led to a larger reward than brains and
muscle, for the reason that the latter is more plentiful than the
former.

But there is a third class of railroad authors, who, there is reason to
believe, enter the literary arena in defense of railroad evils not
solely for the love they bear the cause, but as the paid advocates of a
class of men who feel that their cause is in need of a strong defense at
the bar of public sentiment. It would be difficult to account in any
other way for the extravagant statements and one-sided arguments made by
this class of writers. Yet railroad literature has not confined itself
to the retrospective field. Its scope has grown with the significance of
its contributors. In more than one instance have men at the head of
large railroad corporations, influenced by temporary interest, become
the authors of documents containing assertions and prophecies highly
pathetic at the time, but subsequently shown to be so replete with
falsehoods and absurdities that few railroad managers would to-day be
willing to father them. Thus Alexander Mitchell, the late president of
the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad Company, addressed on the
28th of April, 1874, shortly after the passage of the Wisconsin Granger
Law, a letter to Governor Taylor, containing the following passages:

"That it [the Wisconsin law] has effectually destroyed all
future railroad enterprises, no one who is acquainted with
its effect in money centers will for a moment doubt.... The
whole amount received on the investment [Chicago, Milwaukee
and St. Paul Railroad] for interest and cash and stock
dividends, amounts to only six per cent. per annum of the
actual cost of the property. I submit to your Excellency,
and through you to the people of the State, whether this is
more than a fair and reasonable return for the capital
invested in these improvements. Is it not far below such
reasonable amount? The best and most careful economists
admit that no less than ten per cent. per annum should be
allowed on such investments.... The directors of this
company have at all times had a due regard to the interests
of the public, and a desire to furnish transportation at the
lowest possible figures, and, although not receiving a fair
and reasonable return on their investments, they have for
the last four years prior to 1873 steadily reduced th