154 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



in which Mr. Hudson sees such peril to his republic, would even such a 

 public calamity go to prove railways public enemies, or that any and 

 all increase of capitalization was "stock-watering"? Doubtless im- 

 proper practices will obtain with evil-minded men until the end of 

 time. But if the enormous fortunes aforesaid have been accumulated 

 by watering railway-stocks, then it instantly follows that they have 

 not been accumulated by the management and operation of railways ; 

 and thus another of Mr. Hudson's charges falls to the ground. And 

 the facts are within this statement. As a matter of fact these accu- 

 mulators of mammoth fortunes were operators in Wall Street, who by 

 accident became loaded with a favorite security, or with the debent- 

 ures or stock of a single corporation, which necessitated (or at least 

 suggested) their identification or assumption of the management, di- 

 rectorship, or presidency of this, that, or the other railway corpora- 

 tion. In not a single case have these fortunes arisen from the earning 

 power of the road itself. If a certain railway corporation increases 

 its stock without proportionately increasing its earning power, then 

 the transaction is properly characterized as "stock-watering." But it 

 does not make all railways enemies of the republic, nor in any way 

 cause them to " dominate " the people who have granted them fran- 

 chises for transportation purposes. It is from a prevalence of the 

 very spirit which Mr. Hudson's volume, "The Railways and the Re- 

 public," labors vigorously and constantly to cultivate in this people, 

 that railway-wrecking and stock-watering ever become possible. If 

 Mr. Hudson honestly desires to make stock-watering impossible, let 

 him advise his constituency to yield the railways such tariffs as they 

 are obliged to demand, thus enabling them to meet their fixed charges 

 and so keep out of the hands of "speculative directors," who will, 

 from private greed, proceed to "water" their stocks. Here is a field 

 wherein Mr. Hudson could write books to his heart's content, from a 

 consistent, public spirited, and even contemporary standpoint, and 

 with the best results. The mere collecting of antique newspaper- 

 clippings is, beyond the passing amusement of the hour, of very small 

 utility, of trifling exemplary value, and certainly of not the slightest 

 assistance whatever in solving the problem of the American railway. 



III. Eminent Domain. Mr. Hudson's definition of this facility of 

 railroad companies is as follows : " To take away the property of A 

 and give it to B for the latter's private use and behoof, provided al- 

 ways that B is a railway corporation " (page 114). Now, actually and 

 practically, the above is a remarkably comprehensive and exact defini- 

 tion, not of eminent domain but of what eminent domain is not, and 

 of what it never can be under any circumstances. Mr. Hudson himself 

 has inadvertently told us what it really is : " Experience shows that 

 no railroad twenty-five miles in length can be built without the resort 

 to the power of the State, for there are always some proprietors who 

 demand an exorbitant price, or altogether refuse to let the railway 



