The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-07-09

COme8
" vhelmiI & gconsideradop, that where there are two
reads of the same gauge connected by an inter-
yening road also Of the same gauge, and road /
Mt end makes lease with a road at |
the other end by virtue of being connected by |
an intervening road Of equal gauge, the lease |
is perfect Does anybody doubt the right to |
make the lease of the road in that of the case
Remember, that neither contracting party Is re- |
quired TO own the intervening road There is no |
ming said about the intery enng road. There is not
one word In the statute, or in any statute, that al
ludes TO owning the road so intervening. Now
comes in the overwhelming fact that II may be
held by an enemy in such a way that you cannot
use it, Itmay be held by hostile owners who, the
round and aler their gauge The lease is perfected
The bonds are issued; the stock is all taken but the
alteration of the gauge of the intermediate road
destroys the lease and destroy the bonds stock.
Thirty millions of dollars gone in the twnkling of
on eye! Can this be possiblel
ct this is the view taken by the other side. The
fact that the bonds are held by Foreigners suppose,
has no bearing upon the case, except that your
Honors would be apt to be more tender to them out
of generosity. The moment you decide for the
other side, you pronounce in favor Of the most tre
mendous Reputation ever known in judicial his
tory-a state Of things to which my friend Cover
nor Walker will soy that the occurrences in Mis-
sissippi few years ago were mere nothing These
companies your Honors, can never take up their
original status How is 1t possible that stock which
hos been cancelled and destroyed can be restored
man is not bound to surrender afranchise to the
sovereign power, but when he goes through the op-
Grafton of surrender, and when he goes through this
operation of consolidation, how is 1t possible for
any court to put him back where he stood before
To decide this case for the other side will be lend
ing the seal of your official appreciation to the
mcst monstrous reputation ever heard of on
earth. Observe, am supposing that one road
has been leased TO the other road, with a perfect
road running between them. ...
That this has been done in the most lawful man.
ner, in the most perfect manner-that IL has been
cone in such a way that not even Philadelphia
lawyer could object to II, am supposing the case
of perfect and absolute lease 1 am supposng
that these companies have got together by virtue Of
the existence of the intervening road-that they
have perfected their arrangements, cancelled their
old stock issued their new stock, sold their bonds
and put the whole thing into such shape that 1t
cannot be put back and that afer all this has been
done, this intervening road this third party, To-
reign to the contract and stranger altogether to
, the agreement, changes its gauge. What will then
be the Iesutl Is it possible that you can control
it in changing its gaugel Why, the law gives them
the hit TO change it whenever the directors deem
il advisable to do Shall another road say that
they shall not do this thingl Suppose we were to
60 to that other road and say to them "you must
not change your gauge; that will interfere with
our lease, and you must not put finger upon it"
They would at once answer, 1--WE do not know
you; we have not the honor of your acquaintance"
Here is a railroad, owned, we shall suppose, in
Baltimore, the Northern Central Railroad. Over
it, as connecting road, the cars of the Pennsylva
MIA Railroad run to the Philadelphia and Erie
4 Railroad. The Pennsy vania Railroad Company
! leased the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad, be.
cause they were connected by the intervention of
the Northern Central road the gauges of all three
roads being similar. Now, suppose the Northern
Central Company changes its gauge, Then the
lease of the Philadelphia and Erie is not valid
lease, the connection is not perfect. 1t is not me-
chanical connection, and, therefore, the lease they
have made is no lease. Now, can any man answer
me that point! Will any one say that If tho con-
nection formed between two roads by an interven-
ing road of similar gauge be broken by the change
OF that gauge, the interv ening road can be con-
trolled in their gauge Suppose a bill be filed in
the Court would promptly say there is no ground
for this suit. The law declares that they may
change their gauge at will, and that would finally
deter mine the matter.
am trying to place before the Court the facts
material 10 ,ne great questions AZ issue; am hdd my
speak. l am, indeed, endeavoring to throw out
the strongest considerations we can Offer not only
to sway the judgment of your Honors, but to in
duce his Honor Judge Read to reconsider the opin-
ion that he gave in Philadelphia and to show him,
If we can, that in this question the matter of gauges
is wholly uniTportant. . .... ..... a.. ..
All, but your road is not completed, say our op-
ponents. You have never built your road from
Franklin to Milton. Does that affect the question:
What prevents company that has made a lease
Of any other road be that lease perfect or imper-
feet, from building ten roads2 What prevents it
from building any number of roads which the
State may authorize it to buildl Is there any
striction in that statute whether they build the
road or do not build itl The intervening road is
not the road to be built; and suppose we never
build the road from Franklin to Milton, how does
that affect the construction OF the actl Is there
any intervening road required to be bult9 Is there
any requirement on our part to build any road, or
any inability to build a roed which the Legisla-
| ture gives us the power TO build2
But then there is suggestion from the other
side which we had not thought OF. 1t is so kind,
| so strkngly kind-its so amiable in Its nature,
| that do not know to which of the learned coun-
sci the other side to attribute it. They both
| such amiable men-both full of natural and
proper sympathy-that do not know TO whom TO
attribute this sudden interest in our welfare. The
objection they offer is "delays of transhipment."
Is it not kind in them thus to interest themselves
| in relieving from such difficultiesl But what
business is II of theirs what delays aTel If by
| having different gauge we require more expen-
sive uansbipment than VI the gauge were the same
whose business is thatl Suppose the delays are
greater, suppose the expense is greater will not
that help the Pennsylvania Railroad Company!
She has rival road in active operation. If people
see that they can make better arrangement with
her, and have better accommodation and less de-
lay, will not that help her If the transhipment is
bad, that is very bad thing; but for whoml For
| us! This is Kind of sympathy for which we
ought 10 be obliged TO our learned friends, il 1t
would in any way affect the decision in the case.
Let me, in what have further to say on this
| subject, call your attention 10 three things in de-
| termining how this word "connect' is to be con-
strued. say first that II is to be Interpreted ac
| cording to its popular meaning. In your phllo-
! sophieal reading your Honors must have made
| this observation that the popular meaning of a
| term is always the right meaning. The technical
meaning of a term is generally unreliable, for the
| reason that II is usually the work of a few
| scholars, while the popular meaning embodes the
| sense of all mankind, and therefore You will find
| that II is the popular meaning Of the word which
is the safest IN the interpret of any written
| of an act OF assembly. Here we must take the
popular meaning. These acts are not written by
| lawyers. They are not passed by lawyers. The
Legislature--happily or unhappily, leave the ho-
| Dorable Court TO determine-is not always filled
| with lawyers
You may remember the incident that occurred
| when the provision for the reYisal of our civil
| statutes was before the Legislature; a blank was
| left in the statute for two names, and a member
moved that IL be filled with the names Of one law
| yer and one man OF common sense! These bills
| may be passed by men of common sense, but not by
| lawyers. They are not written by LAWYERS, and Il
is therefore not TO technicaties that we are TO look
| in their Interpretation. If you say that the con-
| struction Of term is to be something different
Il aQpRntQtiOn q.