Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1867-09-17
"rHE CURSE OF MoNopo11Es.n


State Agricultural Fair, last week, he
Il few sentences which have u
palpsble bearing on the Dutch Flat
Railroad Company, as well rs on the
Steamship Lines from San Francisco to
the Isthmus and thence east. He says
that Congress may prescribe a lower
rate Of fare. Why didn't he say some-
thing about this matter whom he was in
Cougress2 But let that pass; and ac-
knowledge that in so prominent a place
as a California State Agricultural adj
dress i, is well that a word or W even
has been uttered by some one against
the monopolies that are and that threat
en- to be-.
General Bidwell, when in Congress,
could have introduced a bill explicitly
calling the Dutch Flat Company to Or
der in charging coin where the present
law only entities them to charge Legal
Tenders. We expect Senator Cole will
make this move in December, and then
we shall see who of Nevada will oppose
it!
General Bidwell in his State Fair ad-
dress recites:
The difficulty lies in this, that all the
principal channels Of travel are in the
hands Of mouopolies, and are likely to
continue to be SO. 1t requires quite a
fortune for a laboring man to make the
journey from Europe to California. II
takes as much pay for the passage Of a sim
gle man from Ntr York TO San Francisco
as IL does to purchase a farm Of leo acres
from the Government Of the United States
after he gets here. II there is any legiti-
mate remedy for the obstacles in the
way of immigration it should be sought
for aud supplied. Agriculture and all
our industrial interests are involved in
this vital question. Hence it is proper
TO make this inquiry upon the present
occasion. We know that ~monopolies
are always onerous and dangerous TO
the best interests Of u people. They
may be less dangerous perhaps in a free
country like ours, where exhorbitant
charges will, in most cases diminish
patronage, beget opposition, curtail re-
sourcess, and thus wound in the most
vital part soulless corporations. Ex-
cessive prosperity may produce extrav-
sgance, extravaganza beget indebted
ness and Indebtedness dissolution. But
the prosperity Of aState-a great coun-
try like ours-ought not to be dependent
on these fortuitous or %capracious REM
edies.
| believe there 10 a remedy if the peo-
pie will it-a legal remedy-withiu the
just scope and meaning Of NJ national
and organic law. BY what right does
Congress regulate the carrying Of pas
seugers and commerce on the ocean ?
I do not pretend to be a Constitutional
eIpounder-I have no claim to legal
learning, and consequently no reputa-
ton as a lawyer to lose. l profess SIM
ply to feel, in common with other citi-
zens, a deep and abiding interest in all
that concerns the prosperity Of the Com
monwealth. There is but one clause in
the Constitution which covers the case,
but that clause is, in my judgment, am
Pile for all purposes-domestic al we'll
as foreign. In connection with the
clause ''to provide for the general well
fare" the power is certainly, in my
judgment, unquestionable. Congress
has power, namely, Il now quote the
Iaor,axa ae tha Nnnattfuftopl
"To regulate commerce. with foreign
nations, and among the several States,
and with the Indian tribes"
What regulation, | ask, al be more
important to commerce along the seve-
raj States than to fix a reasonable limit,
beyond which even extortion cannot 60,
to the charges for freight and travel?
Our country is expanding into wonder
full proportions. So rapid is our ad-
vancement that many who have al
ready passed the meridian Of life, and
are now witnessing this interesting scene
may live to see the United States the third
nation Of the earth in population and
territorial extent, and the first in power,
intelligence, goodness, and having all
the attributes essential to make US a
great, good, independent and happy
people. We are already the first nation
in the cause Of freedom and the defense
Of human rights. The travel, commerce
and free and untrsmmeled i~ntercommu-
nication between the States composing
this vast nation Of ours are Of vital i'm
portsnce in order to dissipate prejudice
aud bind all its members into. one indis-
soluble and harmonious whole. The
prosperity of agriculture, of mining, of
manufactures, in a word, of all interests,
hinges upon the proper regulation Of
commerce among the several States.
How important, then, it becomes, that
these regulations should be enacted,
and subject, from time to time, to
amendment by the representatives of
the whole people. And, thanks TO the
wisdom of our fo%refathers, Congress has
ample power for this duty, soon to be
of imperative necessity, to Q the
growing wants Of the entire country,
implanted in the very foundation of our
governmental fabric. That the power
now claimed may not nave been exer-
cised is probably true, but that is no
argument against its existence. Many
provisions in the Constitution have been
permitted to lie dormant because Con-
gress has not seen proper to provide for
carrying them into effect.
Col. BurL AT PARIs.-We have re-