The Railroad Question: A historical and practical treatise on railroads, and remedies for their abusesLarrabee, William
History
The Railroad Question: A historical and practical treatise on railroads, and remedies for their abuses
Larrabee, William
Railroads; Railroads -- United States; Railroads and state -- United States
The following are the principal methods that have been tried or proposed
for the control and management of railroads:
_1. Publicity of the railroad business._
It is held by some that the secrecy with which railroad business is at
present transacted is the source of all evils. It is contended that if
railroads were required to report to the public every item of income and
expenditure, discrimination and extortion, as well as bribery and
corrupt subsidizing, would soon cease. If the companies were compelled
to render an account of all receipts, special rates and drawbacks could
not safely be granted by railroad managers, or, if granted, would soon
lose their charm for recipients, for it would be but a short time until
others would demand and even exact the same privileges. An attorney
would, as a member of the legislature, be slow to accept a retaining fee
if the amount of such fee were made known to his constituents.
Publishers would hesitate to apply for railroad subsidies if the
companies were compelled to render periodically an itemized account of
such expenditures, and railroad companies would, under similar
circumstances, hesitate to pay subsidies, for the subsidized journal
would soon be without patrons. If the items annually expended upon
railroad lobbies were reported, these lobbies would soon be frowned, or
even hissed, out of legislative halls. There can be no doubt that full
and complete publicity in railroad business would correct a large number
of existing abuses, and it should therefore be insisted upon as one of
the first and essential features of railroad reform. It is questionable,
however, whether railroad managers are so sensitive to public opinion
that publicity could be relied upon as a cure for all railroad evils. To
what extent it is desirable to supplement publicity by other measures
of State control will be considered hereafter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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