SHOULD THE NATION OWN THE RAILWAYS? 63 



here, the roads are operated at less cost, as measured by the expense per train mile, than 

 In the favored regions of the United States. The Kansas City, Fort Scott and Memphis 

 Railway is, admittedly, one of the best managed and most economically operated raihvayg 

 in the West, and with an abundance of very cheap coal,* low gradients and running more 

 trains than do the Victorian railways, should be operated much more cheaply, yet the 

 cost of operating this road, as measured by the cost per train mile, — and this is the best 

 possible criterion of economj' in operation — is one-third greater than on the government 

 owned railways of Victoria. 



An excellent measure of the efficiency of the management is the number of casual- 

 ties, as proportioned to tlie number of passengers carried and men employed, wliich is 

 very great in such countries as Russia, Roumania and Portugal; butin Victoriaand other 

 Australiari colonies, the proportion isfarless than in the United States, more attention be- 

 ing given to the adoption of such safety devices as interlocking switches, etc., and all 

 the stations and crossings are provided with gates and otherwise better guarded than 

 with us where the corporations are much more intent upon paying dividends than in 

 serving thepul)lic, or in saving life and limb, while on the government operated railways 

 of Victoria, the management devotes its attention— with due regard to economy— to the 

 Convenience, comfort and safety of railway users, and employes, having no bond or share- 

 holders to provide for. 



In the United States one of the useless traffic associations pays its chief umpire 

 nearly as much as Victoria pays its entire commission. 



Those desirous of entering the railway service of Victoria arc subjected to such 

 rigid examination as to qualifications and character, that but little more than one-third 

 are able to p.ass the ordeal, and a high standard of excellence in the personnel of the service 

 results, and when these servants are disabled, or worn out by long service, they are pen- 

 sioned or given a retiring allowance, and this system tends to reduce the inclination to 

 strike, as a man who has been years in the service will long hesitate before he forfeits his 

 right to a provision of this kind. 



All the Australian reports and accounts, which liave come under the observation 

 of the writer, are models of conciseness and clearness and show that there is nothing in- 

 herent in railway accounts rendering it necessary that they be made obscure and mis- 

 leading. 



Neither in tlie Australian reports nor in the Colonial press is there the least evidence 



of discriminations against individuals or localities, and this one fact is an argument of 



greater forcein favor of national ownership than all that have everbeen advanced against it. 



•Co.al on tlie line iiamerl Is worth about $1.50 per ton at the mines, while inferior coal Is worth $3.75 

 per ton at the mines in Victoria. 



THE ECOXO.MLST'S OPINION OF MARKET WRECKING. 



The claim is persistently made, by the opponents of the Butterworth bill, that 

 short-selling can in no wise injure the producer of cotton, grain and other staple produetsi 

 but on the other hand is a great and inestimable benefit to the producer, and that the 

 agitation of the subject is carried on by demagogues for the purpose of irritating the 

 farmer and leading him to place Itimself in opposition to the very men who, by their 

 sliort-selling, create a market for his products and enable him to secure a better price. 

 Without asking if the practice of short-.selling can possibly increase the number of con- 

 sumers or tlie per capita consumption, a sufficient answer to all that lias ever been ad- 

 vanced in favor of short-selling is to be found in the Juue 20th issue of so pronounced an 

 organ of Chicago interests as the Chicago Eoonomiat, where it is said, editorially, that: 



