364 History of Inland Transport 



It is true that many of the shareholders here in question 

 might have invested in several companies, so that their ^500 

 or less would not represent the full extent of their railway 

 holdings. On the other hand, there is the fact that many 

 of the single investments are those of friendly societies, trade 

 unions, or other organisations representing the interests and 

 dealing with the savings of a large number of members of the 

 artisan class. 



In any case, whether the railway shareholder be a capitalist 

 large or small or only an ordinary thrifty middle-class person 

 who has saved a little money which he seeks to put into some- 

 thing both safe and remunerative, the fact remains that since 

 the advent of the railway era he is the person who, though 

 supplying the means by which this huge system of inland 

 communication has been brought into existence, has had the 

 least consideration of all. The trader, the passenger and the 

 railway servant have all been the subject of much legislative 

 effort for the protection or the furtherance of their own 

 interests, whereas the railway shareholder has been too 

 often regarded with an absolute lack of sympathy, and 

 treated as a person who must be severely restrained from 

 becoming unduly wealthy at the expense of these other 

 interests, and should be thankful that he is not deprived of his 

 property altogether. 



It has really seemed as though the aim alike of the State 

 and of local governing authorities has been less to ensure to 

 the railway shareholders, who have undertaken a great public 

 work at their own risk and expense, a fair return on their 

 enterprise than to extract from the railway system huge sums 

 in the way of taxation. 



What the railway companies have paid in the way of " rates 

 and taxes " since 1894 is shown by the following table, which 

 I compile from the Board of Trade Returns for 1903 and 1910 : 



INCREASE ( + ) or 

 DECREASE ( - ) as 



AMOUNTS PAID FOR compared with 



YEAR. RATES AND TAXES. previous year. 



i i 



1894 .,. 2,816,000 



1895 3,011,000 .. (+) I95.o 



1896 .. 3,149,000 .. (+) 138,000 



1897 .. 3,249,000 .. (4-) 145,000 



