60 SHOULD THE NATION OWN THE RAILWAYS? 



•of the places where the high-priced lawyer gets iti his work— with a view to this very eud, 

 and in the belief that when brought to legal test the device hit upon would not be held by 

 the couitfi to be so distinctly opposed to the terms of- the law as to be criminally punish- 

 able." In this couuectiou it is well to remember what Mr. Dillon tells us of the ease 

 with which the laws can be evaded. 



With national ownership the expenditures involved in the maintenance of traffic 

 associations would be saved and railway users relieved of a tax that, judging from the re- 

 ports of a limited number of corporations of their contributions towards the support of 

 such organizations, must annually amount to between four and five million dollars. 



Of the six hundred corporations operating railways probably five hundred main- 

 tain costly general oflices where president, treasurer and secretary spend the time sur- 

 rounded by an expensive staff". The majority of such ofiices are off the lines of the respeeli ve 

 corporations in the larger cities where high rents are paid and great expenses are entailed 

 that proper attention may be given to the bolstering or depressing the price of the cor- 

 poration's shares as the management may be long or short of the market. So far as the 

 utility of the railways is concerned, as instruments of anything but speculation, such of- 

 .fice:? and officers might as well be located in the moon and their cost saved to the public. 

 The average yearly cost of sucli offices and officers is more than $.50,000 and the transfer 

 of the railways to the nation would, in this matter alone, effect an annua! saving of more 

 than ?2.5.000,000 as both offices and officials could be dispensed with and the service be no 

 less efficient. 



Moreover, with the nation owning the railways, the indirect but no less onerous 

 tax levied upon the industries of the country by the thousands of speculators who make 

 day hideous on the stock exchanges would be abrogated, as then there would be neither 

 railway share or bond for these harpies to make shuttle-cocks of, and this would be an- 

 other economy due to such ownership. 



Railways spend enormous sums in advertising, the most of wbicli national owner- 

 ship would save, as it would be no more necessary to advertise the advantages of any par- 

 ticular line than it is to advertise the advantages of any given mail route. From reports 

 made by railway cjrporations to some of the Western States, it appears that something 

 over one per cent, of operating expenses are absorbed in advertising, aggregating some- 

 thing liUe ?7, 000 ,000 per year, of which we may assume that but $5,000,000 would be saved, 

 as it would be still desirable to advertise train departures and arrivals. 



A still greater expense is involved in the maintenance of freight and passenger 

 offices ofl;" the respective lines, for the purpose of securing a portion of the competitive 

 traffic. In this way vast sums are expended in the payment of rents and as salaries of 

 hordes of agents, solicitors, clerks, etc., etc. Taking the known expenditures for tliis pur- 

 pose of a given mileage, it is estimated that the aggregate is not less than $15,000,000 

 yearly, all of which is a tax upon the public that would be saved did the government op- 

 erate the railways. 



Under government control discriminations against localities would cease, whereas 

 now localities are discriminated against because managers are interested in real estate 

 elsewhere or are interested in diverting traffic in certain directions. Again, under cor- 

 porate management, it is for the interest of the company to haul a commodity as far as 

 possible over its own lines (with the government owning all the lines this motive will 

 lose its force) and thus traffic is forced into unnatural channels. For instance, much of 

 the grain from Kansas should find its way to foreign markets via the short route to the 

 Gulf, the distance to tide water by this route being less than half what it is to the Atlantic; 

 yet so opposed to this natural route are the interests of the majority of the corporations 

 controlling the traffic associations which now dictate to the people what routes their traffic 

 shall take, that the rates to the Gulf are kept so high as to force the traffic to the lakes 

 and to the Atlantic, and as all the railways leading to the Gulf have lines running east- 

 Mard, the much lauded corporate competition fails to help out the citizens of Kansas, 

 who are subjected to the domination of the new tyrant denominated a "Traffic Associa- 

 tion." With the nation operating the railways all this would be changed and localities 

 favorably located would be abls to reap the benefits which such location should give, and 

 should such a condition ever obtain the farmers of Western Iowa will not then shin corn 



