the Mail.

Stephen Ambrose says the transcontinental railroad "could not have been built without government help" (LIVE, September). Someone should have told that to James J. Hill, who actually built one without a penny of government subsidies. His Great Northern line demonstrates the weaknesses of the subsidized roads celebrated by Ambrose: During the huge financial panics of the late 1800s, it was the only transcontinental not to go bankrupt!

Hill, working on his own dime, selected the easiest grades (lowering costs) and, assuming people traveled to get where they were going, not to sightsee, accepted nonscenic routes. Government-subsidized railroads, which were paid in land based on miles of track laid, avoided direct routes, since fewer miles meant less land. Often they designed circuitous track layouts comparable to a Six Flags rollercoaster.

The history of privatized transport is often as neglected by conservative historians--who should be singing its praises--as it is by leftists. It's understandable when Marxists tout the "necessity" of federal transportation funding, but it is mystifying to see conservatives jump on this (broken?) bandwagon.

Larry Schweikart University of Dayton

In "End the Surplus Now" (FORWARD OBSERVER, October/November) James Glassman argues that the federal budget surpluses should be eliminated via tax reductions. He opposes using the surplus to reduce the federal debt: "To repay the debt, on which the feds pay interest of about 6 percent, Washington is sucking money out of the private sector, which could put the same dollars to work in new and expanded businesses with a return of about 10 percent. Seems like a bad bargain"

Glassman assumes that money used to pay off the national debt just "goes away" According to the Right, every dollar collected in taxes is wasted. To the Left, every dollar not collected is wasted by taxpayers.

Both views are nonsense. Some tax dollars do get wasted. Still, the government must collect taxes in order to carry out its legitimate functions. I'm proud my government provides a safety net which helps out my former neighbor, a lifelong sufferer of cerebral palsy.