_.. 74 



railways and for their clients have not been actively" 

 pushed is certainly a matter for criticism, although: 

 the entire blame for the negligence shown by our rail- 

 way managers is not due so much to the want of appre- 

 ciation on the part of the railway managers as to the 

 indifference of the State to the proper interests of the 

 farmers and, also, to apathy on the part of the farmers. 



RAILWAYS AND THE ELEVATORS. 



To thrust the blame altogether on the railways is 

 puerile, for the railways were among the first to under- 

 take the construction of elevators, which undoubtedly 

 they would have extended had not the authorities seen 

 fit to place difficulties before them, through political 

 machinations. The government held a wrong idea of 

 what was aimed at by the construction of elevators by 

 the railways. 



That the railways have remained absolutely pas- 

 sive ever since is untrue, for in response to the demand 

 for deposits, sheds, etc., without any particular good 

 will of the State, or any than most perfunctory gua- 

 rantees as to how the investments in such were to be 

 regarded by the State railway experts for the compu- 

 tation of the capital and its corresponding taxation by 

 the State, and often in the face of considerable opposi- 

 tion by interested parties, who unhappily have much 

 to say in the policy followed by the managements, se- 

 veral of the leading companies have inverted consider- 

 able sums, in the construction of "tinglados", either 

 for their own account or in combination with capital- 

 istic houses dedicated to the business. 



Undeniably, experience has shown that such " gal- 

 pones", ' ' tinglados ' ', etc., are merely expensive sub- 

 stitutes for "lonas", as a way of sheltering cereals and 

 are useless where they are intended as a cheap and 

 easy way of avoiding the erection of the more expen- 

 sive elevators or grain silos. 



That the railways have not persisted in their ori- 

 ginal intentions regarding elevators, just because they 

 had no encouragement from any particular quarter, is 

 certainly a short-sighted policy and of winch they are- 

 now reaping the disadvantages. However, in regard to* 

 the present turn which matters have taken in the po- 

 licy towards railway enterprise, I cannot but recog- 

 nise that, as far as the present moment is concerned,, 

 what was to be expected some years ago of an enter- 

 prising management can no longer be anticipated. 



