The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1870-06-30

Are We as Americans and Mississipplans,
to be taught political consistency by john
ny Bull. Shame on the man so craven, as
to bow his head beneath the whip, so far as
TO vote 10 sustain a veto that is an insult To
his manhood, Mr. Speaker, for one am no
Donkey favor the bill.
Message of the Governor VetOinE
the General Railroad Bill.
To the Senate and House Of Representatives
GENTLEMEN: House Bill No. 81, entitled
&c An act to provide for the general System
of Railroad interpretations, presentsto me
the following objections:
| object to the bill because of the eXcep-
tional character OF its mode of procedure
in electing directors (under section l. before
it has created body to direct in giving the
signers of the articles of association, as in
section four, monopoly OF the rights ana
privileges conveyed, with the authority to
transfer them by sale or otherwise, to their
successors; in appointing commissioners au-
thoriZed TO discharge all the supposable
functions of those directors, as in sections 8,
6, z, ETC.; and in giving those commission
ers, as implied in section Z, the right to re-
ceive, under calls or otherwise, certain mon
les on account of subscriptions to the capt.
tai stock. l object to the bill still further,
under this head: that it gives the Directors,
self-constituted or elected, the authority to
make bylaws for the government of the
stockholders; that it authorizes loans on the
pledge of the capital stock without limit for
the protection of the stockholders; that 1t
ignores the principles of municipal govern
ment, by setting aside that government in
the proviso, that applications for stock sub
scriptions by towns, cities, or counties, snail
be made directly to the people.
One exceptional feature of the Bill i OBJ
iect to on grounds that concur with all its
other exceptional features in making 1t a
subject of alarm to every friend of the rights
of the people. l invite your attention TO
that subject of my objections specially.
The men who receive chartered rights I'M
der the Bill, may be utterly pennyless. They
are not required to give bond. The sub
scriptions on which they go forward may
not be worth the paper on which those sub
seriptions shall have been written. They
themselves are the only persons who are CIV
en- any right to cOnSieer that point. These
men can proceed to force elections over the
will of the local authorities for subscriptions
to the amount of millions of dollars by cities,
towns and counties. The subscriptions OF
those bodies thus made to an amount lndeh-
nently large, these pennyless and lrrespon-
sible incorporators may proceed mmedl-
ately to the election of directors. BY the
provision of the latter clause of the sixth
section to the effect that those municipali-
ties which shall have subscribed the only real
stock in the concern shall not vote on that
stock for thirty days after its subscription,
cut off the cities, towns and counties sub
scribing, from all voice in the matter, may,
as the only parties having right 10 vote,
declare themselves, the Directors. As such
they may demand the bonds of the subscribe
ing municipalities and, unbound by any
security for their honesty, exempt from the
restraints of men having property subject to
seizure for EN- beZZlement, the Bill leaves
them perfectly free to dispose of those bonds
as they themselves may see proper! They
by theirown interest in those contracts, they
may sell them at ten cents on the dollar, they
may, in fact, abscOnd with them altogether;
and may commit all that abuse of authori-
ty without any means of recovery on the
part of the publici
Iobiect to the Bill because of the evidence
on its face of a want of care and delibera-
ton, as shown in the following instances,
to-wit:
Ist. Section Is is unintelligible when it
says "no shares shall be transferable until
all previous calls or assessments thereon
shall have been fully paid in, or the saiJ
shares shall be forfeited for the non-payment
of calls thereon Section 80 is unintelligi-
BILE when it declares that a certain failure on
the part of q company created under the
Bill shall make null and void the company's
ACT of incorporation" While section q
gives TWO years for filing the survey with
the Chancery Clerk, concerned, and section
10 makes that filing condition precedent
to the commencement of the work of con-
struction, section 80 declares, as before stat
ed, that if the company shall not have COM
menced the work of construction within ONE
year, its $ act of Incorporation shall be
Voidi Section 80 cannot be interpreted when
it provides if such road corporation Is
not completed within the time fixed by law"
etc,
2d. Section IL enacts that all stock on
which the calls shall be in arrear for sixty
days may be declared by the Directors for
feited This shows great want of care and
elaboration when it Is seen that section IL
enacts, though the stock may have been de-
cIared forfeited, that the liability for the
payment shall attach to the person who may
have been subjected TO the forfeiture! With
the perfect adaptation of other sections OF
the Bill to the use of sharp practice, it may
be held fairly supposable that this right OF
the Directors to declare stock forfeited, may
be employed to concentrate the proceeds of
wrong in the hands of a few by cutting off
from q common interest under calls that
while fictitious in reference to the directors
them selves-might be made very convent
ent realities to exclude associates too poor to
pay up.
bear in several instances an Interpretation
in appearance which they do not bear IN gGct'
Ist Section 40 declares in one place, that,
it shall be penal to compel, or attempt to
compel, any person or persons TO occupy
any particular car or any particular part of
a Cart protest against the section on the
ground that it makes at its close this appar-
ent assertion Of q principle q hollow delu-
sion. The provisO TO this section declares
that nothing herein contained shall be so
construed as TO prevent any Railroad Com
pany from providing separate cars Tor ladies
and gentlemen, and separate cars for smok-
ing" While the section bears therefore one
meaning in appearance, i declare that it
bears a very different meaning In fact; for it
assigns some passengers to the smoking car,
some to the ladies ear, some to the gentle
mans car, as it is left at present-with the
brakeman or the conductor The railrO ad
charters, under which the railroads of this
State is operated, were granted at time
when slavery was the law of Mississippi.
The charter was supposed to secure equal
RIGHT of travel to the citizens of the State :
il Is not disputed that the law Is sufficient, II
enforced TO protect every citizen in this
right. BY the amendments to the Constitu-
ton of the United States which have result
ed from the war, as well as by the Constftu-
ton of this State, the slave has been made a
free man--not only made free, but made a
Citizen and here to-day be stands the equal
of the proudest before the law. Every right
which attaches TO the citizen, belongs alike
To all. This is the law of this State and the
courts stand ready to declare it. The rail-
road conductor should not look into the face
Of a man to determine from the color OF his
skim whether he has q right to travel on his
train. He should took TO the ticket. The
,rorsI il. . show your ticket" White man or
hlock man. white woman or black woman,
boidin0 a first class ticket, have a right by
tha IaxTs Of Mississippi, TO first class seat.
IF the law is violated, the Legislature should
give facilities for redress, but protest
against the deceptive framing Of section -
~.-h.,..,v, ~, n r,rv~,.faa II pofuts the Way for