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and Omaha to San Francisco was $37.50
higher thaii it is today from Chicago
to San Francisco. At that time the
rate be.tweonQhicago and , Kansas City
was $21 ; today it is $12.50. At ' that
time the rate bbtweeu Chicago' and St.
Louis was $11 ; today it is $7.50. At
that time the rate'between St. Louis
and Kansas City was $12 ; today it
is $7.50. At that time the local rate of
the Chicago & Alton was 5 cents per
mile ; today the local rate is 8 cents per
mile , and the actual average rate which
we obtain is 2.022 cents per mile. On
page 5 , last report (1895) ( ) of the Railroad
and Warehouse Commission of Illinois ,
the commission show that 'rates in 1870
for passengers were about 40 per cent
higher than in 1895. ' I have yet to
learn that there has been any such re
duction in anything else.
"The figures of the Interstate Com
merce Commission ought to be accept
able as authority , and they show that
in a group of states , in which they in
clude Illinois , it cost more per passenger
per mile to carry a passenger than the
Chicago & Alton for many years has
earned per passenger per mile. "
* * #
From an article on Railway Pooling ,
by George R. Blanchard , commissioner
of the Joint Traffic Association , in the
New York Mail and Express , 1897 :
'In 1878 the freight rates upon 70,268
miles of railway then built averaged
2.21 cents per ton per mile for 168,000-
000 tons carried. In 1895 the rate
averaged 0.889 of one cent for 763,800-
000 tons carried upon 179,162 miles of
railway , producing gross freight reven
ues of $748,784,451 , the rate for 1873
being over 26)3 ) per cent of the rate in
1895. At the average rate charged in
1873 , the freight earnings in 1895 only
would have been $1,215,344,000 more
than they were , over eighty millions
more than the entire indebtedness of
the states and territories in 1890. "
# * *
From an auticle in the New York Sun
by the Hon. Robert P. Porter , ex-super
intendent of the United States census ,
Jan. 21 , 1897 :
"It is said that if the Pennsylvania
railroad company could secure the same
rates as the London & Northwestern
company , the actual earnings would be
increased $12,000,000. Mr. George R.
Blauchard , in his recent testimony be
fore the Interstate Commerce Commit
tee of the senate , said that had our rail
roads collected the lowest of the Euro
pean charges , we would have received
$370,000,000 more than wo did receive.
This calculation was based on the figures
of 1892. The figures of 1896 , which are
lower for the United States , would
make a great difference. "
From an article by the Hon. R. P.
Porter in the New York Commercial
Advertiser , Feb. 4,1897 :
"With freight and passenger rates less
than those of European countries , where
labor is paid about half the American
rates , how long will our railways bo
able to tide along with reduced forces
and three-quarters time ? Unless the
decline in receipts is stopped , wages
must bo reduced , and then the trouble
will begin. Talcing an army of 200,000
men out of active employment in one
occupation is a pretty serious business.
That means an annual loss in wages
alone of not less than $150,000,000.
Here wo have the direct loss. The indi
rect loss comes from the irreparable
injury to the properties by reason of not
b
keeping them up , ultimately entailing
additional losses. The reduction of
rates between 1890 and 1895 represents
a loss of revenue of over $1,00,000,000
$15,500,000 in passenger traffic and $87-
000,000 in freight traffic. Of course , this
sum was remitted to the people of the
United States.but the question is , can
the people afford to force an industry in
which nearly one-fifth or 20 per cent of
the total wealth of the country is in
vested to a point where nearly half the
stock and bonds pay nothing in dividend
and interest , and the current expenses
must be reduced below the safety point ?
This is the problem the people will soon
have to face in relation to our railways.
Should wo carry these facts back to 1887 ,
wo have a loss to the railways of about
$150,000,000. That is , if the same rate
for passengers and for freight existed in
1895 as in 1887 , the receipts from these
two sources would have been that much
in excess of what they actually were in
1895. "
# * *
From an article in the Railway Mag
azine of March , 1897 , by Aldace F.
Walker , ox-member of the Interstate
Commerce Commission and chairman of
the board of directors of the A. T. & S.
F. railway company :
"Tho average charges for railway
service are now about one-half of the
rates charged twenty years ago. "
# * *
From an argument by Geo. H. Dan
iels before the joint committees of the
Now York state legislature at Albany ,
March , 1897 :
"The average rate of transportation
on railroads has been reduced to less
than half the average rate only twenty
years ago , viz : For 2 cents a ton a mile
in 1873 , to 0.8 of 1 cent a ton a mile in
1893 the latter being only 40 per cent
of the former rate. This reduction of
rates , upon the basis of the tonnage of
1893 , amounted , for the whole country ,
to over one thousand million dollars. It
has been of enormous advantage to the
country , but severe 011 railroad corpor
ate interests. "
# * *
From article by Frank Weldon in the
Atlanta Constitution for April 11 , 1897 :
"All the railroads in the United
States , that is , as a whole , have been
getting less and less every year for six
years. In 1890 their total receipts were
$50,000,000 more than they were five
years later. This was not due to a fall
ing off in business , because they hauled
12 per cent more freight , and got 15
per cent less for it. "
FINANCIAL On the 2d day of
INCONSISTENCY. August , at Lincoln -
coln , the state populist convention de
clared this commonwealth to have been
incalculably benefitted by the distin
guished services of the Honorable Wil
liam V. Allen. That convention en
dorsed all of Allen's financial vagaries.
THE CONSERVATIVE therefore calls
attention to the fact that William V.
Allen introduced a resolution into the
United States senate just at the begin
ning of the Spanish-American war , de
claring that the government shouh :
not issue any interest-bearing evidence
of debt for the purpose of securing
money with which to carry on the war
On the contrary , Allen , in the mannei
of solemn and sapient statesmanship proclaimed -
claimed that the war should bo 'waged
on a strictly cash basis. In his speeches
Senator Alien mercilessly assaulted any
one and everyone who dared to 'even
ntimato that to raise money it would
jo a good thing to issue the govorn-
nent's paper therefor on long time ,
rather than to depreciate the currency
jy adding to its volume an irredeemable
ot of greenbacks.
Allen was verbosely virtuous. Ho
arose in his might and smote the cor
morants and vampires who dared to
oppose his views , 011 every hand. Ho
deprecated the issuance of a government
bond for any purpose. Ho would not
sanction the incurring of a debt for any
purpose.
And now comes this same dobt-
donouiicing William V. Allen before a
populistic state convention , on the 2d
day of August , at Lincoln , Nebraska ,
and makes a long argument in favor of
the purchase of all American railroads
by the United States government. Mr.
Allen then is in favor of becoming re
sponsible for the railway debts , which
amount to $11,615,740,145. That is to
say , the economical and bond-fearing
Allen is ready to assume an indebted
ness which is more than thirteen times
as much as was the bonded debt of the
United States on the first day of Decem
ber , 1897. On that date this govern
ment owed only $847,865,020.
Mi % . Allen advocates the purchase of
the railroads and would so contract a
debt five times greater than the debt of
the United States when it was at its
maximum , at the termination of the
Civil War ! ! And it would call for five
times as much annual interest.
The populistic convention of Nebraska
proclaims the same delusive doctrine.
It declares itself unequivocally iii favor
of increasing the national debt by more
than cloven billions of dollars by the
purchase of all American railroads.
Yet it protests against "An increase in
the interest-bearing debt of the nation
as a stop in the creation of a perpetual
national debt and the permanent en
thronement of banks of issue having
power to expand and contract at will the
circulating medium to tno uotnnieiic or
all the industrial classes of the country. "
What consistency is hero , when the
same political body the same day de
clares that "the only true solution of
the railroad problem is to be found in
government ownership , and wo declare
and reaffirm our allegiance to the doc
trine of government ownership of rail
roads , telegraphs and telephones ! "
Relative to population , the United
States has four miles of railroad to one
in Franco or Germany ; five miles to ; one
in Great Britain and Ireland.and ; , . ,
twelve miles to one in Russia. United
States railroads employed in 1896ieight
hundred and twenty-six thousand and
six hundred and twenty-six (820626) ( ; )