The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1872-01-18
GOV. o-ARPENTER,s MESSAGE

we pubhsh below the inaugural
message Of Gov. Carpenter, deliver.
ed. Thursday, the 18th inst, or ut
least so much of it as we can find
room for, which is its vital part,
to.wit: its mastery resume OF the
railroad situation and which is after
all the great question which over
shadows all others just now in Iowa.
Governor Carpenter has written
an eminently sound and clear mes
sage and he enters upon the dis
charge'of his official duties under
uncommonly favorable auspices.
1 do not regard the pretense that
railways are beyond the control of
law, IN respect to faro and freights,
as worthy OF more than a moments
consideration. 1t will not do for q
corporation, when asking the right
of eminent domain, to avow the pur-
pose of building a public highway,
tor which purpose alone it could hope
to acquire this prerogative of sover-
eighty and when the right has
been conferred, accepted and is en-
.joyed, to declare itself independent
of s~tatutary control, in the lim,ta-
ton of fares and freights, on the
ground that a railway is private
property. 1t has been said that
"both currency and international
communication between different
portions of a State are exclusively
the prerogatives Of sovereignty"
If, therefore, banks owe a debt to the
community as we'll as their stock
holders for the prerogative Franchise
es with which they have been clothed,
there can be no question of the con-
s~iderations due from railways for
their still greater privileges. As an
individual can not conclusively deter
mine his own rights in respect to his
dealings with community, it is not
to be supposed that q vast monied
power, subject to the restrictions of
q common carrier, can assume pre-.
negatives denied, in this regard, to q
private citizen. 1t has always
seemed to me that railroad men, to
as great an extent at least as any
other persons, would have a deep in
terest in the effectiveness and stabil-
ity of wholesome statutes, as upon
pure and just law the permanent
value of their stocks and franchises
alone depend yet it is a fact that
the possession of enormous fran
chises breeds o contempt for law
There can DO no clearer duty, there
fore, than for the State to maintain
its power over railway, and all 9TH
er corporations Of her own creation.
And if Iowa ever abdicates this SOW
ereignty, she will have proved herself
unworthy the dignity Of a free COM
monwealth. {,
Approaching, however, the ques.
ton as to how fares and freights
shall be regulated, I am free to admit
the difficulties which surround it,
Many experiments have been tried
in other States, some of which de-
feated the very end they were in
tended to promote. If~all railways
were alike in Cost of construction,
operation, and in their earnings, the
problem could easily be solved but
when the facts confront us, they
present unexpected difficulties. That
we can, by arbitrary statute, fix the
prioo Tor freights upon all articles,
and on all roads, and do justice to
the community and the railways,
seems almost impossible. To estab-
lish a like freight upon a ton of iron
and q ton of tea, or per q for the
transportation of o o load of com-
mon-L-s-ss or the fancy stock OF
ference in liability in the n casa
as compared with the other, illus.
trates the obstacle to SO scaling q tar.
lit OF treights rs TO meet the various
demands OF commerce. When we
consider further, tho difference of
expense in operating railways, one
having easy grades and running
through a level, agricultural country,
with light expense, and a local bust
ness profitable to stock holders an.
mother through a billy region, with
sharp curvatures, heavy grades, and
with a limited local business the
difficulties t increased. And il we
consider the further fact that n
road may be largely supported by
passenger traffic, while another. is
specially a freight, coal or lumber
road, it still further multiplies the OBJ
stacles in u pathway.
There are, however, some abuses
which, in my judgment, are capable
OF remedy by Legislative intervention.
We arc sometimes told that competi.
ton will settle all these questions.
But this cannot be true. George
Stephenson once said, "where com.
bination is possible competition is
impossible ;" and that is true to dav.
Indeed, competition not unfrequentiy
proves a source of oppression to the
people. Railways are generally de.
as commercial channels be.
tween certain points, while tho in.
country and its business
is regarded as only an incident of
their main purpose. 1t frequently |
happens that rival railways, though |
at the same points, wide.
" diverge in their passage through |
the country they traverse. If from
any cause, competition for the
,hroughsbusiness becomes sharp at
ends OF these lines, freights have
times been reduced below cost, the
making up their losses by
'xhorbitant charges on the interven-
ng country. An evil OF this nature,
ought to reach.
The habit of astock watering"
which has grown up of late years,
lot only in railway corporations, but
u other companies possessing cor
powers, ought to be prohibi-
Although throwing fictitious
took upon the market, tor specula-
purposes, may seem harmless
Q the operators, the tax, which in
ho way of interest and tolls. must
paid by tho people, is one feature
f the transaction in which ,hore ts
u fiction.
Allowing drawbacks to large deal
RS or tavorites, thus, in effect driv- ,
lg small dealers from business, and =
rpakinr down cnmnatiyior 4, ~