New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-08-08
PUBLIC sUPKnvssIoN PRoPosKD.

Of some long tolerated sbose, n"t cause they
sre the mcst guilty, but because they the near
est when tie hard is raised st length to strike.
S,ue fe,rful corrective. perhaps. vii one day
fsr upon the men who are guilty Of the slaughter
o. car-losd Of rsiroad passenger; perhaps the
Lar gipe Of President ard Superintendent, or, It
uisy b., of whole Board of Directors, unless, n
the mean time ihsre sts,l BE- established q neE
code Of railroad morality, the law can be applied
o. peaceful ard effective remedy.
No such punishment legal or Illegal is likely to
fall upon Nes-r. VIM. ST III, President Soptrin-
dent and Director, Philip Ford, Treasurer,
Vi.scher Ten Eyck, s-cret.y, Elrptales Wilkes,
LsrsiDg Pruyp, Erastls Corning. W. Bender,
J H. Reynolds, N. L. viee, V. Ten Eyck, J. A
Wilson, {. B. Lsu,iug, .ud C. S. Williams ID rect.
or. Of the Vermont aud CsDsda Railroad. or upon
the resl mspseers TIE boz tholjers Of tie company
who have tssen possession of the road. while these
gentle M It'll figure Us the Directors. They viii
escape al punishment, AID yet, through the
completely of ell Of them, and the direct
agency cf some, thirteen lives have been taken In
the ordinary relations of life, We have no doubt
these are all respectable and smiable gentlemen;
one ould be wrong who should suspect on meet
ipg either Of Them that lie in the presence OF
rufisn or murderer; and yet the simple fact :,
that tbese men are in far dangerous relations
to oil Of us who may happen TO haze journeys to
make in certain directions than the most villain
Gus " short boy" whom We might happen to meet
OF Ozark night in an unfrequented street can pos
sbly &c. For they are, 10 doubt the responsible
officers Of other railroads we'll Of the Vermont
opd Cara ada and We have no reason to suppose
that that responsibility is discharged 10 aDo'hrr
ard better wsy in other cases They know that
there are or they do not know that there are not,
which is practically the same thing, rotten bridges
on other lines under their control; and any Of Us
whom necessity or pleasure may call from home
tomorrow, do lot know that We are not starting
for Just that spot where We are certainly to meet
with horrible de,tb.
But shall we hold Messrs White and Corning
and Pruyn and their associates specially response
bic They might and probably would, turn upon
US and say. eve are 10 worse than our fellows
True. 10 the twenty -ei ght thousand miles OF raul
rosd which cobweb this country, who doubts that
there are many bridges, and many culverts, and
many miles Of unballasted track, and defect
i've rail, and all the Deficiencies of the
non road, which Directors Wink at or *.
more Presently the times being bad, money
scarce. travel small, and receipts going conse-
quenty to bolster credit AID not to keep roads 10
repair, We hear Of some new and appalling disas-
ter. Is nobody specially to blame Unhapply,
no; but every body is. Neither justice nor reason
will permit us to single out some special Superln-
t.ndent or SPECIAL Board for punishment, because
that has happened to them which might happen
anywhere else, and probably will happen in
a dozen other places before returning prosperity
induces a change, or the evil becomes Of such
magnitude that it corrects itself Put the blame
where it belopgs-on the system. We want first
q moral sentiment in the whole com nunty not
sparnodic indignation; then We want law, aud
sp-cial officers to proyide for its enforcement and
when We have these, We shall also have Directors
VII F, recognize a responsibility to the public which
they will discharge or take the consequences, and
not mere Boards, who look on the public as part
of the material on which they may work for GER
tain material results.
But how to get this public sentiment, which,
above everything else, Directors viii neither
dare defy nor disregard 1t is not difficult
to see how it must be created. Let US make
ole prsctcal suggestion. 1t is said that the
neiQhbors knew the condition OF the bridge
where, on Tuesday last go many persons were
sacrfced-some perhaps, who two days before, In
their Sabbath worship, prayed, From sudden
death. Good Lord deliver US r. That the cul
vert on the Southern Michigan Road where two
or three weeks ago forty lives were lost-wm
known TO be unsafe, is also asserted. Why did
not the public know it Let silence on such
fact be held to be criminal Wherever there be
III elect on any road, which can hardly fail to Do
known in its neighborhood, let the country be
war, ed of it. Robbery and murder we look upon
with wholesome dread and adherence, and any
section of country which is infested by robbers aud
uurderers is duly stgmatized as region which
Do man goes into except on urgent necessity, and
then thoroughly armed. Apply this morality to
railroads and railroad directors Permit no man
to 20 gnorantly upon any road where danger
threatens; permit no man TO 90 unmarked by pub
lie reprobaton who dare accept an official po-
sition upon such road, and let the reflex of
that reprobation rest upon any corporation that
shall venture to choose him an officer The
public press of the country We venture to say, will
every " here lend itself TO such work. and when
once well begun, railroad companies will come to
consider Themselves, as in fact they are, the ser
wants of the public, and learn tina. the public good
is their first duty-their own interest only