Show THE FUNDING BILL TV l DRESSER CO > L > IE > TS ON COLONEL COL-ONEL TRlfillBOS LETTER Strongly Endorse the Views Expressed > Ex-pressed and TliinUs Salt Lake Should Act Against Huntiupton and the Octopus The strong letter of Colonel Trumbo in The Herald a few days ago ought to stir the citizens of Salt Lake City bill up to concerted action against the bi which proposes to fund the Pacific railways indebtedness to the govern raiways The rail ment for a hundred years rai ways attorneys are already lobbying western sen at Washington and every wester his should have ator and congressman shoul hands strengthened by his constituents to fight against every attempt to con fght tinue the despoilment of the west by these monopolies Utah is vitally interested in-terested in this subject With reason I the Pa able freight rates to and from cHic coast there would be an exchange cifc of products which would be mutually profitable I Utah has the natural resources which should make Salt Lake City a great manufacturing center and the distrib I of coun uting point for a great scope utng will never be so long as try But this long wi the present high outbound freight I rates continue and unjust discriminations discrimina-tions prevail That these do exist we have had sufficient evidence in the testimony tes-timony before the legislative railway committee the past few days Any extension of the debt of the I roads simply means a continuation of present methods by the roads The I people will pay the debt a dozen times I the obligations over in high rates for which obl gations of the roads will give an excuse ex-cuse It would be far better for the i government I to cancel the debt entirely I entire-ly compel the company to reorganize on a capitalization of say 25000 per mile and limit their profits to a certain percentageVm that capitalization This would lessen some of the evils of the present system I see Hoke Smith is opposed to government of the roads and recommends selling them to the highest bidder What would prevent the present owners and managers of the road from bidding them in find continuing con-tinuing present methods Nothing at all The government might get some of their debt but the same old monopoly monop-oly would be saddled on the people The trouble is you cannot control a natural monopoly except in a very limited degree There can be no competition com-petition in a natural mohonoly No I matter how many railroads may be built they will not compete with each I other They may fight for a short time but they soon pool issues and the dear public has to foot the bills I is a well known fact that the Western West-ern Traffic association fixes the freight rates and classification for the western roads and that the Passenger association associa-tion does the same for passenger rates We are all pretty sure that the Union Pacific and Rio Grande pool their receipts re-ceipts on some mutually agreeable basis and that other competing I roads do the same From the standpoint I stand-point of the ralroads its the right I way Railways are not benevolent institutions in-stitutions They are built for moneymaking II money-making purposes alone I the traffic I will stand a charge of 3 there Is no reason why only 2 should be charged I I it can make money by mining coal and freezing private operators out it I is good business to do i though its I rough on the other fellow I it finds it profitable to haul ore to its own smelters at the same rate it hauls ore to private smelters SOO miles nearer the mines i is good business to do so While this is good business on the part of the railroads and I dont blame them a particle for using all the power they have I do think the people are I fools for giving them this unlimited power Natural monopolies the absolute abso-lute ownership or control of public necessities 1 ne-cessities which are beyond the reach of competition ought never to be turnover ed turn-over to private individuals or cor I Derations I I that the San see Francisco Exam I se iner recommends the government ownership I own-ership of the Pacific railroads This would certainly be very much better than the present system yet I do not i think this country is yet ready for I I government ownership of railways We require a wider application of civil service rules and their more rigid enforcement I en-forcement Nor do I think we require government ownership to give us I cheap fair and hpnest railway service serice What we want is competition in rail I way transportation and this can be secured without government management manage-ment We have free competition in i street and highway traffic and transportation 1 trans-portation without portaton wih municipal ownership I of any drays wagons hacks and carriages I car-riages All that is necessary is for the immfcipanty to own Jt streets highways I and roads and competition among the owners of vehicles will keep rates down to a reasonable figure So with the railroads Let the government govern-ment own and keep the roadbed in repair re-pair the same as a city or county keeps its street and highways in repair Let it give the use of its tracks to any and all transportation companies or individuals on the payment of a fixed sum per ton per mile the charge to be enough to pay the expenses of the government for keeping the road in order or-der All users of the road would be subject to certain conditions of speed safety coiivenience etc The dispatchers dispatch-ers would be government employees and the aepoLs would be under government gov-ernment nanagement but everything relating to the care and operation of 1 the rolling stock would be under private management The governmen force would therefore be small under this plan but it would perfectly establish free competition in railway transportation transporta-tion Competition would establish perfect service at the lowest rates Discrimination Discrimi-nation would be impossible All owners of mines would be placed on an equality equal-ity A few individuals could lease an engine and train if the regular transportation trans-portation companies charged more than it would cost them to dp the service Cities could lease excursion trains for advertising purposes andrailway travel would be within the reach of all Large productive establishments would doubtless doubt-less run their own trains and would gee the benefit which comes from largo transactions without the unjust advantage advan-tage they now have of rebates and drawbacks It seems to me this is the most feas able solution of the railway problem It avoids the danger of government management and at the same time establishes es-tablishes fair and perfect competition I think government should interfere as little as possible with the natural laws of trade The main function ot government is to protect the life property prop-erty and liberty of each individual When it goes beyond that it is mw likely to Injure than to help Ho vth the railways It should interfere only enough to secure equal liberty to all and that through the operation of natural na-tural laws N B DRESSER |