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Show Abusing RaSIroads. It Is easy enough to denounce, it is easy for a mrm to call up his hind-sight and to anathematize anath-ematize those whO' could not have had his hind-eight hind-eight for their foresight. Mr. Stead in his Review of Reviews is most bitter on the railroads of the United States. A sample may be oited by copying one extract, as follows 1 "Mr. James J. Hill, who speaks fr do standpoint of a practical and capable xailroad administrator, declares that in order to handle properly the existing volume of business without providing for natural increase, the railroad companies com-panies of the United States must within five years expend not less thain $5,000,000,000. This must be used to rebuild old lines, provide double tracks, Increase terminal facilities, provide more and better cars und locomotives, and in general, to change outworn roads and bring them up to modern standards. It is something like saying that we have reached a point where we have no railroads except for temporary purposes, but must proceed to construct an entire new system on permanent principles. To obtain modern terminal termi-nal areas in our large cities, the roads must now pay enormous prices for lands that they could have bought cheaply a few years ago." Well, did the Review of Reviews see that all this was coming and warn the railroads In advance? ad-vance? Did it over call attention to the fact that aside from the natural increase, a million of foreigners for-eigners wore landing on our shores; that in 'natural trade our country was draAving a balance from the outside world of from $400,000,00!) to $800,000,000 annually; that the mines were creating cre-ating of now money $130,000,000 annually; that under this prices would surely double in ten years and there would be a market for all the land could produce? Does the Review of Reviews Re-views keep In mind that all the roads were built necessarily . on borrowed capital; that thirteen years ago the great bulk of all the roads were in the hands, of receivers and that it is only ten years since the best of them began to pay? And when they did begin to pay all were struggling under a mighty burden of debt? Still, some of them have been doing pretty well. The old Union and Central Pacific rmds are some 1,800 miles in length. But on this stretch of road $50,000,000 has been expended in the past six years for betterments, a sum almost . sufficient to duplicate the road. The same is true of the Oregon Short Line. The Pennsylvania Central has expended $50,000,000 in and near New York City in the last four years, and wants $50,000,000 more for further improvements. It is but human nature for railroad managers to want to do the best they can, but there are limitations to man's efforts. The production of steel has Increased so that our country is now turning out more than the wiole world required forty year ago, but the output is all sold for future delivery. The expenses of the Government are startling in their mighty aggregate, and it is behind in much that ought to be done. But what sense is there in telling what those expenses were under Jefferson a hundred years ago in a tone as though all above that amount expended now must be stealing? There are probably 75,000 people in Nevada, but one solon in the Legislature there has introduced in-troduced a bill to reduce all passenger fares on railroads to 3 cents per mile and all freights to 3 cents per ton per mile. He does this after having paid 20 cents per mile for staging (at a speed of four miles an hour) for twenty years, and does . it, too, when Nevada's great want is more railroads. He dreams, doubtless, of being hailed as a reformer and reveals that he has no more brains than an oyster. It is all right to insist that railroads shall be made common carriers in fact, that their rates shall be reasonable and that they shall not discriminate dis-criminate in their dealings with men, but whole-snle whole-snle denunciation as though the managers of railroads rail-roads must necessarily be thieves and imbeciles I benefits nobody. It begins now to look as though some new forces would have to be called up for carrying the commerce of the country, that or some new legislation. A tariff bill like that which Mr. Cleveland said it was perfidy not to pass would do the same thing. Quite half the freighting on railroads would cease. |