WHAT HAiMioADS Thi ) railroads
SPKXI ) . of the United ,
'States expend in a year a sum morn thim
$100,000,000 in excess of the total ex
penditures of the United States govern
ment , and this computation does not
include nearly $250,000,000 paid in the
form of interest upon rnilrond bonds or
guaranteed stock and from $80,000,000
to $100,000,000 paid in the form of divi
dends to stockholders. The railroads ,
indeed , are the great disbursing agencies
of the country , handling never less than
§ 1,000,000,000 in a yenr and disbursing
it nll or practically all , for railroads as
si rule do not kec ) > ittrgo bank accounts ,
and do practically a cash business , txirn-
ing money rapidly.
An estimate made by ftnt } b the scien
tific papers a short time ago gave as the
average annual expense of American
railroads in maintaining the condition
of theiv roadbeds $75,000,000 , besides
3 ,000,000 for the purchase of rails , ties
and sleepers , and $15,000,000 for the con
struction of new bridges. The railroads
of the country spent la&t year for fences ,
signboards , signals and watch towers
$3,500,000 and for printing and advertis
ing $8,500,000. Very few persous have
an accurate idea of the extent to winch
railroad expenses are to bo subdivided ,
supposing , probably , that the largest
items of expenditure are for cars and
engines , fuel , employes and terminals.
Such is the fact , but there are other
largo items , and one of the largest of
these is the item of taxes. Railroad
corporations in the United States are
heavily taxed , and they pay collectively
in a year , it has been estimated , $40,000-
000. There is then another item which
figures largely in all railroad accounts
the item of legal expenses , railroad.
being drawn into almost constant litiga
tion and requiring at all times the ser
vices of counsel. It is estimated that
expenses of American railroads for pro
f essiouol legal services amount in a year
to about $10,000,000 , and tin's is , of
course , exclusive of the sums requisite
to meet claims for personal injuries or
damages to property. Some of the
large railroad companies expend as
much as $250,000 in a year for the settle
ment of such cases or the payment of
judgments recovered. This item of ex
pense on all American railroads is ordin
arily put at about $5,000,000. A serious
accident may entail on a railroad com
pany damages so largo as to offset many
mouths of profit , and some railroads
have been crippled for long periods by
such cases.
There are in the United States 800-
000 railroad employes , 100,000 station
men , 35,000 engineers , 40,000 firemen
and helpers , 25,000 conductors and dis
patchers , G5,000 trainmen , 80,000 ma
chinists , 100,000 shopmen other than
macliinists,20,000 telegraph operators and
their helpers , 45,000 switchmen , flag
men and watchmen and 175,000 track
men. The daily payroll on all Ameri
can railroads combined , officers and
clerical staff included , amounts to about
$2,000,000 a day. Now York
T"ho constitution
OUT \valltLS. . of the state of Ne
braska , find , in fact , the organic law of
many of the western states , is inten
tionally so constructed as to restrict
the number of elective imd appointive
officers. This ftHthtrc in fundamental
law giW Out of a wise forecasting of
political possibilities. It was fashioned
for the purposes of economy ftu'cl frugal
ity in state administration. But the
smartness of modern legislators , whetted -
ted by an appetite for official life and
its emoluments has avoided and evaded
onstitutional inhibitions.
No sawmills in the heavy forests of
Wisconsin and Michigan have turned
nit "boards" with the rapidity with
, vhich the Nebraska and other legisla
tes have exuded that sort of lumber
upon the taxpayers of this common
wealth. We have boards of railroad
iommissioners , boards of warehouse
3ommissiouers ; boards almost innumer
able and almost wholly unnecessary ,
md each mid all of them have 'appetites
'or fees and salaries. The cost of
boards" to the taxpayers of Nebraska
s immense. These boards Hrigihato
primarily with the idcJt that common
people are individually incapable of
oolting after their own interests. The
oil inspectors are the incarnation of a
belief that the average citizen of the
late of Nebraska does not know euougl
to buy oil that will not blow him xip or
set his house on fire. The tihio is no
tlistaiit , if this anxiety for the creatioi
of pxiblio ofllco continues dominant
when there will be a board of flour in
ipectors , sugar inspectors , corn and oat
meal inspectors , starch inspectors , potato
tate inspectors , water inspectors ; in fact
a board to inspect anything and every
thing that humanity can eat , drink o :
wear. Paternalism has so established
itself that many citizens of the state
seem entirely unconscious of the fact
that whatever the state pays for in
money must bo taken from its citizen
ship in the form of taxation. Neither a
state nor a national government has any
patent or power to create values. Ev
ery government is a born pauper. No
government has any money except that
taken by levying and collecting taxes
upon either subjects or citizens. Extra
vagance in government expenditures
means enhancement of the burdens of
taxation. Taxeaters advocate more
revenues. Taxpayers protest against
more and pray for less taxation. Who
ought to govern those who pay all the
taxes or those who eat all the taxes ?
No tax can be too small and any tax
may bo made too big.
J. Sterling Morton , the ex-secretary
of agriculture , has established a weekly
paper at Nebraska City , Neb. , which is
called Tim CONSERVATIVE , and which
will bo published "in the interest of Hw
coiiKorvnHmi ttf nil tlilib & ueemed do-
sii'aMo hi the social , industrial and po
litical life of the United States" in
cluding the gold standard , civil service
reform , the rights of corporations as
well as individuals , and economy in
public administration. Mi' . Morton to tv
powerful ulmmplou Of sutih causes * anu
the fact that his subscription list con
tains 5,000 to 6,000 names befdre the
first number lias been issued , assxires
his enterprise b ! substantial support.
Daily Springfield ( Mass. ) Republican.
Out in Nebraska City a new weekly
paper has begun its career with the pres-
seut month , starting out with a subscrip
tion list of four or five thousand names.
It is called TIIK CONSERVATIVE , and car
ries at its masthead the name of J. Btoi'
ling Morton as editor , Mr. Morton Wari
secretary of rigriCultUVo during Pl'dsi1
donfc Cleveland's ' last administration and
his name was suggested in 1896 as can
didate for President on the ticket of the
Gold Democrats. Though ho1 did hot
ittainthilt distinction ho did yoehlail
ierviee as the champion of a sound our =
rency > and ho hos always been identi
fied with the stability and integrity 01
our national affairs ; It is hot t6 bo
doubted that the pilfer under his con
trol \Vili justify its name , though con
servatism with him does not mean slug
gishness or indifference to new and pro
gressive ideas. There is need of a
strong , honest and able conservative in
fluence in the very region whore the
new journalistic enterprise is pln-utad )
and certainly hO llnriil Would follow
should it acquire a national reputation
and circulation. Its prospectus is frank
and vigorous. It announces that it
"will treat all Americans as laborers ,
either with hands or heads doing either
manual or mental work or both.
There is no menacing 'leisure class' in
the United States. Conflicts between
money and muscle have nearly always
been inaugurated by politicians seeking
prominence and profits through public
offices. " It "will declare for the con
tinuance of the single gold standard in
the monetary system of the Govern
ment of the United States. It will com
bat the free coinage of silver at 16 to 1.
It will contend that the relative value
of coins made of silver and gold de
pendsnot upon an enacted ratiobut upon
the relative market vahie of the silver
and gold bullion which those coins con
tain. " Finally , it "outers upon its ex
istence with the hope of becoming use
ful as a truth-toller , and influential as a
militant exponent of everything in
American social , industrial and political
life which the experience of one hun
dred and twenty-two years of national
independence has proved to bo worth
conserving. " Its editor is an able , hon
est , up-to-date man and wo expect to
see Tiid CONSERVATIVE reflect these
characteristics. May it live long and
prosper. Boston Transcript.
