Page:The truth about the railroads (IA truthaboutrailro00elli).pdf/40

Rh sufficient for two tracks and with a limited terminal at the end might be obtained for $170,000,000, but would probably cost $200,000,000. This would be an investment of $170,000 or $200,000 a mile for the New York terminal alone of a railroad between Chicago and New York, and in addition right of way between the two cities, intermediate terminals, and the railway itself must be obtained. Every man, of his own knowledge, is aware of the fact that property suitable for terminals, in common with other real estate, has advanced very much in value in all cities, big and little, in the United States in the last twenty-five years. The railway-owner is paying taxes on those increased values and is surely as much entitled to a return on the increased value as is the owner of a farm, or the owner of a business block.

Now, who is the owner of this enormous and complicated piece of machinery built up in the last fifty years? The best figures obtainable as to the number of stockholders show 440,000, and while the number of bondholders Rh