The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-01-12
The Question of the Future.

the january NO. Oh Tue NOFH dHteTtCuh
ReuteU to some very striking facts connect
ed with the growth of the great railroad
corporations of the United States. First
and foremost among these facts is the ten
dency Of the great companies to combine,
and the extent to which they have COM
bined. For instance, seventeen years ago
there were seven distinct lines of rail.
road between this city and Buffalo. oil
which six were not over seventy. six miles
long each. Now there is practically but
one line, owned by one company, con.
trolling about one thousand miles OF
track and it now also practically con.
trolls the Lake Shore and Michigan, the
Rock Island, and the Chicago and North.
western; in other words. of the line OF
road between New York and Omaha.
Zone year ago. says MIR. Adams. g five
roads divided between them the distance
between the Atlantic and Pacific six
months ago these five were practically
reduced to three. How long will it be
before these three are reduced to one ?"
The same process is going on all over the
country. The grand corporations thus
formed, too, have completely exempted
themselves from State control. If a
State attempts to NEEDLE with them, they
buy up the Legislature and muZZle
the courts, and they even assault Con-
gress with no inconsiderabie success, and
already begin to look upon the Presidential
election as Il matter by no means beyond
their control. The Erie Ring has formed
an alliance with the Tammany Ring; in
deed, the same persons are leading men,
hers of both, and have secured the politi-
cal control of this State, and make no Sc
cret of their belief that they will have a
good deal to do with the choice of the next
Democratic candidate for the Presidency
Nevertheless, we are as yet only in the in
fancy of the system if these things are
done in the green-tree, what will be done
in the dry?
The main reliance of the community in
this country, as regards the regulation OF
railroads in al that relates to the comfort
ard safety of passengers, and chcapncsS and
rapidity in the transportation of freight,
has hitherto been competition. This check
| has been got rid Of to great extent by the
passage Of some of the competing lines into
the same hands. Even where competition
has been actually kept up it has produced
| some extraordinary results. Competition
generally prevails with regard to the
compete mainly for the traffic to the far
| West. and in order to secure it cut down
| charges to the lowest possible point, often
below the paying point but then i'll order
| to save their roads from loss they raise the
charges to all intermediate points.
Hence it happens that places like Roches'
ter, and Buffalo, and Syracuse, find them
selves unable to carry on business with the
West in competition with New 4or k OF
| Boston. The discrimination against them
| amounts in some cases to 10 per cent, Mr.
Adams says, of the value of the goods trans
| ported; and the consequence is that many
manufacturing es:a blishments in the interior
have been broken up, and the creation o
| new ones is Of course prevented by the
knowledge of the risks to which the condl
| ton of the railroad system would expose
them. In short. to the ordinary chances O
| trade. and the chances caused by suddek
and potent changes in the tariff, we added
fresh ones caused by the contests of railroad
managers, these last being the most difficult
| to foreSee and provide against. -,
Mr.. Adams's plan for reducing the rail
roads to subsection, and making them really
! the great highways of the country instead
| of mere private speculations, endangern4
! public liberty by their magnitude and au
| dacity, is the appointment or election Q
some sort of controlling tribunal, by which
all railroad interests shall be passed upon
and from whose judgments there shall bt
no appeal-thus relieving the Legislatures
both State and Federal, from that mos
corrupling of all influences, Especial leglls
| lation." TO the obvious objection that The
virtue of such tribunal would he exposed
| to Just the same dangers from the blandlsh
mcnts of the great corporations as that o
the Legislatures now is, he replies that W.
must, in the last resort, always trust to in
divdua character for defence against al
evils of this kind. We trust our lives ant
property implicitly, and for the most par
| juStitiably, to the honesty Of judges ant
iurieS. If a nation does not contain homes
men enough for work of this kind, of cours'
it must 20 to the wall. The great reason
why the corporations have their way 81
readily with legislators is that the reSpon
siblity for any evil which may be accom-
plished in them is so divided that nobod,
feels it very much. The advantage of sucl
tribunals as Mr.. Adams proposes would b
that responsibility would be so concen
trated that when corrupt act was com
mitted every member would feel the sham
Of it.
We doubt whether the public mind is We
sufficiently awake to the magnitude Of tn
evil Mr.. Adams discusses to give seriou
consideration to the remedy he suggests
But eventually no question ofpolitics stand
a better chance of occupying the publ
mind as nothing has ever occupied it eA
cept slavery. Whether democratic govern
ment can be successfully carried on in tn
presence of these gigantic corporations
with their armies of employees, their mi
lions of treasury, and with the ablest me
in the country ut their head, acting in indt
pendence of, and often in defiance of tn
Government, is IN experiment which tn
American people are hardly likely to tr
after they have been made fully acquainte
with its nature.--Near York Times.
| RESEyoLESCE Twice BLEsT.-Good pee