| Show ol 01 A good many good men who are also thoroughly posted on political affairs favor the exclusive ownership tit of rait railroads roade by the government As a party barty tenet we do CIO oot not oare care to discus the matter but considered in the erht of a popular proposition we have halve a few suggestions to offer i the total valuation of the railways of the country with their attendant rolling stock grounds sad and buildings la is fully loioco lOi this colossal urn um ahti th imperfect intellect Intel leat ot of wan to io its bt beat estate cannot begin to e rasp would either have bave to be paid or the government Kovero ment would have to resort to io confiscation to effect a change of 0 ownership surely no one is ie so ao lost to all sense of legal right to say gay nothing of concrete coo crete justice BB as to te even be willing for the letter latter ulan to be resorted reported to let jet alone to advocate it we therefore turn urn to the ques ilon of ur chae and the first thing thine that suggests Bugge fita itself in such auch connection as in all alminar sira ilar cases is as a to where the m ney Is ie to come from the nation Is ie deeply in debt and growing somewhat deeper rather than other wise and the sum named represents its total income for an entire decade besides it hits baa to be kept going and needs the whole of its resources to do it leaving a small email deficit to be carried over at the end of each fiscal year be video idee So clearly the roads could not be bought and pud paid for out of current resources borrowing has become a frequent resort with us but where could mob an amount or any considerable part of it be obtained in this way no nation under the sun gun is possessed of any great fraction of it in movable money indeed we seriously question it if all of them combined could raise raie elt it and if they could they would not care to let it go even to as good a debt payer as aa the united states is and has always been we might issue a popular iona which would be popular for a very short time only for so soon AS the people learned that they were only contributing toward the creation of a huge mountain of debt thi principal and interest of which they must pay even while ostensibly receiving interest themselves the popularity of the scheme would collapse like a pricked bubble besides only a little of the needed amount would be raised under any such circumstances cum cumo stances the engraving engra bureau might be set to work night and day and acid in the course of time issue flat money i 1 e paper not babodi on win or values of any kind to equal the figure named but suppose the rail road people refused to take sued issues for their property so as assuredly they would coming irom from a nation wholly and hopelessly bankrupt as this one would be wider ulder such circumstances then what the purchase scheme would undoubtedly if carried out at all nave have to be done by piecemeal one road at a time by this means the government would immediately become a rival in business to its own citi ze s 9 and holding the supreme power within its It hands shand place such eitt ans z at a disadvantage by various means which any government invested with too much authority la is prone to another thing the government which practically construed means the administration in full and complete ownership of all railway systems in the country and controlling all the employee thereof would be able to sue one ceded itself indefinitely or at least decide as to who should shoula succeed it the vast test army of men who live by rail road ave are so distributed through throughout t the be land that than acting together ti I 1 as they coujil oe be made tow to do by orders from headquarters they would constitute ft A balance of power which would swing owing every doubtful state and many more into line for whomsoever and whatever the administration saw fit it might not do this but to is there any coli considerable gider class of people who would care to try the dangerous experiment of ug lug within the hands of the ruling forces at washington any puch ouch alarming increase of power powei we hope not there are yet other objections to the proposition such as the revenue which the counties through railways pasa derive this being a very important iteva in the newer states particularly but enough has been said for the present |
