours.
+. %. PACKARD.
Bismarck, N. D., Jan. 4.
The Forum gladly publishes Mr..
Packard's views, and it agrees with
many Of them, but would cali his
attention to the fact that he is re-
plying to The st. Paul Dispatch and
not to The Forum. In reprinting the
editorial The Forum specifically dis
claimed agreement with it. The
Forums views are embodied in an
editorial in this issue, which was
written before Mr.. Packard's letter
was received. His letter follows:
/ read with interest your criticism
(This should be THE st. Paul Dis
patch's Criticism") of A. C. Town
ley's advocacy of government own
ership of railroads, in which you
(meaning The st. Paul Dispatch)
called the attention of organized Ia
Dor to the wage paid by the state
owned railroads Of Europe and sig
nailed out poor little Denmark as al
horrible example. 1t appears to me
you (meaning The st. Paul Dispatch
have begged the question, as the
wage level of a country does not
necessarily have anything to do
with government ownership. If the
wage level Is high, the traffic bears
the increased burden, not the rail-
roads. Your comparison between
little Denmark and the United States
is no more fair than a comparison
between a general store of the cross
roads and a department store of a
big city. You overlooked a. COM
parison Of passenger rates and wa
ter transportation. You also over
looked the fact that a large per-
eentage of women have always been
employed by European ) railroads.
Moreover, the wage paid the Amer |
lean railroad employees is only rela-
lively high. According to the inter-
state commerce commissions report,
the average wage for all classes,
except officials, is $2.74 per day. While
the salaries Of general officers aver
age Sl6.O6 and division officers, $6.4s
per day.
This relative high wage paid the
American railroad employees would
not prevent government ownership. |
nor would government ownership
result in the lower wage level of |
Europe any more than it would re-
suit in the adoption of Europeanl
standards of living by Americana
railroad men. The income of the
railroads Of the United States is
ample to pay the higher wage and
yet provide for the amortization Of
the debt incurred in their purchase.
Average Income.
The average net income for the
past three years of the railroads in
this country has been 1921, 059,S19.
Add to this the average tax accrue
ais for the same period of S172, I00,-
535, making total net income Of
$3.50, 160,064. According to the inter-
state commerce commission, on Dec,
si, 1915. the capitalizatton Of the
railroads, that is the total par vaIuel
ot stocks and bonds, was s16,14O,-
lS3OO7. For the sake OF convenience,
we will assume this capitalization
10 be seventeen billions OF dollars.
IL the federal government took
aver the railroads they would doubt
less acquire them upon the basis of
B market value of the stocks and
bonds. 1t seems improbable that the
aggregate market value would ever
again exceed the par value. At the
present time it is considerably less.
Assuming the par value to be theI
actual value Of the stocks and bonds,
I would cost the federal govern
nent seventeen billions OF dollars toll
acquire all of the railroads of the
United States except those having a
ross operating revenue OF less than
! million dollars.
Bond Issue.
This might be done by a seventeen
billion dollar four per cent bond is
Iue. AS it is unlikely that four per-
,ent government bonds will ever be |
greatly below par, this would be an
suitable transaction. The interest