RAILROADS AND POLITICS.
[ The following paper was road by J. H.
Ager of Lincoln before the mooting of the
State Historical Society nt the annual moot
ing last wook. ]
The subject assigned to me is "Ne
braska Politics and Nebraska Rail
roads. " The inference carried by the
title would seem to bo that the rail
roads entering Nebraska are more or
less active in politics , and this infer
ence I readily grant. In discussing
the subject , I hope to be able to give
you , from the railroad's standpoint ,
sufficient reasons for their right to
take such interest , as well as the ex
tent and objects of their participa
tion.
A recital of the history of the rail
roads of Nebraska would be but the
tolling of the story of the marvelous
growth and development of this rich
and fertile state. The railroads of this
state pay into the several treasuries
of the state nearly one sixth of all the
taxes paid , and , second only to the
brain and brawn of the men who con
ceived and built its cities , and changed
its unbroken prairies into productive
farms , have been the most potential
factor in its development and in mul
tiplying many times the value of its
fertile acres. Preceding the com
mencement of the construction of the
two great systems of railroads in Ne
braska , the territory which they tra
verse was popularly supposed to be
practicably uninhabitable as an agri
cultural country ; but the far-sighted ,
sanguine men who invaded the terri
tory and risked their capital in railroad
construction , saw farther than the
men whose judgment pronounced the
country an arid waste. They found
here a fertile soil and a genial cli
mate , that gave promise of a rich field
for the agriculturist and stockman.
Simultaneously with railroad con
struction tney began the work of sup
plying to the people of the eastern
states such information as to the
country's natural resources , as had in
duced them to send their capital west ,
and as would bring immigration.
Lured by the promises of future rise
in values , and the hope of securing
homes and a competency , the strong ,
ambitious and sanguine first
sons of families in other
states came to Nebraska and en
gaged in its development , undergo
ing the hardships and privations in
evitable to pioneer life , and in this
work each individual became a part
ner of the railroads , laboring to the
accomplishment of the same end the
utilization of natural conditions to
the betterment of all the people.
The railroads , through their agents ,
said to the people of the east , ' ' Out
there in Nebraska there is a soil un
surpassed for fertility and ease of till
age , a climate as favorable to agri
cultural pursuits as any in the world.
We are going out there to spend our
money in its development , and we
want your help. Our railroads cannot
do the work alone. Wo want you to
go out and cultivate the lands , build
cities and factories , raise cattle ,
horses , hogs and sheep. Our part of
the work shall bo to haul your sur
plus products to market and bring you
such things as you may need from
other sections of the country. ' ' Up n
this proposition hands were joined and
the work of settlement , development
and railroad construction has , with
few interruptions , gone continuously
forward , and Nebraska lias reached a
place well toward the head of the pro
cession in the sisterhood of states , the
result of co-operation and a commun
ity of interests of the railroads and
the people.
Farm Values.
Take a typical instance. A man
from the east , equipped with health ,
industry and a determination to suc
ceed , homesteaded a quarter section
of government laud , or perhaps
bought from the railroad at $1.25 per
acre , a farm , say in Kearney county ,
in the central part of the state. Pre
vious to the advent of the railroad his'
land had but little value , other than
the speculative value based upon the
coming of a road. True , he and his
family might derive from its cultiva
tion the provisions necessary to their
existence , and a restricted local
market might be found for a limited
surplus.
In time the road was built , and a
station opened within hauling dis
tance of his farm. A market town
sprung up. While the productive
value of his land in bushels
and pounds was unchanged , its
market value was multiplied two ,
four , or perhaps ten times , be
cause the. railroad had created a
new value for its products. The gate
which heretofore stood closed between
the products of his land and the con
sumers of the east , was pushed open by
the locomotive , and he then learned
that the value of his wheat and corn was
affected more by a thirty mile haul
in a farm wagon than by a thousand
miles in a freight car. It was as
though the manufacturer of the east ,
the fruit grower of Florida , and the
Pacific coast , the lumberman of Mich
igan and the coal men of other states ,
had moved into Kearney county and
become his neighbors , in respect to
the facility and cheapness with which
an exchange of his products for theirs
could be effected.
Nebraska is essentially an agri
cultural state , and upon the occupants
of the farms , more than upon any
other class , do the railroads depend
for business. Crop failures and short
crops mean to the railroads idle cars
and idle men , with consequent loss of
revenue , without a corresponding de
crease in the fixed charges which con
stitute about 80 per cent of the gross
outlay of the railroad. The condi
tions necessary to insure good crops
are as anxiously hoped for and their
presence hailed with as much satis
faction by the managers of western
railroads as by the tillers of western
farms.
Railroad Rates , Then and Now.
The state , by reason of its long
distance from the grain markets of the
east is naturally somewhat handi
capped , but the managers of the rail
roads have sought to so regulate the
rates as to overcome this disadvantage
and enable the Nebraska farmer to
successfully compete in the marketing
of his products with the farmers oc
cupying the high priced lands of Iowa ,
Illinois , and other eastern states , and
complaints have been lodged with the
interstate commerce commission by
the farmers of the latter named states ,
charging discrimination by the rail
roads in grain rates , in favor of Ne
braska , Kansas and the Dakotas.
Twenty years ago the average freight
rate per ton per mile , received by the
Nebraska roads , was a fraction more
than three cents. The average rate
received for the year ending June 80 ,
1900 , the latest data I could obtain ,
had fallen to 1 cent and 11-100 of a
mill. Today the wheat of Nebraska is
being taken to the Atlantic seaboard
for export , for 6.2 mills per ton per
mile , and our corn for 4.97 mills. At
this rate a farmer hauling one and
one-half tons per load , thirty miles
per day , would receive for the days
work for himself and team 25 % cents
for hauling wheat and less than 17
cents for hauling corn. It used to
cost $10 to get a barrel of flour carried
from Buffalo to New York. That
amount will now carry a ton of Ne
braska wheat from Hastings to New
York , a distance of 1665 miles , and
leave 80 cents unexpended. The
amount that it took in 1859 to send a
letter weighing one ounce , from the
Missouri river to San Francisco by
Col. Alexander Major's pony express ,
will send a ton of Nebraska corn 1,006
miles on its journey for export to
Europe.
The first passenger tariff issued by
the Union Pacific railroad , taking
effect July 16 , 1866 , as far as Kearney ,
made the rate of ten cents per pas
senger per mile. The average rate re
ceived by the Nebraska railroads , ex-
cludingfree transportationfor the year
ending June 80 , 1900 , had fallen to 2
88-100 cents per mile. These compari
sons are made to show that the rail
roads have been continually and vol
untarily doing their part to assist the
