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bination is possible competition is impossible," their early legislation was bent to increase competition between capitalists.

The natural consequences of combination, discrimination, secret-rate making, preferences, the building up of seaports, and the oppression of non-competing points followed in spite of the most stringent legislation, until, in 1872, after over 3,300 acts had been passed and the expenditure of about £80,000,000 imposed upon the companies, a joint select committee recommended and Parliament provided for a railway commission, which has since become permanent and been increased in executive and judicial power. The salaries of the commissioners are £3,000 each, and some progress has been made in the regulation of the interests of the general public.

RAILROAD MILEAGE OF THE WORLD.

The following table, taken from Spofford's Almanac for 1883, gives the statistics of the railways of the world to January 1, 1881:

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According to the statement of H. R. Hobart, editor of the Railway Age, made before the Senate committee, the railway mileage of the United States and Territories at the commencement of 1885 was about 125,500 miles. This is the aggregate of distances between points on railroads, without taking cognizance of double or side tracks. The capital stock and bonded indebtedness show a value of $7,795,000,000, or more than four times the national debt, and 20 per cent. of the estimated wealth of the entire country. They employ about 725,000 persons, and thus support directly more than 3,000,000 of men, women, and children; and indirectly they aid in supporting many millions more concerned in the manufacturing, mercantile, and other interests of which the railways are very large patrons.

These figures appear magnified when the short period of their growth is considered. In 1828 there were 3 miles of railroad; in 1830, 41 miles; in 1840, 2,200 miles; in 1850, 7,500 miles; in 1860, 29,000 miles; in 1870, 49,000 miles; in 1880, 93,671 miles. These are the modern highways for commerce, and should differ only in extent and facilities from their predecessors back to the days of the Roman roads. The laws governing the Roman highways were the bases of the laws of the road to this day. They were built by sovereigns having the right of eminent domain, and their use was common and equal to all. They were supported by taxes upon the bordering people, or by tolls upon those who made use of them.

Under our somewhat complicated system of government the railroads were chartered by States, who bestowed upon them the right of eminent domain, and they were builded wholly or in part by contributions directly from the State or by the people along their line, and they were intended for the common and equal service of all who chose to make use of them. In their inception they were supposed to bear an analogy to the canal, and traces of this mistake appear in almost all of

the early charters.

It was believed that the railway, like the toll-roads of that day, would be built by one company and used by any and all who chose to prepare suitable carriages.

The charter of the Ithaca and Owego Railroad contains the following language:

Sec. 12. All persons paying the toll aforesaid may, with suitable and proper carriages, use and travel upon the said railroad subject to such rules and regulations as said corporators are authorized to make by the ninth section of this act. Special charters were the rule up to the passage of a general act, regarded as a convenience, by the Legislature of New York, which was imitated by the other States, and in the acceptance of some provision of which nearly if not quite all of the roads holding special charters have brought themselves under its general provisions.

Liberal legislation and a speculative spirit among our people led to overbuilding and misbuilding, and upon emerging from the crisis of 1857 many railroads found themselves embarrassed and the mortgages upon them were foreclosed.

ORIGIN AND RESULT OF STOCK WATERING.

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At this time, under a system of reorganization which appeared plausible and just to the people, to the stockholders, and to those holding other than first-mortgage claims, bankruptcy was given a novel and dangerous turn in railrord financiering, and 'additional capitalization," discounted upon the markets of the world, paved the way for the absolute control of this vast value and interest by a handful of men irresponsible to the people for the condition and conduct of their highways.

To-day it is represented that half a dozen gentlemen meeting in an office on Wall street may, by the power derived from ownership in these railways and wealth not obtained by the development of the country or improved transportation but by financial jugglery, dictate the profits or losses of men and communities throughout the land. By their fiat Rochester must stop milling that Minneapolis may thrive. All manufacturing establishments at Niagara Falls save one must suspend that the one may become wealthy. The capital and labor invested in thousands of oil wells and refineries must be lost that one combination may be made powerful. Villages and cities as well as individuals have been selected for development or for destruction. Mr. Charles Francis Adams, formerly of the Massachusetts commission, now president of the Union Pacific Railroad, before a committee of the Federal Congress in 1880, says:

I must ask you to dismiss all preconceptions from your minds and to fairly consider what is the real cause of the inequality, the injustice, the discriminations of the existing railroad service, those ills of the body-politic for which you are now undertaking to prescribe. I will not stop to dwell upon them or denounce them. It is not necessary to do so, for I hold them to be proven and their existence notorious. The record is full of evidence on the subject. We all know, every one knows, that discriminations in the railroad treatment and charges do exist between individuals and between places. We all know that the railroad tariffs fluctuate wildly, not only in different years, but in different seasons of the same year. We know that certain large business firms, the leviathans of modern business, can and do dictate their own terms between rival corporations, while the small concern must accept the best terms it can get. It is beyond dispute that business is carried hither and thither to this point, away from that point, and through the other point: not because it would naturally go to, away from, or through those points, but because the rates are made on an artificial basis to serve ulterior ends. In regard to these things I regard the existing system nearly as bad as any system can be. Studying its operations as I have long and patiently, I am ready now to repeat what I have repeatedly said before, that the most surprising thing about it to me is that the business community sustains itself under such conditions. The principles of law governing common carriers are habitually violated; special contracts covering long periods of time are made every day with heavy shippers under which a

common carrier, whose first duty it is to serve all equally, gives to certain parties a practical control of the markets. There is thus neither equality nor system, law nor equity, in the matter of railroad charges. A complete change in this respect is, a condition precedent to any equitable system of railroad transportation.

DISCRIMINATION.

The Senate committee, whose investigations have resulted in the presentation of this bill, present in their report eighteen specific causes of complaint against the railroad system, which may nearly all be epitomized as 'discrimination" in one form or another. They cite among the many instances the case of the Standard Oil Company, which has been enabled by railroad discrimination to practically control the oil supply of the continent, and who are reported to have realized $10,000,000 in a single season from diminished freights alone.

A single instance, given on page 199 of the report, is sufficient to condemn the system. It appears that the company operates the Macksburg pipe line which carries oil to the Cleveland and Marietta Railroad. This road was in the hands of a receiver, who was removed by Judge Baxter upon the investigation of the rates charged for the transportation of oil. It was found that he was charging all independent shippers 35 cents per barrel, and the rate to the pipe line was but 10 cents. It appears that the Standard Oil Company owned the pipes through which the oil is conveyed from wells owned by individuals, with the exception of certain pipes owned and used by one George Rice, carrying oil from his wells, and to get rid of this competition the assistance of the receiver was sought and obtained.

The company offered to give the railroad three thousand dollars' worth of business each month, while Rice could give but three hundred dollars' worth. If its demands were not complied with it threatened to extend its pipe line from Macksburg to Marietta, on the Ohio River. What those demands were was stated as follows in a letter filed by the receiver as part of his defense:

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The Standard Oil Company threatens to store and afterward pipe all oils under its control unless you make the following arrangements, namely: You shall make a uniform rate of 35 cents per barrel for all persons except the Standard Oil Company. You shall charge them 10 cents per barrel for their oil, and also pay them 25 cents per barrel out of the 35 cents per barrel collected of other shippers.

THE RELIEF PROPOSED BY THIS BILL.

It is not necessary to multiply instances. The able report of the committee, with the testimony taken at fairly selected and widely distributed points, is before each Senator for his information. The bill, judiciously drawn and based upon the information impartially obtained, may be epitomized as legislating upon five points concerning which it appears to me that no disinterested difference of opinion can exist.

First. It provides that all charges shall be reasonable and just. Second. That unjust discrimination shall be a misdemeanor, punishable by a penalty against the corporation and a personal penalty against the officer willfully violating.

Third. That facilities shall be furnished without unjust discrimination under similar penalties.

Fourth. Charging more for a shorter than a longer distance in the same direction shall be presumptive evidence of unjust discrimination which may be rebutted by the carrier, and the commission may establish rules to regulate this.

Fifth. That the rates and regulations shall be made public in such a manner as the commission shall prescribe, and ten days' notice is required of any advance in rates. The rates so established shall not be varied from, and violation shall subject the carrier to mandamus upon

the relation of the commission and to an injunction to restrain further violation.

QUALIFICATIONS OF THE COMMISSIONERS.

For the carrying out and enforcement of these provisions, with authority to require reports and investigate all complaints and with power to proceed in the courts to enforce the law, a commission is provided, and upon the character and efficiency of this commission would seem to depend the real and specific value of the legislation. Holding in mind the fact that the estimated wealth of this nation is divided between the railroad corporations and all other property-owners in the proportion of 1 to 5; that the 20 per cent. represented in railways has become concentrated under the control of men who may be counted upon the ten fingers, while the 80 per cent. is diffused among individuals and companies of diverse interests; that our present action is taken because of the oppression of the 80 per cent. by the organized 20 per cent., it would seem that we fall short of our duty if by the terms of this bill we prevent the employment of the best talent attainable to represent the interests of the people.

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This commission will be regarded as the people's attorneys, and should be composed of men at least the equals in legal acumen and practical force of those whose unjust schemes they are expected to thwart and whose unprecedented powers they are designed to direct. Concentrated capital never mistakes cheapness in the employment of its agents for economy, and salaries of from $12,000 to $25.000 for those intrusted with the business management of railways are not uncommon. bill provides that the commissioners shall have no other business and that the main office shall be in Washington, thus necessitating or indicating a residence here and an income limited to the amount named in the bill. On this account I urge upon Senators and the committee having the bill in charge the serious consideration of an amendment of section 15 increasing the amount of compensation.

I do not expect that the passage of this bill and the appointment of any five gentlemen who might be named under its provisions for its enforcement will at once bring the millennium to American transportation. For forty years a constant struggle of wits has been going on between the grasping corporations and Legislatures endeavoring to restrain them, and to-day we are confronted with successful, legalized wrongs remaining uncontrolled and unredressed. But we shall have done our duty when we shall have done our utmost for the future security of the people. I do not believe that this bill will accomplish radical results, but it is a step in the right direction, both for the people and for honest railroad management. For many years a contest between the safe-maker and the burglar has been waged. Each failure of the safe to withstand its robber has begotten improvements believed to be final, and each in turn has yielded to human cunning and ingenuity. But it is not for the safe-maker to stop in his endeavors. If this bill becoming a law should fail utterly to supply a remedy, another attempt must be made. If it is partially successful, we shall have accomplished something and new remedies will be suggested by its partial failure.

THE COMPLAINT OF THE PEOPLE.

An examination of the report and testimony will not show that railroad corporations are making too much money, or that the average rates of transportation are too high. On the other hand they have been in the main unprofitable, and transportation between competing points in America is the cheapest in the world. The complaint of the people is

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