54 HISTORY OF THE GRANGE MOVEMENT j OR, 



upon the capital invested in the work of construction 

 should not exceed a certain annual per centage, vary- 

 ing, according to locality, from 10 to 20 per cent. 

 Within this limit the corporations were free to earn 

 and divide all they could." 



But having set this limit, the community allowed 

 the corporations to retain the exclusive management 

 of their roads, and made no arrangement whereby the 

 latter could be held up to the limit thus fixed. No 

 provision was made for ascertaining the real, as contra- 

 distinguished from the nominal cost of the roads, nor 

 was anything arranged in regard to arrears of unpaid 

 dividends. A recent writer upon the subject well 

 says : " It was absurd to suppose that even the most 

 honest capitalist would accept the strict construction 

 of a law which insured him a certain loss in each bad 

 year or unprofitable enterprise, and limited him in 

 case of success to a reasonable profit. Of course, 

 therefore, the law was no sooner enacted than it was 



circumvented The doubt raised was whether 



the stipulated per centage was to be paid upon what the 

 property cost its holders, or upon what it was actually 

 worth. Interpreting it in the way last specified, the 



capitalist proceeded to act accordingly It 



therefore devolved upon the owners of the property to 

 cast up the balance sheet themselves, and to decide all 

 nice points undoubtedly in their own favor. Where a 

 people so provides for its own interests it needs no 

 prophet to foretell the consequences. No landlord 

 deals in this way with a tenant." The community 

 has voluntarily placed itself in the power of the raiL 

 ways, and it must pay the penalty of such absurd 

 conduct. 



