RAILROAD 



49 ir> 



RAILROAD 



were necessary to the development of a coun- 

 try, especially a now one, :md governments 

 either gave financial aid to construction com- 

 panies or themselves undertook the task of 

 building, in some cases operating the lines 



AMERICA'S l-'IliST RAILWAY CAR 

 The Baltimore & Ohio horse car "Pioneer," in 

 regular service between Baltimore and Ellicott 

 from 1829 to 1831. 



which they owned, in other cases leasing them 

 to corporations. Later came the realization 

 private companies, which because of their 

 :ce to the public had received the privilege 

 of cmhutit domain (the right to purchase any 

 land necessary for their lines) and other favors, 

 were under obligations to the public. From 

 this view resulted the era of railroad regulation, 

 and from it may come additional cases of gov- 

 ernment ownership. 



Canada's Policies. The story of railways in 

 the Dominion, which is given in detail in the 

 article CANADA, is particularly interesting be- 

 cause it includes all these phases of national 

 activity. It may be studied with profit by all 

 who are interested in the questions of govern- 

 ment ownership and control. Since 1876 Canada 

 has owned and operated the Intercolonial Rail- 

 way, built to bring together the maritime prov- 

 inces and Quebec and Ontario. The line has 

 never been financially profitable, but this is 

 partly due to the fact that its route, for politi- 

 cal reasons, was located as far as possible from 

 the United States border. In 1915 the Do- 

 minion completed the National Transconti- 

 nental Railway, from Moncton, N. B., to Win- 

 nipeg, and because of the refusal of the Grand 

 Trunk Pacific to take it over, now operates this 

 as well. As the road traverses an undeveloped 

 region far to the north it will probably be -un- 

 profitable for a time. The Hudson Bay road 

 (see HUDSON BAY) may never pay directly, but 

 increased prosperity resulting from additional 

 shipments of wheat to Europe will more than 

 make up the loss to the nation; this line, there- 

 fore, seems an instance in which government 



ownership is clearly necessary. The Ontario 

 government road (see ONTARIO), like the Na- 

 tional Transcontinental, is located in new terri- 

 tory. 



No country has been more generous in aid to 

 railroad builders than has Canada. The Cana- 

 dian Pacific (constructed to secure British Co- 

 lumbia'- entry into the Confederation), 1 1n- 

 Grand Trunk Pacific, the Canadian Northern 

 and over 100 lesser lines have received land 

 grants, actual cash subsidies, guarantees of their 

 bonds and gifts of railroad constructed by the 

 government. Provinces, too, and even munici- 

 palities have helped. Some claim that because 

 of this lavish aid, Canada has more railroads 

 than it can support. If this is true it will prob- 

 ably result in the government taking over the 

 unprofitable lines through defaults of bond pay- 

 ments. 



Regulation of railroads in Canada is the duty 

 of a commission, which has power to fix rates, 

 and also to compel the companies to build 

 proper crossings, install switch tracks where 

 they are needed, erect suitable stations and in 

 every way deal justly with the public. The 

 commission moves from place to place in the 

 Dominion, to give hearings to local complaints. 



United States. National ownership of rail- 

 roads is as yet unknown in the United States, 

 although the government has within the pres- 

 ent century assumed the operation of lines in 

 Panama, Alaska and the Philippines. The state 

 of Georgia owns the Western & Atlantic Rail- 

 road, but intrusts its operation to a private 

 company. 



Encouragement to railroad building has been 

 mostly in the form of 'land grants, and its 

 story will be found in the article LANDS, PUB- 

 LIC, where there is also a map to illustrate it. 

 National regulation of railroads is treated un- 

 der the INTERSTATE COMMERCE ACT. The au- 

 thority of the Federal government is limited 

 by the Constitution to business which passes 

 from state to state; intra-state business, that 

 which is confined to one state, can be controlled 

 only by the government of that state. Conse- 

 quently, many of the affairs which in Canada 

 are effectively administered by the Dominion's 

 commission are in the United States handled 

 by local bodies. 



Other Countries. The two Americas are the 

 only continents in which -government railways 

 do not exceed all others in length. Great Brit- 

 ain, Spain, Greece and Turkey own no lines, 

 while Bulgaria and Serbia own all those within 

 their borders. Some of the German roads be- 



