1
4 The
than half the net amount available for
dividends on this enormous investment ,
which , as an investment , represents one-
fifth of our national assets an industry
which stands almost equal in money in
vested in agriculture. Yet agricultxire ,
in one prosperous year , increases its
earnings by a billion dollars. Imagine ,
if you can , a business the net earnings
of which were $100,000 , which amount
represented , say , about two per cent on
the capital invested , and yet had to pay
more than $ ,10,000 in taxes. The ana
logy is fair , because our railways , while
only earning about two per cent divi
dend on the capital invested , have to pay
in taxes an amount more than half the
total amount available for dividends.
This forty-three millions of dollars of
taxes will next year be forty-five mil
lions or more , be-
RAILWAY TAXES
Ht
1NCRHASK. on bnls Qf lnling
are expected to yield two and a half mil
lions. The new departure will also en
tail a large outlay in extra printing ,
paper and clerical work , which the rail
ways will have to meet. The way in
which railway taxation in the United
States is growing has already inspired
some apprehension in the minds of for
eign investors , as indicated by the fol
lowing from a recent issue of the Lon
don Statist :
"It is the local taxation imposed by
states , counties and municipalities
which is really heavy. We showed in a
recent issue how serious it is and how
rapidly it is growing. Undoubtedly , it
ought to be checked. Perhaps the best
way of dealing equitably would be to
follow the example set by the state of
Wisconsin , which imposes a special state
tax on the railways within its jurisdic
tion , but exempts them from all county
and municipal rates. In any event , this
question of railway taxation in the
United States requires close watching
and serious discussion. The American
people , we arc quite aware , have no
wish to press unduly upon any interest ,
but they are busy , and , unless their at
tention is specially directed to the mat
ter , they are apt to overlook a system
which threatens to become oppressive. "
Let us hope The Statist is right in its
conjecture in relation to the American
people. Perhaps the American people
as a whole would not favor pressing
these great interests further than they
have been pressed , but those who con
trol state and municipal legislation have
gone already too far in this direction ,
and are now in close proximity to the
danger line.
There is but one possible deduction
from these facts. The railroads have not
bCm abl ° tO 8liar °
RAILWAYS OENEH-
ul the slightest de-
ALLY NOT rues-
I'Biuxa. gree in the prosperity -
ity which has come
to other industries , especially the agri
cultural industry , because the rates are
too low and unrestricted competition
ruinous. Within the last month I
have conversed , with half a score of our
strongest mil way presidents , and , while
all else seems Nourishing around them ,
the railway business , they declare , could
hardly bo worse. Rates have gone down
so low per ton per mile that they are
almost afraid to face their 1898 reports.
Several systems will show less than four
mills per ton per mile less than half a
cent for carrying one ton , or two thous
and pounds , one mile. Another mill
per ton per mile added to these unprofit
able rates would have increased by
$95,000,000 the railway revenue on the
traffic of 1897. What industry would
have been injured by this increase ?
Surely not the industry of agriculture.
Instead of which , the extra screw on the
downward grade has knocked off thirty
millions from the gross earnings of 1896.
A valuable report recently issued by the
Department of Agriculture gives an
elaborate series of tables comparing the
decline in prices of all classes of com
modities and in railway rates. Includ
ing 1890 , the reduction in the price of
only one crop , and that of minor impor
tance , is seen to have been greater than
that in freight rates. The decline in
the latter , taken for a period of tliirty
years , has been twenty-three percent
greater than in the price of wheat and
twelve per cent greater than in that of
hay. In this report the rapid decline in
the cost of transportation is shown by
the quantity of a commodity which now
has to be given to transport it a given
distance compared with the quantity it
used to take. Thirty years ago it took
one bus.hel out of five and three-fourths
bushels to transport wheat east from
Chicago ; in J897 only one bushel out of
seventeen and one-fourth bushels. In
other words seventeen bushels of wheat
are now taken from Chicago to New
York for the same toll as five bushels
in 181)7. The report shows that the
same is sxibstantially true of other com
modities , and that railway rates have
declined out of proportion to the de
crease in the prices of merchandise car
ried. How much longer this condition
of affairs can be maintained it is impos
sible to forecast.
The cost of transportation is undoubt
edly being reduced by better machinery
and better meth-
KKDUCKD COST OF
( ) (1
TRANSPORTATION. mimagers tontcu(1 ;
that other causes enter this problem ,
over which they seem to have no con
trol , and which keep rates below the
profitable line. The interstate com
merce statistics this year would cer
tainly point to the truth of this asser
tion. Now that the war is over , the
railway question is one that presses for
immediate legislative action. That the
prosperous American farmer will be
willing to accord these great interests ,
second only as I have shown , to his
own , an impartial hearing and fair
treatment , there would seem to bo no
doubt. The era of prosperity which has
come to our fanners has not in the
slightest degree been shared by the rail
ways , and while other interests have
flourished , the railway interests have
seemingly met with deeper and more
lasting discouragement. There never
was a more opportune time for the
display of real statesmanship than
the present ; and , if our legislators
at Washington this winter can
find some solution of the railway
problem which will open up prospects
for the future of our transportation in-
dustiy , the energy , enterprise and abil
ity of the American railway manager
will do the rest. In view of existing
conditions , those who for years have op
posed all reasonable railway legislation
may well withdraw their opposition , for
attacks on railways will receive no sup
port from the labor interests , whose
prospects have been injured by the de
plorable condition of our railways , nor
from the fanner , whose prosperity has
made him for the moment impervious
alike to the wiles of free-silver advocates
and the blandishments of populistic
demagogues.
"When it is
mi-
MU. CAKLISLK-S .
VIEW. derstood that there
are to be no more
wars between people of the Anglo-
Saxon race , that all their differences not
amicably adjusted by diplomacy will be
permanently settled by arbitration , that
they ore thoroughly united by the ties
of blood and a common heritage of free
institutions , not for conquest or aggres
sion of any land , but for the promotion
of peace and civilization , and that their
combined influence will be exerted for
these purposes only , all other nations
will realize that a new force has been
developed which cannot prudently be
ignored in their schemes of aggrandize
ment in any part of the globe. " Oc
tober Harper's.
THE
TIIK LAST
i-KOM KUSSIA.T1VE 1S lu receipt
of a bulletin from
Russia of the transactions of the Imper
ial Free Economic Society , and we ob
serve the proportionately large space
given to such matters as soil-analyses ,
preservation of rainfall and advantag
eous planting of trees. One would think
that these things must be of the first im
portance to Russia , who sees her pop
ulation decimated by crop failures and
famine every few years. Each of these
recurrent disasters must be a terrible
set-back to a nation which aspires to
dispute the rule of the world with the
English-speaking race.
It is often said that the Russian capi
tal is rightly called , not St. Petersburg ,
but Petersburg , after Peter the Great.
It is not exactly either one , but St.
Peterburg , to judge by the imprint of
this publication.