12 Conservative.
DESIGNATED DEPOSITARY OF THE UNITED STATES.
National Bank of the Republic
OF CHICAGO.
CA.jPITA.Is , OJYB MILLION DOLLARS.
JOHN A. LYNCH , President. W. T. FENTON , Vice President and Cashier.
J. H. CAMERON and H. R. KENT , Asst. Cashiers. R. M. McKINNEY , 2d Asst. Cashier.
PAUL. MOKTON OX KAILWAY CON-
SO I.I It ATI ON.
Consolidation of all the railway prop
erties of this country in a few hands
perhaps into one grand system may be
the ultimate result of continued failure
on the part of congress to enact a rail
way pooling law. The absence of a
pooling law is already hurrying the
ownership of railroads into the hands of
a few. The logical result of unre
stricted competition in the railway
business is the death of competition or
consolidation.
This is the opinion of Paul Morton ,
second vice-president of the Atchison ,
Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad , which
he has elaborated in an article in the
current number of The Indeptndent.
Mr. Morton does not look upon the
present tendency to consolidation with
any alarm ; on the contrary-he has con
sistently maintained for some time that
if all the transportation lines of the
country were operated as one grand
system the service to the public would
be superior to that now rendered ,
charges would be more equitably
assessed as between shippers , and a
lower basis of rates would prevail.
Those who dissent from Mr. Morton
as to the ultimate effect of consolidation
of railway companies upon the public
interests will hardly deny the proposi -
tion that such consolidation is gradually
taking place and that the causes ascribed
by Mr. Morton are the correct ones. Mr.
Morton believes in legalized pooling ,
under the supervision of the interstate
commerce commission , because he is of
the opinion that the public can be better
served by stability in freight rates than
by unrestrained , and therefore estrno
tive , competition. If the railroads are to
fight each other to a finish the natural
outcome will be ownership by a few
people.
Many people believe that government
ownership will be the ultimate outcome
of present conditions in railroading. But
the Introduction of politics into trans
portation as a consequence and the
extravagance with which government
business is conducted should present
insuperable objections in the public
mind to government ownership. Mr.
Morton illustrates the extravagant man
ner in which the government conducts
THE AUDIT COMPANY
OF NEW YORK.
Queen J3uilding , AT. Y. T ife JBuilding ,
New Yorlc City. Chicago.
OFFICERS :
Acting President , Vice-Presidont ,
AUGUST BELMONT. WILLIAM A. NASH.
Manager Secretary and Treasurer
THOMAS L. GREENE. EDWARD T. FERINE.
The Audit Company begs to announce the opening of Western
Offices as above.
Hereafter , at both the New York and Chicago Offices contracts
may be made for audits of accounts , and financial and physical exam
inations of properties , with certificates , reports and appraisals.
The Western Board of Control of the Company and the Manager
of the Western Office will be as follows :
WESTERN BOARD OF CONTROL :
JOHN J. MITCHELL , Chairman , President Illinois Trust & Savings Bank ,
Chicago.
JOHN O. BLACK , President Continental National Bank , Chicago.
JAMES B. FORGAN , President First National Bank , Chicago.
JAMES H. ECKELS , President Commercial National Bank , Chicago.
EDWIN A POTTER. President American Trust and Savings Bank , Chicago.
Counsel to Western Office : L. MAYER , Moran , Mayer & Meyer , Chicago.
Western Manager : A. W. DUNNING.
business by citing the case of the post-
office department , where the govern
ment pays the railroads 28 per cent of its
total earnings from that department and
shows a deficit. The express companies
are controlled by private interests , pay
the railroads 50 per cent of their gross
earnings , and still show a profit.
The cost of railroad service depends
very largely upon the cost of supplies
and material. If it is fair to the people
of the country to establish maximum
rates on the composite service rendered
them by the railroads Mr. Morton asks
if it is not equally fair to the railroads
to establish maximum prices on labor ,
steel rails , ties , coal and other com
ponent parts of the service.
If the absence of legal right to form
compacts for maintaining uniform
freight and passenger rates means ulti
mate consolidation of all transportation
systems , as Mr. Morton shows by un
answerable argument , it ought not < o
take the public very long to make a
demand upon congress for a pooling
law. Chicago Times-Herald.
WELCOMES THE COMMONER.
THE CONSERVATIVE , by J. Sterling
Morton , of Nebraska City , has already
welcomed The Commoner. When it
comes to writing and simultaneously
casting into a solid line , invectives that
invect , no one can hold an incandescent
light to J. Sterling Morton. Hence we
take it that if these two distinguished
statesmen ever run together in a fog ,
there will be some real fun. Danville
( Va. ) Daily Bee.
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