42 THE FARMER, THE INVESTOR AND THE RAILWAY. 



taking a constantly increasing: proportion of the proceeds arising from the sale of the 

 products of the farm. 



This is still more clearly shown on the same page In the statement that in these 

 Slates railvA'ay revenue in 1870 was $12 for each unit of the population as against $18 in 

 1SS8. Thus the per capita transportation tax is shown to have increased 50 per cent. 



Mr. Poor says: "With these facts before us, it is difficult to understand the extraor- 

 ■dinary antipathy to railroad corporations in the West." 



If such antipathy exists, probably Mr. Poor could understand it if he would but 

 look at these facts, and others herein stated, in all their nakedness, keeping in view their 

 true bearing upon the greatest of the nation's industries. 



That no such antipathy exists is shown by the fact that, while the railways of Illi- 

 nois are capitalized for 142,450 per mile, they are assessed for purposes of taxation ai 

 $7,863 per mile; those of Iowa are capitalized at $38,069, and assessed at $5,189; those of Ne^ 

 braska are capitalized at .$40,172, and assessed at $5,829, and thoseof Kansas are capitalized 

 at $52,155, and assessed at $6,595 per mile. 



We have seen some of the processes by which the investor is shorn and an enormous 

 fictitious capitalization piled up to aid in taxing the farmer and others. Is it any wonder 

 that when his wares are selling at starvation prices the farmer becomes restive under the 

 burdens thus imposed and .seeks to replace present ownership by that of the nation? 



According to Mr. Poor, there existed 156,082 miles of railway at the close of 1888, 

 showing a capitalization — including floating debts — of $9,367,398,954, to pay interest and 

 dividends on which a toll is levied on all the industries of the country. 



How much of this vast capitalization is real, and how much the fictitious outgrowth 

 of the practices described? 



Owing to the practices illustrated, it is impossible for railway companies to show 

 the cost of their properties, and we are compelled to reach an approximation by estimat- 

 ing such cost, and thus determining the sum upon which revenue should accrue. 



ESTIMATED COST FEB MILE OF EXISTING RAILWAYS. 



Grubbing and clearing $ 100 



Right of way and land damage 2,500 



Earthwork and rock cuttings 4,500 



Bridges, culverts and masonry 3 000 



Ties— 3,000 2,000 



Rails, splices, bolts and spikes 4,000 



Switches, side-tracks, caitle-guards, road crossings and fences 1,100 



Track laying, surfacing and ballasting 2,300 



Depots, water tanks, stock yards, shops and terminals 3,500 



E(iuipment 4,ft0n 



Engineering, rents, interest, taxes and contingencies 2,:0) 



Total cost per mile $30,000 



*That this estimate is more than ample is assured by the statement (in substance) of 

 of Mr. H. V. Poor that the capitalization of the roads built from 18S0 to 1883 is double the 

 actual investment and, could the fictitious capital be eliminated, railways, as investments, 

 would have no parallel; and in the statement that within five years ending in 1683, 

 "about 40,000 miles of line were constructed at a cash cost of at least $1,100,000,000," being 

 $27,000 per mile; and that "in 1884 only about 4,000 miles of new line were constructed, 

 the cost of which did not exceed $20,000 per mile and perhaps not over $15,000 per mile." 



For each mile of railway costing more than $30,000 per mile ten can be found that 

 have cost from $8,000 to $20,000. Theeastern two hundred miles of the Kansas division 

 of the Union Pacific, built in the era of high prices, cost less than $20,000, although now 

 bearing a capitalization of $105,000 per mile, but a well known manipulator — who made 

 restitution of millions to the Erie— supervised its reorganization, which may account for 

 the generous volume of water incorporated in its securities. 



The Missouri Pacific line form El Dorado to McPherson, Kansas, a comparatively 

 expensive prairie road, being located across the line of drainage, cost much less thaa 

 $10,000 per mile, as have thousands of miles of other prairie lines. 



•See Poor's Manual for 1881 and 18SS. 



