The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-04-19

was restricted 70 the charge Of four cents per ton
per mile. The very fact that in another part OF
the charter power given to transport is sufficient
to show that the charge for tolls did not include
the cost OF transportation and car service.
/ admit that charters to be construed favor
ably TO the State and 1 admit that a corporati
takes nothing by implication; but this last position
power is given to a company TO engage in business
there is necessarily TO be implied power to charge
for transacting it. Suppose a company was char
tered with power to make gas and sell il to the
inhabitants of Harrisburg, would 1t be pretended
SSen the comnav Srovg eve ~ no o cas was
its gas bills? or If lawyer created corpora
tion soe to practice his profession, would It be
collect fees for his servces2 Will 1t be pretended
that hotel company, holding charter which does
bot specifically grant the power to charge for board
and lodging has not only no power to discriminate
in its charges between the price of sirloin and a
mutton chop, but that any impecunious guest
could defeat an action for the price of his board,
by asserting that II was abuse of the charter of
he had eatenP Surely, then, both upon reason and
authority, / am justified in asserting that the
istsd ~ chartsp IN % IN no yG
present rates for tolls and transportation.
Tbe rights Of the other companies are all to be
determined by the eighteenth section of the general
railroad law, for though some Of their charters
were obtained before the passage OF that law, they
sions.
Under the act of 1s49, railroad companies are
restricted to the following charges in of others
Three cents per 1000 pounds per mile, with add-
tonal charge OF two cents per mile per car, every
being Now. three
cents per 1000 pounds per mile is equal to 1856
for 2240 pounds per milej two cents per mile each
way equals four cents per mile one way for the carr
divide this four cents by the cargo five TONS and it
will make eight mills per ton per mile, which,
added TO the Sc cents, makes 416 cents per ton of
2240 pounds per mile as the maximum rate which
railroad companies are permitted to charge, under
the act of tS49, for transportation Of Others
II is always to be borne in mind that, even under
the act of 1S49, there is limit imposed upon the
charges when the railroad companies furnish their
own cars. But it has not been shown that any one
stricted by the act of 1649 has ever made charge
portation of freight in cars of others, and there
fore not one of them has violated its charter.
Our friends upon the other side have singled out
the case of charge made by the Lackawanna and
Bloomsbury Railroad Company of 81 25 for trans
porting four-wheeled car load Of limestone six
miles, and, drowning amid the waves of testimony
which overwhelm them, seize upon it to save them
selves. This limestone, 1t appears was transported
in the of the consignor and hence the limit of
416 cents per mile applies. This charge per ton
multiplied by six miles would give 24.96 cents as
suming the car to have contained exactly Ave tons,
the rate paid was % cents per ton-just four hum
dredths of cent more than was strictly lawful.
/ presume that with you gentlemen, the maxim
de minimis non curdt ler VIII relieve US from the
weight of this grievous offence; and if the Work
ingmens Benevolent Association are not satisfied,
and want to get hold of this four hundredths part
of cent, will discharge the amount on behalf
pany whenever can find in my pocket any change
small enough to meet the demand. But, If recol-
lect the testimony it was proved that each
taned five and one quarter tons; SO that, really,
the railroad company had the legal right to charge
take nothing by their motion. | cannot help, how
expressing some surprise that in this coal in
vestgation In which exorbtant and illegal charges
for the transportation of coal were made the burden
of complaint, and the wrongs of the suffering
miners and laborers of the coal region were to be
redressed our friends should have changed base so
suddenly and brought up this limestone reserve to
cover their retreat.
and 1865, relative to the Delaware, Lackawanna
and Western Railroad Company BY the former it
Was er % ad &c .ai sne coa nS
time their charges for transportation were over
two cents per ton per mile We claim that the act
admitting, for the purposes of the argument, that
it does not, what follows?-not that the company
cannot charge more than two cents per ton per
mile, but only that when 1t does charge more, it
cannot purchase coal; and where, ask, is there
any evidence that the company has purchased coal
when lis tolls more than two cents per ton per
mile? There is none, and If there was, what has
the purchase of coal to do with the question to be
discussed before you?
The only remaining statute is the act of 1870,
and Bioomsblrg Railroad Company. This act pro-
vides that for any distances under ten miles the
company shall have the right to charge twenty
would not have had the right to charge so much as
twenty CENTS This act has been cited as restricting
the company to a charge of twenty cents for any
distance under ten miles; but it only requires to
be read to see that, instead of restricting, it
TO charge more than they otherwise could have
done. Thus for two miles they would have been
cents per ton butt by the act of is7o they can now
charge 20 cents The privilege of charging 20 cents
Is to apply to such distances under ten miles for
no power to charge that much.
have thus attempted to show that, under the
proper construction of the several statutes, no
Illegal charge has been made by any of the several
railroad companies. Before leaving the question
of violation of charters should, probably, allude
to that part of Mr.. Brockway's argument referring
to the quantity Of land held by the Delaware and
Lackawanna Railroad Company. 1t Is said this
company has too much land and that no authority
what this has to do with the case now before you.
1 do know, however, that when General Bris-
bin, of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western
Railroad Company, was upon the stand, and An
inquiry was made as to the power to hold land. he
offered to produce memorandum of the several
statutes II they were required; and Mr. Hall stated
that IL had nothing to do with the subject OF the
investigation, he would not require them. We are
prepared, If necessary, to show she that the company
hend that you will be obliged to for not accumu-
latng mass of testimony upon an entirely irrele-
And now as to the second question-have any of
these railroad companies misused or abused their
franchises?
nization we are always obliged to keep up. have
shown that this equipment and organization are to
al OF US almost as sxpenS.se wnen We % aIs %oping
pacity. We are all anxious for trade; have always
been willing to do the largest possible amount of
business at the lowest possible prices. But when
we are thus fully prepared for trade, order of
the Workingmens Benevolent Association suddenly
deprives us of our business. Upon the Reading
Railroad the tonnage falls from $50, 900 tons week
to 900 tons, but the expenses remain nearly the
same. The coal which cost us but 81 so to move
now costs us from sc TO SS ton. Must we continue
to carry il for 80 when II costs &c. or s t not
perfectly reasonable exercise Of the discretionary
power vested in our board of managers TO increase
the charges for transportation that the receipts
OF the road shall in some measure approximate TO
| its expenses? Can it be possible that we are SO
aIuo onhf m