, 1870-12-08
MONETARY AND CON- MERCIaL.
MONETARY.

The Chicsgo Republicdn adopta the lame
defence made By the attorney for the railroad
mon0polT, in \ euit now pending, aud claims
ttat railroad companies are prirak corpora-
tons, and therefore are not constitusionally
tutj- ct to any more supervision or control OF
the. State or general governments than I
bank. an insurance company. or \ chartered
manufacturing company. Without going INTO
pub!ic AID private corporations. it ia sufficient
to tAy that Wills banks do not exsrclsa any
public function Except in the case Of the ma
tion%l Banks. which do 60 only to
under the moet STRINGENT regulations
OF the govcrnmet [, Aad under the direction Of
sn officer appointed by the government, rail-
road companies do exercise one OF tho most
important Of public functions in cont1olhng
the public highways. Oae Of the distinctive
features Of such apuhlic corporation Is that
the privileges granted to it constitute in ali
cares q monopoly, hecauee--in the case OF
1ailroads-the privileges being. once granted
to one corporation. the same privileges cannos
,urc ehar1e1t q railroad from one city to an
other, the company ind. the beet and shortest
route, condemns the land Of pEirate parties to
lay its track, and becomes II
o r, never md b sasa Busted n'ts 1he
pt orle s!one its limo have no choice. but are
comptlle to do business with that roAd. And.
EVEN II anolher and parallel road wcsu char
tered and located, experience shows that it
would not make permanent competition, bat
aoi that they each htd ''ouly half : busi-
nees They wou1d. therefore, consolidate,
md the public would have to pay for running
4 road tviee N .espensive "a before. With
sirels different Nobody j. compelled By the
toeat,on Of bauk to do business with it.
Dy competition one bank may drive another
out Of the field, but, practically, the location
OF l. railsoad fortids the location OF another
neut, and neither could be driven ont Of the
| feld therefore they would necessarily consol-
| idate. and there would be hut one road.
Railroads are not onls public institutions
beeauee they are "puhlic highways" over
wtich the State ought to have the Same con
lrol "a It hts over nAviEAble river, bat rail-
4 Iozd companies are. IN one eense, public cor
| rotsttQpR. because thev control these public
h,ghways by authority delegated By the State.
No such characteristics II these can be claimed
itr the corporation, or for the property Of
bank Whatever distinction there il bet~eeu
| the character Of / bank and n railroad.
gees to show that the former are private cor
po1atoue, while the latter are public corpora
ti1na. a1d that therefore railroads should be
more directly ametab'e TO State and govern
mert control thai banks or any other private
The rates for which banks may lend the use
Of their property are regulated b. both tho
State and general gove1nments. Ihe manner
in which they ehall dispose, and the places
entrusted to them, are regulated by 1fw- bot
| tLere is ten times as much reason why the
railroads should be required to regulate theil
charges and deliver the ptope1ty entrusted to
them. in accordance with the regulations OF a
J Bo1ru Of RAil1ost1 Commissioners, as that the
banks should be under the SANG kind Of 81.
} | peryieiun Of The Comptroller Of the Currency
: TIE legal theory that 1aiitoad companies an
"priva1e corporations " u relic OF the juris
prudence that declared the right OF ono ma1
10 own property in another man. All Tbs zail
roads want ia ''to be LIT alone :" the tsAve oil
4 garchy wanted nothing moFe.
. Iha Now York Commercial Advertiser II
Gently made coma severe st1icturee on tbs dc
lsy OF the Chicago L Northwestern RAlroa
q IN finishing the txeutx-seyen u,iles Of roa
= between Il Crosse and Winoaa. This t.ent1
It etyen m1les Of road ia the property OF seps
ts rats organization, ~ is Also the 126 miles c
It the Ninos 4 St. Petes Road now In opar1
r tiou, aod Win which the L crosse ho.d 1s !
l road guaranteed bonds for each Of these tv
u ct mp1pies to the amount Of Ss00, 900 each. {
4 S1,60O, 600 in Ill, and sold said bonds in It
market. The Commercial cla.ros that u
L. Chicago l. Northwestern Company, instead I
y apply ng tbs tale OF theea bonds to the bull
at II Z ef the TWO roads, hls used the money 4
D. other purposes. To this cha1Ee tbs Now 10
pe | Bulletin makes reply By the following Et4t
- meut IN behalf OF the Chicago + So1thweste
=, Coupapy: .. ....-
I'd parry sppr'p1tsstux The tonds OF these nrsn
~ ans 70 The p&.mCut OF It, dividends, Il lost
yn a'eh By tae lprsmerr'al, II has tskn out OF
os s fsr de putPa~e Il semposs'y .as.nees
~ Lac 81 Peter aud It. mpea1lesu Roads Tne
n, nwtng ncial eta;ent ns nav s.tse % correct
on e1rols TITO witch on, cotempora1y ha os
Of s,a., mept Of .ay.oces male Of the cnie.s,