Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1857-10-24
ror the ss.sd.rd.
A. VOICE FROM THE PEOPLE.


- AsyOICE FROM THE PEOPLE
We, the people, hold II 10 be our unquestonabie
right, when deprived Of any privilege Or immunity
guaranteed 70 Us by nature by statute, or BY Gus
tom, to make known our grievances aud petition for
their redress. And this right we feel inclined 10
exercise If for no other reason to keep in mind the
fact that we haze it. t, .,ss.-
One Of the most common grievances of which we
have to complain in this blessed lind where we, the
people, role arises from the partial iliberal or un-
just policy pursued by public corporations which
have become almost as numerous as the locusts Of
Egypt and not much less destructive.
These bodies being, according to popular belief,
and perhaps according to their own belief destitute
Of souls, and consequently in no danger OF future
retrbuon, hesitate not to deprive "a, the people, OF
any right or privilege whenever their interest or
inclination prompts them SO to do. And yet, as We
understand IT, all these bodies created by our,
the peoples, agents, and for the public good. To
charter banking or railroad companies with peculiar
privileges, for any other purpose than the public
good, would be unjust and oppressive, and would
not be submitted to by freemen for an hour But
these companies once chartered, entirely to
forget, rather never to remember, that they have
any other object to promote than their own interest
Hence, when banking company find that they can
realize larger per cent by employing their money
in speculation than by oaning it to the people, they
do not hesitate to do it. us II it were perfectly right
for them to speculate at the peoples expense.
When a crisis passes over the country, and the
safety Of banks is endangered, they promptly sus-
pend, as If it were perfectly honorable for bank to
do what would be considered dishonorable in an
individual. Now we, the people, believe that it is
wrong for bank to suspend, and Of course, that
such thing as suspension ought not to be known
in the history Of banks. To give their bills curren
cy they have to promise to pay them on demand.
If all banks were required TO do this and were all
known to be able to do it, there would never be
Al Ii.
specie, would be universally preferred to it; and
even il there should be- and every dollar should be
Withdrawn from their vaults it would not diminish
by one cent the amount Of money in the country or
create public distress to the amount Of one dollar.
Bank suspensions and bank failures are, therefore,
the real causes of all the distress occasioned by
crises such as the country is passing through.
But 1t was not my purpose to speak particularly
about banks. They universally ignore the true
object of their creation, and become mere money
monopoes, living and acting for the lone benefit of
the individual stockholders, that merely invest their
money in them for the avowed purpose OF receiving
dividends, and the people have long since learned to
expect no accommodation from them except when
it may happen to be an accommodation to them to
grant it. This is said Of banks in general there are,
are happy to know, some honorable exceptions,
though the NUMBER we believe, is small
The case is far different however, with railroad
companies. Men who invest money in them almost
universally do it with view to promote the public
good to increase the means of public accommoda-
ton, without any special reference to the dividends.
The people, therefore, have right to expect reason
able accommodations from them; and they have
been accustomed to receive all that could be grant
ed consistently with the well being OF the compa-
MES. Have they not, then, right to complain
when they denied these reasonable and customs
ary privileges? Is it not q fragrant perversion OF
the purpose for which railroads are constructed and
indeed an act of gross injustice to debar the people
who live them from accommodations which
could be granted without detrment to the company,
and without injustice to those who from more dis
tant localities pass over them? This injustice, we
conceive, have suffered during the present year,
by one Of our railroads adopting the strange and
novel policy Of refusing to receive or to deliver
paseans~s "~der Mt am places,
other than regular stations This innovation upon
time.honored CUSTOM which is source OF very
great inconvenience to many good friends and lib
era patrons of the road has appeared to us strange
even to establishment, because we have been unable
TO perceive any thing like sufficient reason for it.
All that through passengers require is that they
be delivered at the end OF the road in time for other
trains going in the same direction This is all that
the interest of the road requires and this being
secured, the next most important interest rs to in
duce the largest possible number Of way passengers
to travel upon the road, by afordng to them every
reasonable accommodation. To secure each of these
interests there is ample time, as every traveller VIII
testify who has once passed over the road and ex-
perenced the tcdium Of two mortal hours and half
spent in awaiting the departure Of the next train.
Hence il appears that the innovation OF which we
complain wants even the ordinary apology Of self
interest, and we trust that the good sense and the
generous hearts of the directors will induce them to
return the liberal policy of former times and we,
the people, will bless them for their generosity and
cheerfuly pay them for the accommodations afford.
ed us. POPULuS.