The Cairo bulletin. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1872-1878, 1873-07-10

court VI tDe Oniteu STATES SAYS IL sno,v
be any purpose for which taxation would
seem Legitimate, 1t IL for the making and
maintenance Of highways. They nave
always been governmental affairs, and 1t
has ever been recognized as ono Of the most
important duties Of the state, to provide
and care for them. Ills
said that railways are not public high
ways per So. This Is
mistake. In their very nature they are
public highways. It's
the purpose and the uses Of work which
determine Its character.
No matter who 10 the agent, the function
performed 10 that Of the state. Though
the ownership (of q railway is private,
the use is public. SO tornpikes, bridges,
ferries and canals, although made BY indi-
viduals under public grants, or companies,
are regarded as publici.juris"
Railroads, therefore, considered as public
highway. are public institutions, In the
language of the court OF appeals Of New
York "The railroads are public institu-
ton. established by law for public accom-
modstion. They have, except where they
adioin or are near navigable rivers, super.
seeded all other extensive way. Of convey
snce and have thus rendered travellers and
owners Of freight in great measure de-
pendent upon their means of locomotion.'
20 N. Y. 1919 And the supreme court
of this State has also characterized them
as public institutions
Remember that we are considering rail-
road corporations in their character OF
common curriers' operating the public
! highways Of the state. Common carriers
are public servants ., a double sense when
I I. OH of N
buttons. That public institutions are nee
esssrily comfortable by the legislature ia
admitted even in the Dartmouth college
,sse. In that case Chief Justice Marshal
saws: "The character of civil institutions
does no, grow out of their Incorporation,
but out of the manner in which they are
formed, and the objects for which they are
created. Tho right to change them Is not
founded on their being corporated but on
their being tho instruments Of the govern
ment, cros,ed for its purposes. The same
institutions created for the same objects,
though not Incorporated, would be public
Institutions, and, Of course, be controllable
by the legislature The Incorporating act
neither gives nor prevents this
control q Wheaton, 63S.)
Chief Justice Marshall says that
public institutions are, of course, control.
able by the legisls,ure. Mark you! He
does not lay public institution. are con.
trollsblc by courts and iuries. This is not
his language. But he says public institu-
tions are comfortable by the legislature.
This he states NJ matter Of courses-as
incontrovortiblo a. an axiom in ma,ho-
| MATES. Now railroads arc held by the
courts, including our own supreme court,
20 be public institutions How then does
the case stand All public institution.
are comfortable by the Legislature. Rail.
roads are controllsbe by the legislature.
Whore is the escape from this conclusion
! The Incorporating sct--the charter can
neither give nor prevent this control.
This right TO control is an inherent at
tribute OF sovereignty. In the case Of
| East Hartford vs. Hartford bridge COM
pany, the supreme court of the United
States say: zone Of the highest attributes
and duties OF a Legislature is 10 regulate
public matters win all public bodies, no
| less than tho community, from time to
time, in the manner which the public well
fare may appear to demand. II can
neither devolve these duties permanently
on other public bodies, nor permanently
suspend nor abandon them itself without
| being usually regarded "a unfaithful, and,
indeed, attempting what is wholly beyond
its constitutional competency 10 How.
ard, 53,)
And ia the legal tender cases the same
court say: AS in = state Of civil society
property ola citizen or subject is owner
ship, subject to tho lawful demands of the
sovereign; so contracts must be UNDER
/ stood as made in reference to the posi- Bile
exercise Of tho rightful authority Of the
] nA - 80
tract can extend TO the defeat of legitimate
government authority" az Wallace j5l }
Since the highest judicial tribunal of the
nation has declared that the common car
rier sis in the exercise of a sort of public
Office that railroads "are public high
ways" and "they have always been gov
I ernmeutal affairs, that public Institutions
are Of course "controllable by the legis.
a,ure "ran neither devolve these dutie.
permanently on other public bodies, nor
permanently suspend nor abandon them
itself, and that "no obligation Of con.
tract can extend to the defeat of legitimate
government authority" is would seem
10 follow that the ss-
sumed power of Legislature to barter
away forever to corporations its govern
mental functions must be abandoned
question The much talked abou, and lit
tie understood Dartmouth college case
does not, a. we have seen, decide it against
the people. Dartmouth college was
purely private institution, Just as much
so as the Wesleyan University a, Bloom.
ington- while railroads are the great pub
lie thoroughfares o. the state. This ques-
ton then, can be finally settled only in
accordance with sound reason and upon
principle. When and where did the peo-
! pie of the state authorize their Legislature
| their trustee OF the political power Of the
state, 20 cut loose and send sdrift, beyond
| their ultimate control, all the great public
highways Of the state When the people
in their constitution, declared that THE
Legislative authority of tins state shall be
vested in a general assembly did they
authorize the general assembly 10 sell out
any portion OF their governmental iunc-
tons? Can legislative authority thus
vested in the general assembly bedivested
from time 20 time, piecemesl, until all the
legislative powers of the state are gone
As the cry Of the divine right of
knights did not Prevent tho declaration
and establishment Of our independence
20 the cry Of vested rights of corporations
in governmental affairs will not prevent
the legislative control Of the public high
Way OF the state, until it is first decided
that ono legislature has the constitutional
competency 10 divost q succeeding legisls.
ture, of its Legitimate government auth
orlty over tho public institutions OF the
state. The establishment by the iudicisl
dpri sious Of suph nu,pino,au, ,n,,a, A.. .