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Show Government Ownership JA -?Mr. John Morley is a very great :raan,-liut ho '"M has many of the eccentricities of genius. He "Jfl has recently made a speech on India which has received much attention in England. In the course of the speech ho dovotes some space to public fl ownership in India and explains that the state i9 not only owns and operates tho railroads, but it . H conducts irrigation operations; constructs railways j and canals and conserves forests. ! At first the state railways were conducted at a ; loss and continued to lose monoy for eight or ten ' years, but some seven years ago they began to pay. In 1904-5 they cleared 2,000,000 and last j year and tho first half of this have cleared 1,000,000. This profit was mado with an average charge of less than half a cent per mile for each passenger. That simple statement will bo road by many unthinking persons who will exclaim "How our railroads rail-roads rob tho people." But in point of fact that . charge is relatively higher than on the first-class roads In our own country. In tho first place tho roads of India are 30 and 39 inch guage, with . light rails and indifferent coaches. Then tho average) wage of India is not one-eighth that of this country; the average per capita of monoy in India is not one-seventh of that of tho United States, probably not one-tenth. Then tho people out-number ours probably three to one. The fare on tho great New York Central is 2 conts per mile. If that is five "" times greater than In India, still comparing tho coBt of labor and tho volume of money in the two countries, it is oasy to see that ours is much tho cheaper service. If our railway employees were receiving only ?G per month and farm hands '. only ?4 per month, we can easily seo that ir they rode cn railroads at all they would have to econo- mize to rido at even one-half cent per mile. ' This is one great fault with those who make com- ; parisons between other countries and our own. j 1 A certain class of men and newspapers are con- ' , ,j tinually telling tho poor workingman how he is be- .: Ing abused in this country, because of tho tariff " and the grafting of the, trust, But such men and I'IHbBK papers seldom make comparisons with foreign inBHBH lands to emphasize their arguments. Now the JfjfBBfi point is that common laborers in the United States llSpPjHp receive from two to four times more wages than ffjjMflffi the same class of men receive in Great Britain and m W&BSn otl th0 continent' while they could not exist on I rmH9HH tne waSes paId ln In(1Ia China and Japan, in B llBHHfli which countries half the population of the world I 'XxWKBSa are centered. Hence, a statement like that of Mr. I tljSflB There is a class of men in this country who fl flBK advocate not only government ownership, but gov- H llflB ernment operation of the railroads, the same as B IBIflHi th0 pstmce- Thy s&y tnat wlth that PePle I ''f-HHfi could ride at one-half or one-fourth what they do I 4fiB now" Wel1, thcy mlght' 1ut if so' thon wages n iflB would have to be reduced accordingly. So the l&flBB question is resolved back to the consideration oi '''lilHH wnat tho efCect woul(1 1)0 on tne Prices of labor. At " filHB India or China rates, or the rates of southern Europe H iJc iBi for freight and fares, no road would pay expenses; I rifllBB for runnInS roads is not like running postofllces. k ItHHBi Th road ns to e kept In cnstant- rePair and I IhHN tnG nlSnest skl11 is re(lulre(i to handle a great H ''ilHS passenger and freight business without constant ac- H iJH cidents. Again, if the government owned the I ill H roads and leased them, then the idea would be to I'll !B9HI eet as mucu aS Possible while the lease lasted. m flHR.' TnG (luestIon o the government owning and fSH operating public utilities is not yet half digested |