672 



RAILROADS IN THE UNITED STATES. 



Whereas, To secure to the Government and people 

 these several advantages, and, in addition thereto, 

 secure the return to the people of 30,000,000 of acres 

 of land, heretofore granted to build the thirtieth 

 parallel line, and save the building of 1,500 miles of 

 road, it is, in the judgment of this convention, not 

 only the right, but the duty of the national Govern- 

 ment to render such aid, properly secured, restricted, 

 and guarded, as will secure the prompt completion 

 of the line referred to, and such extensions as will 

 give to all sections the advantages resulting there- 

 from, now be it resolved : 



1. That a Southern line to the Pacific Ocean should 

 be built on or near the thirty-second parallel from 

 Shreveport, ma, El Paso, to San Diego, where it will 

 make connections with the waters of the Pacific in a 

 safe and excellent harbor, and connect also with the 

 railway lines now building from San Francisco to 

 the southern part of California, thus securing a con- 

 tinuous line to that great city and port. 



2. That there should also be constructed exten- 

 sions from the most eligible points of the Texas 

 Pacific road to New Orleans, Memphis, and Vicks- 

 burg, and from a point near the hundred and third 

 meridian to Vinita, in order to reach the Missis- 

 sippi Kiver, to connect with every road and harbor 

 of the Atlantic coast, and with the harbors of the At- 

 lantic coast, and with every railway east of the Eocky 

 Mountain slope. 



3. That the construction of such aline and branches 

 can be best secured by the extension of Government 

 aid to the line and branches heretofore mentioned 

 in these resolutions, in the form of a guarantee of the 

 interest, not the principal, on a limited amount of five 

 per cent, construction bonds, payable in fifty years, 

 so that the entire liability assumed should not in any 

 event exceed $2,000 per mile per annum^ nor the in- 

 terest on the actual cost of the line and said branches. 



The fact that the sentiment in favor of legis- 

 lative control of the transportation of the coun- 

 try, together with the desire that the central 

 Government should assume the business of 

 goods-transportation itself, for the relief of 

 producers and their supposed protection against 

 the capricious and extortionate charges of the 

 private companies ; the fact that this feeling, 

 which has so long been rife preeminently 

 among the grain - producing communities of 

 the West, is now still upon the increase, is 

 shown in the action of the convention of 

 the National Association of Transportation 

 and Commerce, which met at Chicago on the 

 17th of December, 1875. There were about 

 two hundred delegates present from all parts 

 of the country: Mr. Josiah Quincy not being 

 present, Vice-President John F. Henry, of New 

 York, presided. The officers elected were: 

 President, John F. Henry, with one vice-presi- 

 dent from each State; Secretary, Frank Gil- 

 bert, of Chicago ; Assistant Secretary, Henry 

 Stotenwalks, Florida ; Treasurer, F. B. Thur- 

 bur, New York. In his opening address, Mr. 

 Henry declared that the day -was not distant, 

 if it had not already arrived, when the states- 

 man will find it his duty to inquire 



" whether there is less danger in leaving the prop- 

 erty and industrial interests of the people thus 

 wholly at the mercy of a few men who recognize no 

 responsibility but to their stockholders, and no prin- 

 ciple of action but personal and corporate aggrandize- 

 ment, than in adding somewhat ,to the power and 

 patronage of a Government directly responsible to 

 the people, and entirely under their control." 



In corroboration of this he quoted the fol- 

 lowing proposition from the report of the com- 

 mittee on transportation routes of the United 



States Senate : 



" In the matter of taxation there are to-day four 

 men, representing the four great trunk -lines between 

 Chicago and New York, who possess, and not un- 

 frequently exercise, power which the Congress of 

 the United States would not venture to exert." 



The report of the secretary of the Associa- 

 tion stated the objects of the convention as fol- 

 lows: 



The question for this convention, for our people, 

 and Government to consider is, whether the power to 

 levy enormous tributes, to disarrange all industrial 

 and commercial transactions^ as the four or five men 

 who manage present trunk-lines now are capable of 

 doing, and have actually done since July_, whether 

 this exercise of arbitrary power is not prejudicial to 

 all interests, and of such a nature as should command 



the control and, to a large extent, the supervision of 

 our transportation routes. In cities like Chicago, 

 Boston, New York, and all others where large trans- 

 portation routes centre, the formation of boards of 

 transportation and commerce, like the New York as- 

 sociation, before which can be brought all differences 

 and grievances between transportation companies 

 and the merchants and the people, will be found 

 highly beneficial. 



A paper, presented by Richard P. Morgan, 

 of Illinois, points out, as the means of reaching 

 reasonable rates of transportation, a reduction 

 of the fictitious valuations put upon the prop- 

 erty of railroads and the improvements in con- 

 struction, which may be awaited, the more 

 thorough utilization of water-courses, etc. He 

 expressed the opinion that the cost of trans- 

 portation in the Erie Canal might be reduced 

 to eight mills per ton for general freightage, 

 and five mills per ton for through expedition 

 and agricultural products. The New York 

 Central & Hudson River Railroad, he assert- 

 ed, might reduce their charges to less than five 

 mills per ton, instead of the ten mills which 

 they demand, and then derive a fair revenue 

 from the original capital stock. Among the 

 improvements in transportation routes brought 

 to the notice of the convention were the pros- 

 pective Jow freightage to result from the im- 

 proved navigation of the Mississippi, the deep- 

 ening of the St. Lawrence, the enlargement of 

 the Welland Canal, and the construction of the 

 Caughnawaga Canal ; the free use of Cana- 

 dian canals was also suggested as a beneficial 

 project. Among the abuses in the construc- 

 tion and management of railroads set forth, 

 were the projecting of roads not needed, by 

 irresponsible men, which are built upon con- 

 struction bonds secured by mortgage ; the buy- 

 ing in and manipulation of such bankrupt 

 roads by operators. Another serious abuse is 

 the buying up of a controlling interest in a 

 I profitable road by men of wealth, who elect 

 their own board of directors, and so manage 

 the road as to knock down the stock to zero. 

 Then they discovered that the road was im- 

 I mensely valuable, and that its capital stock 

 \ bore no proportion to the actual expenditures 



