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Newspaper Page Text
'bmb H Vol. 6; No. 37. SALT LAKE CITY UTAH, MAY, 25, 1907. Price 5 .Cents M R 1 I Um Topics ot me Day S The financial and other difficulties B of the present city administration are Sj increasing right along. City Auditor B Alff has taken a tumble to himself B and refuses to issue any more war- M rants in excess of the legal debt limit. jH M'r. Alff is wise in taking this course B in self protection. His party blames B, him for the stand he has taken, but he H would be exceedingly foolish to run B his head into a noose for his party's B sake. H B The Sheets case is becoming more and more complicated every day and B the gross inefficency of the prosecu- tion more apparent. The case is now B so muddled up that it is extremely B doubtful if it can ever be brought bc B fore a jury even if handled in the fu B ture by the cleverest lawyers. The B prosecution of all these cases should B be taken entirely out of the hands of B those who have been playing at prose B cuting and competent lawyers should B be engaged to take charge of them. B District Attorney Loofbourow on ac B count of the close friendship which B for years has existed between him and B Chief Sheets should not be required to B prosecute him. Another reason why B the present prosecuting officers should B be relieved is that too much politics B has been injected into the case. Poli KS tics should have nothing to do with it whatever. The "American" party is K7 backing up the criminals and alleged B 1 criminals and as it is well known that B both the District attorney and the B county attorney in the past have been B strongly in sympathy with that party B they should not be required. to prosc B cute these cases. B ... B The defendants 'in the McWhirter Q robbery case and their newspaper B organs are very much perturbed over B the capture of Bell who it is charged B was the bogus policeman who assist- JKT etl in the robbery. They are afraid H Bell will "squeal" and tell all he B knows. An emissary from some of B the defendants found means to cotn- H mimical- with Bell and assured him B that if he kept silent they would stand Wb by him and urged him not to make a B booby of himself as Parrent, who turned state's evidence had done Bell, it is reported, said that unless they paid him well he would tell the facts and unfold a talc that would strike them with consternation. n GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP OF RAILROADS. "The only preventive for such terrible disasters as this," said a New Jersey senator, as he gazed upon the mangled and lifeless remains of his friends in the recent wreck of a Shrincrs excursion train in California " is government ownership of rail roads." A growing number of peo ple arc reaching the same conclusion as they read of the numerous fatal railway accidents in various parts ot the country. In ten years fatalities have doubled (that is it was twice as dangerous to travel or work on a train in 1905 as it was in 1895. In the nineteen years since the Interstate Commerce Commission began collect ing statistics nearly 6,ooo passengers over 48,000 employes, and nearly 90, 000 other persons have been killed on American railways and nearly one million more have been crippled maimed or injured in some way. This is a humiliating record for a nation that prides itself on its " progress." Only two nations in the world have a worse record, one is Spain a de generate nation, the other Russia, a land of tyrants and barbarians. A comparison of the death rate on some of the railroads in Europe with the rate in this country is most strik ing. In 1903, the German railroads killed .08 passengers out of every million carried, Belgium .05, Austria .07, France .02, Great Britan .07 and the United States .51. In 1905 the figures for this country had risen to .72, and the number for this year will largely exceed this, if the present record keeps up. There is very little hope, in my opinion, that these conditions can bo very greatly improved so long as railroads are privately owned. The long fight that had to be made to force the lailways to use the air I rake and the failure to enforce the use of automatic coupling devices show this fact. In England the law could: Is the use of the block system on every mile of passenger track us ing more than one engine, but ima gine such a law being passed any where in the United States 1 Why, in Utah, we couldn't even have a railway commission bill passed. The railway interests arc too strongly represented in our state legislatures and in congress for any laws to be passed which will add to the expen ses or decrease the profits of railway owners. The railway business is the same as any other privately owned busi ness. It is run for profit. It is car ried on to earn dividends for the stockholders, and incidentally for stock speculation purposes for the benefit of some of the insiders. To do this expenses must be kept down. The roadbed must be as in expensive as is compotablc with rea sonable safety absolute safiety would be too expensive; the the rolling stock as cheap as real economy of service will wairant and American railway managers do not seem to believe that block signals, automatic stops and safety switches arc at all econo mical. The largest amount of freight must be carried the greatest distances in the shortest timie, and so we have reckless speed, over-worked engineers and telegraphers, switches left open, danger signals disregarded and wrecks innumerable. No doubt many of the superinten dents of railways would prefer to put their tracks in the very strongest and safest condition, and equip their trains with every efficient safety de vice if they were given a free hand, but with the great majority of roads the necessity for immediate and con tinuous dividends prevent them from going to the expense such im provements would necessitate. The roads arc built for profit and so the c lenses of the road must be kept to the lowest possible point. When we come to the charges the railroads make for their siervices the rule seems to be to make them "all the traffic will bear." The statement has been made that the freight rates in this country are lower per ton mile than on the government owned roads in Europe. While this is true the statement is mi'-leading from the BB fact that in Europe the large propor- BH lion of bulky freight like coal, iron, BH ore, lumber, etc. is carried on the BH canals and otl:i:r water ways instead BH of by railroads. In this country such BH freight is nearly all hauled by the B railroads. WJicu these Items arc tak- BH en out the remaining classics of mcr- BH chaudisc pay a much higher rate in B country. B But probably the most vexatious B and unfair feature of the railway BB charges is the discrimination made H against localities and individuals in BJ the rates made by the railways in H this country. Rates arc higher from H the east to Salt Lake from the same BJ points than to the Pacific cities, and M I have been told by shippers here H that it is cheaper in some' cases to BJ have goods billed through from the BB cast to San Francisco and returned BJ to Salt Lake than it is to have them BJ shipped here direct. Spokane recent- BJ ly appealed to the Interstate Com- BB nicrcc Commission for relief from BJ the excessive freight rates to that M city, which were much higher than M to Seattle, Portland and other coast H cities. Of course thcsie cities pro- H tested against any change, as it gave B them a great advantage over the in- H land rival. There are hundreds ol Bfl such instances and the Interstate H Commission seems powerless to rem- Bfl edy them. B Competition in rates is virtually H eliminated. It is combination, "gentle- men's agreements," etc. instead of competition, and this is (eminently H business-like, when wc consider that BJ railroads arc built and run for profit fl not as charitable enterprises. Wc Bj would all likie to get into a little trust BJ ourselves and boost the prices ot BJ things wc have to sell, and keep the BJ fellow who sells us goods from rais- ing his prices. Why should the San BJ Pedro railway give any lower rates Bl to or from the Pacific coast than its ' alleged competitors? Will the West- H crn Pacific or the Moffat road give BJ any cheaper rates cast or west than H the roads now operating? They would H be foolish to do so if they ane aeing H built to make the most money for H their owners. Bj The combinotion between the vari- B ous railroads is becoming closer every B year as they arc gathered into fewer B hands and while this will undoubt- B edly result in greater economy ot ;'H