The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1873-03-08
SATURDAY EvEN'G. MARCH s, 1879
The FREQ Railroad law.

The Free Na1trOAu eiaW.
The free railroad bill will come up in the
House next Tuesday. We hope the mem
bers of that body will be governed by con-
siderations of a higher nature than those
which merely touch individual or particu-
lar corporation interests, in the efforts they |
shall make and the votes they shall give for
the disposition of this most important mea-
sure--incomparably the most important, in
some respects, Of any that has been before
the Legislature during the present session.
We have heretofore urged many good and
sufficient reasons why this bill should be-
come a law, and have seen no good reason
urged from any quarter why it should not.
We have shown that no capital is SO tho
roughly protected against competition as
that invested in the construction and equip
ment of railroads. The company which is
so fortunate as first to secure the right OF
way and grade its track for the reception
of ties and rails, is in no danger Of imme-
date competition beyond what the public
interests shall demand and the prospective
advantages of capital shall require. There
is no case in which parallel roads in
this state can be made to pay in other
words, there is no road in Virginia
which may not do ten or even twenty
times the business it is now doing, and add
to its profits by diminished rates of fare
for passengers, and diminished charges for
freight, as business legitimately increases
upon its hands. Neither General Mahone's
roads, nor those under the management of
Mr.. Robinson, would be impaired in their
franchises or the market value of their
stocks by the passage of free railroad
law. These two gentlemen are among the
most successful and energetic railroad men
in the South, and they can hardly lack the
sagacty to see the advantages that might
accrue to their respective roads by the pas
sage of law that would enable them, as
we'll as others, to construct feeders to
their roads wherever the demands
of trade and commerce in the
state may seem to require. The mo-
ment such a law is passed, they have the
right equally with others to construct
whatever lines of railway they may
choose; and there is no danger that any
man or set of men outside Of the state
will ever trespass upon their secured rights
so long as the extent Of business done over
their roads does not justify the heaviest
possible expenditure to divide ample profits.
There is no danger that this condition of
things will exist in the lifetime Of either
the gentlemen named, since their several
roads can, even with their present single
tracks, do twenty times the business which
the trade and traffic Of the country is
likely to put upon them.
There is only one contingency that can
possibly arise to provoke destructive COM
petition, and that is entirely within sheir
own control and management. They have
only to offer just and equitable rates Of
charge to all feeding and distributing lines
OF road--those bringing business to them
and receiving it from them-to neutralize
every dollar of competitive capital
that might be arrayed against them, OF
against the interests they seek to foster.
And this we are certain they will have the
good sense to do the moment the policy Of
the state is changed from that of fostering
monopoly to system of equal rights and
privileges in respect to constructing and
operating railroads, as with reference to all
other business seeking the proper invest
ment Of capital in the state.
The great benefit to be derived from the
passage of this law is not simply the encour-
agement it gives to taxable capital to seek
investment in the state, but it gets rid OF
those interminable railroad fights, at every
session of the General Assembly, which
consume so much of its time and add SO
largely to the expenditures incurred by
legislation. And then it dashes the
hopes of the Lobby or that invisible "third
house" which is the disgrace of all mod
ern legislation. and which brings into the
legislature, not in this state alone but IL
majority of other states, corrupt ano
inpecunious set of men who have no in.
terest in legislation except for the opportu.
tunities it may afford them to be on the
''make." So chronic has this practiced
inquity become that no railroad bill
Of any value to its incorporates
can be introduced in state Legislature
in these days, without a ''fiutter' at once
among the Lobby cormoranss, and the keeI
scent Of those on the "make," in order tt
force meritorious enterprise to bleed few
thousands before it can have any assn
rance of success in its passage through ;
legislative body. 1t is to get rid of thes'
corrupt and corrupting influences and hin
ORANGES to legislation, and to place tn
rights Of all citizens on the same equitabl
footing in respect to investments of capita
of every description, that we urge tn
passage of a free railroad law
There IS no practical difficulty il
the way of its passage, for W
have the ample lamp of experience whicl
has guided the largest and most successful
railroad states in the Unoin, in directing GU
course to a wise and most profitable conclu
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