must also greatly interfere with the introduction of foreign capital, without which the development of the State will be very considerably retarded. Another law relating to the railroads was passed in 1891, and the following instructive comments are derived from the report of the Texas and Pacific RR. and have been issued over Mr. Gould's signature:"The crusade directed against all corporate interests in Texas, particularly railways, during the past year, culmi"nated in the passage of an Act by the Legislature on April 3, 1891, creating a Railway Commission, clothed with plenary powers, from whose arbitrary decisions there was no adequate relief provided. 66 66 66 66 66 66 "This commission, the members of which were appointed "by the Executive of the State, organised on June 10, and at once proceeded to the consideration of existing "freight rates, with the avowed purpose of making a radical reduction, and in a brief period thereafter commenced the promulgation of tariffs based on mileage, fixing rates on "all the principal commodities transported on your line, "reducing them to an extent wholly unwarranted by the "existing circumstances, and in the face of statements clearly showing that the rates previously prevailing were "only fairly remunerative." 66 The attitude of the Railroad Commission has been challenged by the railroad interest, and it is gratifying to note that the Courts recognised the injustice, to say nothing of the folly, of the new legislation, and have not upheld it in a recent decision. The most extensive of all American railroad systems originated in 1859, when the Atchison and Topeka RR. Company applied for and obtained a charter for a railway connecting two obscure townships in Kansas, situated at a distance of some forty miles from each other. Owing to financial difficulties, and also as a result of the economic disturbances caused by the outbreak of the civil war, its promotors were unable to commence construction, and in 1863 they transferred their charter to other parties who sought and acquired powers to extend the line beyond Topeka towards the Southwest of Kansas, and in the direction of Santa Fé, the capital of New Mexico, the name of which was added to those of the two Kansas townships, so that the company was henceforth known as the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé RR. Co. Congress endowed the new corporation with a valuable land grant amounting to 6,400 acres for every mile of road constructed, on condition, however, that the entire railway should be completed within the ten years expiring March, 1873. This clause nearly deprived the company of its land grant, for the depression following in the wake of the war rendered the commencement of construction an impossibility, and six years elapsed before a start was made. The section between Topeka and Emporia was not opened for traffic before August, 1870, and that between Topeka and Atchison, which was taken in hand next, as late as May 13th, 1872. 1 The company received altogether 2,934,660 acres of land in Kansas. On that day only ten months remained before the expiration of the period stipulated under the Land Grant Act, and the company had built barely one-fourth of its line; yet so energetically did its managers push work forward that the requisite 340 miles were completed within seven months, the Eastern boundary of Colorado being reached on December 28th, 1872. Even in America, where roads are built with lightning rapidity, this feat has no parallel. As the result of this rapid construction the cost of the road considerably exceeded the estimates, and the company contracted a floating debt which soon threatened to involve it in embarrassments. Shortly after the opening of the line the crisis of 1873 broke out, and the creditors asked for payment; and serious consequences might have ensued had not the company succeeded in contracting for a new loan. with the proceeds from which the floating debt was paid. At the same time the bondholders consented to a postponement of the payment of the interest for 1873 and 1874; the cash which became available thereby was spent on improvements, and coupons were funded, bondholders receiving twice their face value in consolidated mortgage bonds. During the financial crisis no attempts at extension were made, but in the same degree as confidence revived this company, like so many others, resumed construction; and when the building craze of the early eighties reached its climax the Atchison was extending its lines faster than any of its fellows. In 1875 its system was but 712 miles in length; by the end of 1884, 2,375 miles were in operation, and still the company kept on extending its lines, especially those in Kansas, until in 1887 it owned a network embracing over three thousand miles of railway, and operated in addition some 3,500 miles of proprietary lines, so that the system within ten years had increased its length from 786 miles to 6,069, and had grown from a local line into a system directly interconnecting some of the most remote parts of the Union. Yet the ambition of its managers was by no means satisfied; there were lines connecting with the Golden Gate and the Gulf, with the Rocky Mountains and the Rio Grande; what was now desired was direct communication with Chicago, and accordingly the Chicago, Santa Fé and California was started, and completed in 1888. In that year the system of owned lines reached a length of 7,113 miles1; and to this huge mileage were added (1890) the St. Louis and San Francisco and Colorado Midland systems, which swelled the total to 9,327·51 miles, more than is operated by any other railroad company in the world. The table on p. 561 taken from the report for the year ending June 30th, 1891, clearly shows the gradual growth of the system and its component parts. The St. Louis and San Francisco system, 1.863 miles, and the Colorado Midland Railway, 350 miles, both of which are leased, are omitted. About one-half of these lines are situated in the Eastern and Southern part of Kansas, where local traffic of the first magnitude has been gradually developed; but, as a glance at map 4 will show, the Atchison is no longer merely a local system. Its lines extend to the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Michigan, to the Gulf of California and the Pacific Coast, into the Rockies and into the Sonora. One road goes to Barstow, Cal., to meet the Southern California system; another traverses the Indian Territory and Texas; a third connects for San Francisco by the Southern Pacific, which it meets at Mojave; a fourth goes to El Paso, where it joins the Mexican Central, a road which owes its origin to the same bold and enterprising Bostonians who conceived the Atchison, with which it has close traffic agreements. Other lines go to Denver, Panhandle and St. Louis, but nearly all ultimately lead to the fine road which runs from Kansas City to Chicago. Chicago is the principal terminus of the system; it is Chicago to which the Atchison has made itself tributary, to which it gives direct communication with 1 Lines owned jointly are as usual counted half. Statement showing Mileage of Roads Operated at Close of Fiscal Years from 1870 to 1890. Railroads. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe RR. System-Proper. Railroad. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe RR. System-Proper.. Consolidated System (May 1, 1888). Chicago, Kansas & Western RR. California Southern Ry.. California Central Ry*. Southern California Ry. (Nov. 1, 1889). St. Louis, Kansas City & Colorado RR. Mar 31 Mur.31 Mar31 Mar31 Dec. 31 Dec,31 Dec.31 Dec. 31 Dec. 31 Dec.31 Dec. 31 Miles. Miles. Miles. Miles. Miles. Miles. Miles. Miles. Miles. Miles. Miles. 398 398.58 506 528 550 881 1,886 2,174 2 569 2,569 2,694 2,746 3,794 5,486 6,530 6,529 6,527 407 407 407 407 407 407 407 51 51.00 51 56 56 56 28 28 51 51 532 532 537 1,915 2.202 2,620 2,620 3,226 3,279 4,332 6,069 582 582 582 582 7,113 7,111 7,110 American Railroads. 36 |