Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1873-10-08
The TRANSPORTATION question.

Dartmouth College case qualified that power.
Attention is now called to the power of the
Congress OF the United States over this SUBJ
ject.
The Massachusetts Republican Convention
asserted that Congress had this power un-
der the power gwen by the Constitution
TO Congress to regulate commerce between
the States; and demanded the exercise of the
power in reducing the cost of transportitio
between the West and the seaboar1. Many
Western men and macy members of Congress
are announcing similar opinions. The Su-
preme Court of the Uolted States bias never
passed upon the question directly, but JUS
tce Miller of that court, in what is known
as the Clinton Bridge case, held, in the Cir
cult Court, that Congress had the same power
to regulate commerce over railroads as upon
lines of water communication. Without,
however, discussing the constitutional power
Of Congress over the question, the practical
results of the proposed legislation are impor-
tant and serious enough to be patiently and
thoughtiully considered.
Regulating prices by legislation is an as
+ertion of power which has never yet worked
anything but mischief; and this is SO we'll
settled that no government that pretends to
anything like freedom now attempts any such
control Most governments have the same
power given to the United States, to coin
money and regulate its value, but all expert
ence has shown that intrinsic values can
never be changed by deb lsing the coinage.
If our gold dollar should be SO far debased as
co lessen it's intrinsic value one-half, although
1t might be still called dollar its purchasing
power would only equal its intrinsic value,
md it would buy only one-half as much corn
could be bought for the present gold dol
ar. Making the greenback legal tender
lid not make it equal in value to gold,-in
tact, did not make 1t worth anything except
TO pay debts with, and, aside from that, its
value has always been regulated by the con-
Il ience of the public in is as a representative
f a value. When the Supreme Court de-
ciied the legal tender act unconstitutional,
The value of greenb4cks did not diminish,
and when later that decision was reversed
heir value was not increased. No arbitrary
Jaw can Interfere with or attempt to change
he relation of values except mischievously
n any country where there is freedom oil
trade and of production.
Trdar fho pouor m To oom ms he
ween the States, or with foreign nations,
congress has never yet attempted to regulat e
The price of freight or passenger ransporta.
ions, or the value of any commodity trans
ported and it is quite doubtful if, even
where it has attempted the regulation Of
;ommerve in other ways, it has not as often
allied as succee led 10 accomplishing any
good 1t inspects steamboats, and f,rbids
them to carry more than prescribed num-
'er of passen GERS, or to allow more than a
given amount of pressure of steam but
,seamboats {" blow up" as frequently as
yer, and they VIGOROUSLY curry all the pas
,engers who will ride in them. Steam boil
rs inspected by government officials ex-
Jlode as often as any. The best lines OF
ocean s5ea nships are not those in whict
| lere is the most government interference
| 'u5, on the contrary, are those which are
,nder the control OF the men best acquainted
With their business and most attentive to it
5,me regulation may be useful, but little
VII be viiu .ble W licl inserferes with the Ut
most free ION allowable in any business.
Suppose Congress should attempt tt
regulate the price of freIghts.-on what
principle must it proceed? Obviously /
aust allow the railroai Is to take reason.
.ble compensation f)r the freight trans
ported. Bat there is more than one railroad
ron the west TO the seaboard, aud no twc
IF these railroads cost the same per mile, nj
;wo are of equal length, no two are operated
1t the same cost per mile, and there are al
many different termni of these roads a
there are differe ut roads
Ii the government should undertake to fl
the price of corn, land on general principle
my do that as well as fix the price o
rei.ht transportation, it would be oblige'
to enter into a pretty wide field of investi
CATION. The farmer who raises but twenty
i've bushels of corn to the acre ought not t
b, obliged by law to sell his corn for les
than cost, and the farmer who raises
hundred bushels to the acre ought not to b
allowed to exact more than what his cor
COST him. Is mt it obvious that the pric
tof corn would thus have to be fixed not onl
for every township and every school dstric,
but for every farm in the country Aud is n
it equally obvious that the price of freigh
transportation would have to be fixed by
consideration of facts peculiar to each roaC
for thousand different railroads in til
country? Railroads in New England Coz
rom $25 900 to $50, 900 mile, while
many OF the level portions of the West the
net d not cost halt that sum. Let the int
igent reader of this article imagine til
statistics that must be examined by Cor
sress and the various elements of expens
that must be taken into account befol
fixing the rate of transportation, and he wi
conclude, without doubt, that the Congress
chat does that work will do not only whs
40 Congress has ever yet attempted, but wha
40 Congress nor any other deliberate body
men has ever done or is ever liFely to d
with any thoroughness or approach to ths
completeness and fairness of examinatio
necessary to prevent the greatest and MOI
unjust inequalities and favoritism.
!. But suppose Congress has. after fashion
accomplished this task, and declared tbs
freight. passing from one State to anotbe
shall only be charged a given amount pc
ton, for every mile it is carried; and suppos
he railroa Is are not satisfied with the Law
md refuse to carry freight beyond the Stat,