and other privileges conferred by the Dominion government
upon the Pacific Railway Company exceed $100,000,000 in value, and that,
with the amount of bonds and stock guaranteed by the government, the par
value of its various aids amounts to $215,000,000, or $48,000,000 more
than the cost of the road, as will be shown by the following table,
taken from the report of the Interstate Commerce Committee of the Senate
of the Fifty-first Congress:

Subsidy granted by the act of Parliament of
February 13, 1881 $25,000,000
Seven hundred and fourteen miles of railroad
constructed by the Dominion Government, original
cost and interest 36,760,785
Capital stock guaranteed 65,000,000
Loan to the company authorized by Parliament of
1884, in part 29,880,912
Balance of above loan 15,000 000
Bonds, interest guaranteed by the Dominion for
50 years at 3-1/2 per cent 15,000,000
Land grant bonds 25,000,000
Subsidy of $186,000 a year, for 20 years 3,720,000
------------
Total $215,361,697

Total cost of road, according to the company's
balance sheet of December, 1888 $131,350,019

The Dominion Government owns and operates four railways, the cost of
which up to June 30, 1890, was $52,800,000. It has also granted to
railroad companies cash subsidies which to June 30, 1889, amounted to
over $46,000,000. The total number of miles of railroad in Canada was
14,004 in 1890. The people of Canada have, since the political union of
the colonies, pursued an exceedingly liberal policy toward their
railroads, but it appears that the great indulgence of the government
only bred license in railroad circles. The evil increased from year to
year, until the many complaints on the part of the public against
railroad management caused Parliament in 1886 to appoint a commission to
examine into the alleged abuses and to report as to the advisability of
the adoption of a general railroad law, and the appointment of a Board
of Railroad Commissioners. The committee reported to the
Governor-General of Canada on the 14th of January, 1888, and, acting
upon its recommendation, Par