The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1873-10-03

firmly to the Gulf of Finland!
Shall she, regardless of mountains
] of granite, and perpetual SHOWS,
send the steam engine beyond the
Il Ural mountains into dread Siberia,
thence through the deserts of XIII
Z va into the very teeth of the Brit
1 ish lion? Shall Britain band and
cross band her green islands at
home till the smoke of her engines
darkens the very heavens, and
then send her millions on millions
of money to Asia and North Amer
lea to continue the process under
the very noses OF her great rivals,
1 while zoe, great, braggart iona
thans, stand numbering over the
disasters of credit mobilieri Sup
pose We convict and hang a few Of
these splendid rascals rather than
allow the nation to suffer discour-
agement at the present juncture.
But let as for a moment consid-
er this great scare connected with
the construction of the Pacific
railroad. It is said that the road
cost largely more than it should;
that some forty millions of good
greenbacks have gone into pockets
where they should not have gone.
/ suppose this is all very true.
And l think the pockets ought to
be disgorged and their owners Sc
verely punished. Yet, in all can
dor, I would ask, have not as
great frauds been committed in
more private and local enterprises?
What of the Erie road ana its
management? Let US enlarge and
change the view to other depart
nhents of action. Has not the city
of New York suffered somewhat
in pocket? And, shall cities, in
fear of like misfortunes, build no
more court houses? Have not the
cities of Chicago and Boston been
scourged with fire to the tune of
some hundreds of millions, and
shall we hence build no more
cities? Is there not swindling in
the custom houses and shall we
collect no more revenues? Has
there not often been malpractice
in the army, and shall we hence
forth employ no more troops? Such
a cowardly course, born through
fear of the inevitable incidents of
human enterprise would be absurd.
No one proposes it. Rather let US
go on building great edifices and
cities, but let us proceed and build
more wisely. Let US still collect
the revenues and employ the po-
lice forces of the nation. But in
all things let us observe proper
caution. Human progress, or
even existence, is never quite free
from danger.
But it is a notable fact that in
the long run the nation has gain
ed rather than lost by the con-
struction of the Pacific railroad.
How long would have forty mil
lions of dollars paid the cost of a
Mormon war, troops, munitions
and supplies, ali to be transported
by animals? Let the doleful story
of the "two thousand" in the
days of Buchanan answer. The
railroad has saved all this by rem
dering the cause of the Mormons
hopeless and preventing war en-
tirely. The same view of the case
may be extended to the manage
ment of every tribe of Indians in
easy reach of the railroad. So
that, in the aggregate, while the
government has been cheated out
Of her forty millions, she has
saved many times that amount.
If we may be allowed to profit by
past experience, the government
may do far better in her future at
tempts to regulate and develope
the internal national commerce.
1t is easy to show that such reg
ulation is her duty, and that con-
gress and the nation cannot shirk
this duty without great danger to
the peace of the country. Mans
field, in his political grammar says,
"the power to regulate commerce
includes everything in relation,
not only to the mode of carrying
it on, but also to the terms upon
which it shall be carried on. +
"The courts have decided that the
power to regulate commerce is the
power to prescribe the rule by
which commerce shall be govern
ed; that like all other powers
vested in Congress, il is complete
itself, and has no other limits than
such as prescribed in the constitu-
ton; that the power to regulate i'm
plies full power over the thing to
be regulated. And further, the
power TO regulate commerce is ex-
elusive in the general government.
The power to regulate a particu-
lar subject, implies the whole pow
er and leaves no residuum. A
grant OF q power to regulate nee
essarily excludes the action of all
: others who would perform the
same thing. Such has been the
decision of the supreme court of
the United States on two occa-
: sions under the constitutional
provision authorising Congress to
. regulate commerce with foreign
, nations, among the several states
and with the Indian tribes"
Walker, in his American law,
says: 1t is obvious that if inter.
} nal commerce, which from our vari,
} cites of soil and climate must be
r immense between the different
} states, had been left to the states
/ themselves a wide door would
have been thrown open for dissen-
B. sions. In a word the states would
r have thus far remained foreign tc
r each other. It was wise, there
j. fore, to give the power to Congress
I exclusively.
: "The most important judicia
: construction on this part of thu
: clause was occasioned by certain
/ laws of New York, granting to in
r dividuals the exclusive privilege
}, of navigating by steamboats,, al
r the waters within her jurisdiction
i These laws, after being sustained
: by the state courts, were decides
}. by the supreme federal court t.
Q be unconstitutional. 1t was he'll
Y that commerce among the severa
Ir states does not stop at their ex
i ternal boundries, but penetrate
}; beyond. 1t does not include trai
d fic between man and man, or be
d tween different portions of tn
r same state, but it does includ
y that which concerns moro state
le than one"
st Now all railroads which receiy
r goods from other states, or delive
Re goods to other states, or in an
ar manner handle goods belonging
Of other states than the one in whic
TO their tracks lie, are engaged j
n "that commerce which concerT
y, more states than one,' and a
ne properly subject to the manag