DEPARTMENT OF RAILWAYS.
I went from there to the Department of Railroads and was given a copy
of freight and passenger rates which on examination proved to be very
simple and that required no great lawyers with legal cunning to draw up
as they did in my country in making tariff schedules to fool the people
and open a wider door for graft rebates and special privileges. The
passenger rate was five mills per mile for any and every distance, with
children under seven years of age free, with but one exception-all
children attending the District High School were carried free to and
from school.
Sleeping cars were provided for all persons traveling over one thousand
miles on the train, but no person under that distance was permitted to
occupy one. There were no Pullman or Palace Coaches and no special
train was allowed save only to the President or member of his Cabinet
on official business. The railway lines were run through the country so
as to bring the produce of the people to market and to bring all the
people in touch with one another. Hundreds of short lines were in
operation that by themselves did not pay operating expenses, but as
they formed a part of the whole railway system of the Republic under
one management, they were beneficial to the people. The rate for all
kinds of freight, except grain and vegetables, was five mills per ton
per mile for all distances, and for grain, fruit and vegetables two
mills per ton per mile.
All Government freight and employees were carried free, but a strict
account was kept so as to prevent fraud. No discrimination between
persons or places was allowed. Everyone was placed on the same footing,
but to prevent conspiracies in restraint of trade if a person in any
district shipped goods into another district and offered them for sale
for a less price, with the freight added, than he sold them for in his
own district, he was punished by six months' imprisonment at hard labor
in the district where he violated the law, and if any person, either of
his own account or acting as agent for another party, sold goods
brought from a foreign country for a less price than the wholesale
price of the goods at the place where they were produced or
manufactured with twenty per cent. added for freight and other
expenses, was punished by six months' imprisonment at hard labor, and
if not a citizen of the Republic of Eurasia, was expelled from the
country after serving out his sentence, for, as a prominent officer
remarked to me: "We do not permit any Standard Oil methods in our
country." There were no tariff duties levied. Every article produced or
manufactured (except those produced or manufactured by the Government,
which were prohibited) were admitted free, provided the Government of
that country admitted articles produced or manufactured in Eurasia
free; if not, then a non-intercourse decree was issued by the President
of Eurasia to be in force until the other country accepted free trade.
The railways were built directly by the Government, employing soldiers
to do the work, and no contracts were allowed, Government
superintendents and foremen bossing the construction, even to getting
out ties in the Government forests and the rails made in Government
mills and foundries. The Government built railroads at less cost than
they were built for in any other part of the world and politicians had
no chance to get their political friends into soft berths at the
expense of the taxpayers. No money was paid by the General Government
for right of way.
All claims for damages arising out of the building of railways had to
be presented to the District Court, and the law provided that the
District Court could grant such compensation as was just, but in no
case could it exceed the assessed value of the land per acre that the
owner had sworn to previously as the full value of his land, to be paid
out of the funds of the district. There were only two forms of taxation
in Eurasia, a land tax and a graduated income tax. There was no tax on
improvements of any kind, either on city or country property, but on
the land only; by this wise system of taxation encouraging the people
to improve their property and beautify and discouraging land
speculation; and when the Government wanted land owned by private
parties who were citizens of the Republic (for no foreigner was
permitted by law to own land directly or indirectly, so that the curse
of Absentee Landlordism which was the ruin of Ireland, should never
blight the happiness of the people of Eurasia), they added up the
assessments for the previous five years and divided them by five and
added twenty per cent. to it in payment for the land, together with
fair compensation for any buildings there might be on it; so that if
the owner swore to a low valuation on his land he was the loser; but
the District Court, sitting as a Board of Equalization every year,
could fix the value of the land at what they considered proper.