The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-04-10

Several States.
Mr.. Speaker no graver question has
ever agilted the councils of the nation
than the one presented in the considera-
ton of the present bill The laboring
masses of the country rightfully have con-
ceived that the fruits of their industry are
being controlled and tithed with unjust
tribute to classes who have been favored
IN the grant of special privileges by the
legislation of the Government 1t is pro-
posed by the authors of the present bill
to redress this grievance by the methods
suggested in the bill. What are the
methods of relief proposed? Stated in
brief, they are: that the President of the
United States shall appoint commission
of nine persons, whose duty it shall be to
adopt and fix rates of transportation to
be charged by all railroads engaged in
Interstate commerce, and may from time
to time change and revise any schedule
ofrates they may adopt. These officers
are subject to removal by the President
and the only qualification required of them
is that they shall be residents of the differ
ent judicial circuits of the States and be
disinterested. Any charge of rates be-
yond those fixed by the commission is
declared unlawful, and punished by fine,
etc, unless the company can afirmatively
show that the charge is reasonable. The
commission is to be continued as a bureau
Of railroad statistics, with q secretary.
All these are sslaried officers.
An examination of the bill shows that it
is claimed by its authors that an agency
or party distinct from the shipper and the
carrier may intervene to regulate the
terms of the contract of shipment between
them. 1t is alleged that the right and
authority to do so is derived from the
power expressly conferred upon Con-
gress by section s. article /, of the Con-
stitution, which is granted in these words
To regulate commerce with foreign ma
tiOns, and among the several States, and
with the Indian tribes.
| adopt here the words of the report of
the majority OF the committee, when ]
say that ''in considering the question
whether under this provision Congress
has power to pass the bill reported, 1t
will be necessary to inquire as to the ma
ture and extent of the power conferred
thereby upon Congress- In so doing /
do not care to examine the judicial de-
,isions; they have been ably dissected
and canvassed by my learned friends
from Kentucky Mr.. Arthur and from
Illinois, [ Mr.. Edep.l 1t is sufficient to
say that the precise question has not been
raised before, or decided by the courts.
The nature and extent of this power is,
then, an open question before the people
and the courts.
Looking to the history of the adoption
Of this grant Of power, and To the circum-
stances that made it necessary, as we'll
the practices and legislation of the Gov
ernment since its formation down to the
present time, none of which is it pretend
| ed shows that such an exercise of it as is
| claimed by this bill was ever attempted
or submitted for action, it would seem
that we would be warranted in giving as
the true construction and meaning of
| these words, ito regulate commerce
among the States" the accepted one
| heretofore, that is, that it was intended
| to secure free commerce among the
| States, and that Congress was invested
alone with the power to remove any OBJ
struction or impediment thereto But it
| is said that the extension and multiplied
| ton of railroads and their uses in the
| carrying trade, and especially among the
States, has made the exercise of this
power necessary, and that the grant is
express in its terms.
Does the power TO regulate mean the
power TO control, to give life or death?
Does the power to regulate mean that
you may appropriate the service or prop
erty of the citizen TO the uses and inter
ests of the public without direct compen-
sation so him? And by arbitrarily de-
ermining the value of his time, the use
Of his property, and his labor, without his
consent, doyou not appropriate it to the
public? Again, is the power ito regulate
tho Stataa ~
comprehensive than the power ITO regu-
late commerce with foreign natiOn?' Are
not the same terms used in the same
grant of power Yet who will argue that
we NAV create a commission to establish,
| and then from time to time revise and al
ter the schedule of rates to be charged
| nv domestic vessels engaged in foreign
| commerce, or foreign vessels engaged IN
| the like trade? Such board would per
| form the Office of a Chinese wall. But
! sir turning for Il moment to the argu-
ments made in support of thus bill, and
| adopting the liberal and latitudinarIan
| construction they hGye used, 1t would
| seem that the nature and extent o. tins
! power is bOundless, and may embrace not
only the common carriers by rail, but the
I common carrier by the road Wagon, by
| the transfer wagon, by the omnibus, by
the coach, by the dray, by the truck, by
| the pack-horse, and by the wheeEbarrow.
| II NAV extend to the vehicle or instru-
ment, and may include the warehouse and
! the depot, and far beyond that, the barn,
! the crib. and the field.
One cannot contemplate these assump-
| lions Of power in the General Govern
| ment without serious apprchensions as to
! all our local Jurisdictions and the free,
| dom of individual action; and the mere
| roufrontment of the results you must
| reach upon the exercise of such power
| must show that such mature and extent
| thereof was never contemplated by the
| founders of our Government.
And Mr.. Speaker, while it must be ad-
( mitted that the railroads of this country
have been favored by partial legislation,
/ that they enjoy vast privileges, and that
! in the exercise of them many unjust dis
] ordinations, partislities, and combina-
/ tons, onerous, exaeting; and extortion-
- uGSp the trade ana commerce OF the
a. ---Ade. tkat instead of serEi2
| country, are 49, ---tAd theu. they
the sovereiguties that cre.- ----a
| are lording it over them; and that lns,v.-
of using the privileges con&errd upon
them for the public good, they, 10 the in
| war upon it whereby millions oftribute are
unipstly taken from the producers, yet
! needing the reply of these railroads and
putting thematter in point of view where
their defense is justly weighed, and let it be
granted that the cost of construction, the
cost of maintenance, the cost of service has
been and is such that it is not possible, in
justice to them, to make any material re-
ductiou in the transpor tation of the pro-
ducts Of the country, what is the remedy?
VIII a commission fix less ratio? Will
Congress? Will the Presidentf If the
railroad companies are right and rates
are fixed less, if the power of selfprotec-
! tlon rs taken away from them, is not the
whole system threatened d? Could the
country afford to abandon the railroads.
Think for a moment of the number of
miles of railroads, the vast extent Of terri
tory and the number of people dependent
upon their facilities; how they are inter-
laced and interviewer with all the indus
tries of your cities, towns, villages, and
then suppose them blotted ont of exist
euce; or reflect again, and ask whether
the labor of forty millions Of people rep
resented from the largest manufacturing
--'-hlisknent in your mammoth cities TO
H. - .r... -"rkShop in some remote vii
INC sH9AesI ~ H~tH of the North