Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1867-03-01
8i5FgllaneQlla.
REMARKS OF HON ALEX. sTUTz.
MAN,
SENATOR FROM SOMERSET COUNTY,

peal an act ofthe General AssemblyOf tht
! State Of Pennsylvania, which became a
law on the nineteenth day Of August, one
thousand eight hundred and sixty.four,
entitled An act relative to the Pittsbure
aud Conneilsviile railroad company.
The bill was read as follows:
SEcTIoNl Belt enacted 6gtie Senate aad
/ House q Rcpreeafatires of the Common
e. taEai 4 s re11 eaaclef 5ldes a4fsBf45
| u the same That the act Of the General As
sembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylya-
MIA. which was passed on the twenty ninth
/ day of April, Anno Domini one thousand
/ eight hundred and sixty four, and which be-
came a law on the nineteenth day of August,
one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four,
entitled An act relative to the Pittsburg aud
/ C0nnellsyille railroad company, be and the
| same is hereby repealed aud declared to be
Of no force or effect and the said Pittsburg
and Connellsville railroad company is hereby
| required to put their road under contract
within six ,6 months, and complete the
! same to the State line within three 81 years
/ from the passing Of this law according to
/ the route and plan delineated upon the map
! fled bY the said company in the Office OF the
! Secretary of the Commonwealth: Pf0gjdeed
/ hoWrer, That nothing herein shall be con
| stFued TO prevent the Connellsville and
| Southern Pennsylvania railway company
from building road, according to the terms
| Of their charter, upon another route Of To-
/ cation, and under their own or other fran
/ chises than those pertaining to the Pittsburg
and Connelsvie railroad company.
| Mr.. STUTZMAN. Mr., Speader, this bill
! Is of the utmost vital importance to my inn
| mediate constituents; and not to them alone,
! but to all the counties of Western and South
western Pennsylvania. and, in fact, to all the
! Western States of this Union. As a matter
Of justice to an outraged people, it should De
| passed. As matter Of the utmost import
! auce to the financial interests of the Com
monwealth, it is worthy the attention and
support Of the members Of this body.
hold ii to be the duty Of this Senate,
! sir, so to legislate, as not only to do equal
and exact Justice to all the citizens of this
great Commonwealth, but at the same time
! to preserve, as far as possible, that line Of
! policy that viii develop and add to her i'm
meuse Internal resources and revenue.
If the Senate viii bear with me for a few
| moments. ] win attempt to demonstrate that
| the passage Of this bill viii tend to these
several ends, and ! will take my own native
| county as a sample and illustration Of that
/ portion Of the State to be benefited by the
! passage Of the bin. Somerset county covers
an area of one thousand and fifty square
! miles, comprising within It's limits the larg-
/ est and most valuable coal basin in the State
! Add to this deposit of iron ores unexcell-
| ed in the world, marble and brown stone Of
the first qualities, immense beds Of limestone
and Grecay, and limitless forests of pine and
/ the more valuable tjmbers, and faint idea
may be formed of the vast wealth which this
/
will open up to a world from which it is now
/ almost excluded, for lack of the necessary
/ facilities for transportation.
! The present local trade OF my county, sir
small as it is, is still worthy the attention Of
! the great metropolis Of this State, in whose
! interests the entire railroad legislation Of the
/ Commonwealth appears to be shaped. OF
! butter tuuequaled by any except the famed
/ Goshen butter Of New York We annually
/ export more than the value Of million OF
! dollars our trade in cattle and horses
1 amounts to nearly half that sum, while our
maple sugar and other domestic products
/ swell the amount TO more than the round
/ million of dollars And yet this local trade,
compelled to be purely agricultural. for lack
Of Transporting facilities. and which might
be swelied to hundreds of millions by prop
er development, is driven to seek a market
at Baltimore, by the restrictive railroad pol
/ icy Of the State
Sir, what are the objections urged to the
/ passage OF this bill? I have heard but two
worthy Of attention One, that the charter
of this road lof which it was unjustly de-
I priyldi. which this bill seeks to restore, is
now the subject Of litigation in the courts,
and therefore, the Legislature should not
interfere. The otEer, that the completion Of
this road to Cumberland viii tend TO divert
trade and travel to Baltimore, and thus en-
rich her with Pennsylvania products, to the
detriment Of our own great city of Philadel
phia.
You viii search your statute books in vain
sir, to ind the parallel in monstrOUs wrong
Of the act which is sought to be rcscinded bN
this bilL Without the prayer Of a stock
holders, without the complaint of a either
along the line, without q suggestonof wrong
from a single seul, and simply at the instance
as Is alleged, ola soulless corporation, whose
greed Of gain feared rival was the charter
of this company Ton the faith of which mil
lions Of money had already been expended
repealed; aud this repeal was based upon
talseh0Od as mODstrous as the wrong predi
Gated upon it. Turn to the act repeating
this charter, and you will find the reason.
there set forth for It TO be the allegation tba
this company had misused and abused ii
corporate franchises. This allegation bai
/ been solemnly adiudscd a falsehood by jury
in the district courts of the United States
who devoted a week in patient investigation
TO the subject, and, on, their finding, thC
courts decreed the act unconstitutional, nul
and void. 1t Is true that an appeal from
this decree has been entered in the Suprem,
Court Of the United States, and you may
take it for granted, II you please, that OF
the question Of law, the decree of the court
below may be reversed; bur, if | am not
misinformed, the question of fact, as founC
by the jury, cannot be reviewed by the cour
above. The fact is irrevcrsiblu that the re
peal Of the charter Of this road was founded
on the suggestion Of a he, and, such being
/ the case, il would be a burning stigma, not
only upon justice, but upon common homes
ty, to permit Che statute books Of the Stat,
to be longer disgraced by an act thus pro
cured.
4 But since when, sir, has The Legislature
Of this State become 50 tenderfoo 10 re-
gard to matters pending before the courts
If | mistake not at the date of the memo
rable act committing the tonnage tax,
/ suits were pending in the courts, BY whlcl
it was sought to recover from the Pennsyl-
vania road certain taxes which were due anC
unpaid the State and the Legislature be
ing in generous mood, not only commu
ted the tax, but gave as a gratulty to tba
road, with which to complete certain OF hen
branches, the accrued taxes due the State
Was there not interference here with mat
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