People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 February 1895 — GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP. [ARTICLE]

GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP.

feta 11 it >y* Should lie Owned and Con. j trolled by the Government. In a recent letter from England, published in the Inter-Ocean, Hon. Ro~ j bert P. Porter, ex-superintendent of the j census, writes very interestingly on j the growth of the opinion in favor of government ownership of railroads in that exmntry and from it draws some conclusions that apply to the United States with peculiar force and aptness. Mr. Porter cannot be accused of populistic notions and his views are shared by eminent railroad men, statesmen and political economists all over the world. He argues that the railroads should be owned and controlled by the government and made free to travel the same as the public highways are. He shows that if every seat was filled and each train as heavy as the power supplied could draw to the best advantage, the cost of traveling could be largely reduced and fares made much lower than they' now are. If the railw’ays were free there would be much more travel than there now is and the cost of carrying any passenger would be reduced to the minimum. As it now is the few' who do travel pay the whoft cost of the service, while if the cost of operating the railways was met by. a tax equitably distributed, the rate of taxation for this special object would be so small that no one would notice it and it could be met easily and would be paid willingly. The freedom of travel under this arangement would so stimulate business that the aggregate gain to the nation would be much greater than the cost of the rervice. He shows that the economy that could be practiced by a consolidation of all railroads into one has been recognized by as eminent a railroad man as C. P. Huntington, who favors a consoldiation in

this country. The railroad employes being under the action of the civil ser- , vice law could not be used as a political machine and the incentive to strikes would be forever done away with. As coming from a man of large experience and great executive ability Mr. Porter’s words are deserving of careful attention and respectful consideration. He cannot be accused of having any. ulterior object in view and his conclusions make very interesting reading. From the article in review we quote: The writer believes that the following conclusions have been made clear: 1. The plan of national consolidation is in accordance with law and the constitution of the United States. This has been shown by many decisions of the supreme court of the United States. Many more could be added if necessary. 2. It is entirely feasible and practical. We have seen that Mr. C. P. Hutington, one of the most able and experienced railroad men in the country, advocates the formation of oue corporation to own and control all railways. 3. It recognizes that consolidation in some form is certain and inevitable, and seeks to turn this irresistible tendency into right channels. It shows how consolidation may create a great | public corporation, which shall be a ; minister of good to all the people inl stead of a vast monopoly oppressing F all.

4. It is just to all interests, preserving and maintaining all real rights of private investors as well as those of the public, which are just as real, though not so well understood nor so readily conceded. 5. It will remove all the dangerous conflicts and all the elements of irritation and enmity between the railways and their employes and the public, which now constitutes a most protentous peril to our national security and good order. 6. It,will do away with the greatest source of waste and kvss under our present system and reduce the cost of transportation to the lowest figure, thus satisfying the necessary and inevitable demand for the reduct; ; pf rates. 7. It will >-emove the unjust i-' a’ : - ties and the unrighteous disc;, .fictions now prevailing. 8. It will entirely and forever do yy all rate wars with Uieir vast waste and disturbance of values and of business, and will make rates steady, uniform and low.' 9. It will do away with all strikes and dangerous riots oil the railroads, because it will remove their underlying and exciting causes. 10. It will bind the different sections of the nation together by the strong tie of common ownership and control of the united railway system. As* the different localities of the country increase in power and wealth the forces tending to disrupt and break up tho national organization will neeessari y become more and more powerful. The problem will be to find some centrist tal force to conteract this tendency v'iihout involving a perilous increase of the political power of the federal government. 11. A great railway corporation, uniting all the railways of the land and owned and controlled by isle {.nople, as proposed under the plan of national consolidation, would constitute a force for cohesion and union with almost inconceivable power. 12. It will furnish a safe foundation for all the great hanking and financial institutions of the country in the stock of the consolidated company; will protect investors in railway securities by making the* investments as solid and permanent os government bonds now are, and will make a perpetual end to gambling in railroad securities, with its unrighteous practices and evil results. 13. It will take railways wholly out of politics and remove the corruption now so common and so dangerous. 14. It will dignify all railroad duties and elevate every class of employes to a higher plane of manhood as free, unfettered American citizens, for the great, advancement of our social and economic condition.