THE FARMER, THE INA'^ESTOR AND THE RAILWAY. 45 



The railway is public rather thsm private property, and while the stockholder is 

 entitled to the usufruct and its limited control, yet such corilrol is a trust for a specific 

 purpose, such purpose beinj^ the service of the ])ublic, for which the compensation shall 

 be just and reasoiiiible, but the law never contemplated that one jMirty in interest sliould 

 alone be in ])(jssession of the kuowledf,'c necessary to a determination of the amount of 

 capital eiiiiiloyeil and the reasunableiies^s of the charges made, and so long as such knowl- 

 ed.i,'e is withheld shareholders must expect discontent on tlie part of the public and eflTorts 

 to secure such control as will ensure justice; and it is this discontent which has been one 

 of the most potent factors in bringing into existence the "Farmers' Alliance" and kin- 

 dred organizations, in which millions of farmers — for the first time in history— are united 

 for a common object. 



The endowment of the railway company with the exceptional power to enter upon 

 end take private property, and the equally exceptional limitation of the stockholders' 

 liability to the cost of shares held, implies special duties and obligations to the public; 

 and the i)eople, whose lands have been taken, who furnish the tralTic and provide the 

 revenue, have a right to a voice in determining the justness of the rates charged. 



Another plea is that the cost of transportation is less in the United States than 

 elsewhere, hence there can be no cause of complaint. If rates are higher in Republican 

 France or Imperial Germany, where railways exist, primarily, for military purposes, it 

 Is neither our dut.v to emulate them in such matters nor to copy their costly modes of 

 railway administration; j-et we may well profit by their example iu providing for strin- 

 gent control of railways and the rates for carriage. 



The farmer, understanding that rates are unjust by reason of an enormous fictitious 

 capitalization, and that such rates reduce the value of his land and its products, appeals 

 to legislation for relief, which States have sought to furnish by laws regulating rates and 

 methods of administration, which are denounced as acts of robbery by the men who have 

 perpetrated the frauds of which such laws are the resultant. 



The men loudest in denunciation of every attempt at control by law are those most 

 active in tlie manufacture of securities, in operating the construction company, in paying 

 unearned dividends, in selling or capitalizing cheap lines al many times their cost- 

 These are the special champions of the widow, the orphan and the savings bank, whom 

 they have despoiled by the most unblushing frauds. These are the innocent, chivalrous 

 men, high in the esteem of the street and the exchange, who wish the way left open for 

 more niokelplating, more Wabashing, more Credit Mobiliers and more stock and bond 

 watering. 



There is abundant evidence that where the iaws have been such as to secure the 

 jjreatest control— Illinois and Iowa— well located and judieiouslv managed railways are 

 exceedingly prosperous. Many great lines derive the major part of their traffic from the 

 granger States, yet the laws, which railway managers and investors denounce as acts of 

 confiscation, have not prevented the pa.ynient of good dividends. Mr. Poor shows that) 

 for twenty-five years, the Chicago & Alton dividends have averaged 8.7 per cent.; that 

 the Chicago, Burlington <fe Quiucy has paid regular cash dividends ranging from 8 to 10 

 per cent, per annum, and stock dividends aggregating $6,701,990. The Chicago, Rock 

 Island & Pacific has done about as well in the way of dividends, although its trafflc has 

 been so largely drawn from Illinois and Iowa. Until certain bond and stock operationsi 

 the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul paid 7 per cent, dividends, and the Chicago & North- 

 western has swelled its capital account by the payment of stock dividends, while paying 

 regular cash dividends of 6 to 8 per cent., and the Illinois Central has, for twenty-sis 

 years, paid dividends ranging from 4 to 10 percent. peraunum,andaggregating $56,989,847. 



Notwithstanding these laws and that nearly or quite all these roads carry an undue 

 aoaount of water, that crops have failed, and panics have prostrated the industries of the 

 country, they have prospered, new lines been added from the tolls collected on the old, 

 the investor received ample returns, and some of the managers enabled, by some occult 

 process, to amass enormous fortunes, all going to show that the granger laws have not 

 been oppressive, and that when railways fail to make fair returns it is due to faulty lociv- 



