Show I GOVEfllMfuENT OWNERSHIP OF ROADS I In the Peoples platform adopted at Cincinnati the second plank reads as follows Wo demand the public ownership and operation of thoso means of communication communica-tion transportation I mid production which the people may elect such us railroad etc telegraph and telephone lines coal mines etcThat That Is important because should Mr Bryan be elected this year that will be his platform four years hence How that would work we can get an Idea by seeing how It works In other countries The editor of the Iron Age has been traveling In Europe and in vestigating the Industrial situation in I the Old VorldOr the public ownership I owner-ship pf railways in Prussia he says Tho chief disadvantage of the Prussian plan Is the slowness with which the Government Gov-ernment answers the popular demand When the railroads wcro nationalized Its advocates promised that the Government would improve tho serxlcc and that tho lines would bo run not for tho purpose ot movldlug the State with rC nuc but to bring about a lowering of rates hose pledgee It Is asserted were never kept As a mattoc of fact large sums earned by time railroads arc used for general purposes no that the appropriation railed for to meet the rcaulremcnts of other branches of the Government can bema be-ma e smaller than they really appear The railway olllclals desire to earn as large profits as possible and as they have J almost unlimited power In ralomaklng i they find little difficulty In doing so There Is little hone of relict for the expenses ense of tho German Government aro constantly I ly Increasing and tho lowering of rates would soon Increase taxation for the expenses ex-penses of the prospective increase In the naval armament Such a system bears heavily on the Industries nnd It Is asserted I as-serted that the coal and Iron trades owo their distress In part to this for the cost I of transportation plays sL heavy part In I those Industries Another point which would strike the American manufacturer I as strange Is the reluctance of the Gov ernnent to furnish sidings to the big establishments The obtaining of these Ia matter of long negotiations with tho officials and sometimes years elapse before be-fore tho connection Is miule I permission permis-sion Is ranted at all Gorman manufnc i tuners dclaro that the Government fs f slow In adopting technical Improvements In substituting modern for antiquated appliances ap-pliances and that as I they are officials rather than business men the Industries 0 tho country suffer from the fact That leaves out all reference to the centralization which would follow the owning and operating of the railroads by the Government With 200000 miles of railway in Government hands it would need an army of bright capable men and if some man would come along with the heart of Napoleon and the will of William Jennings Bryan it Is easy to sec how much Imperialism he could Introduce In a single year into the UniledStalcs |