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

you shall depart from the faith upon
which your Government was based? Is it
not better ito bear those ills we have than
fly to others that we know not OFF Shall
we escape from one monopoly to become
victims to another? What security have
the people that after the adoption OF this
bill, and the powers asserted under it,
those who viii exercise the trust thus
delegated to them are not or will not be
in alliance with the monOpolies and the
rings against whom they now so vigorous
ly protest? What security have the peo-
pie that the party which built up those
gigantic monopoles by largesses in mon
ey and by empires of land, who have
robbed the landless of their inheritance to
enrich corporations will continue in the
work OF despoliation? Is it not a high
abuse of our trusts to relegate the powers
placed in our hands by the people TO
others, and these in no way responsible
to them? Can we legally and constitu-
tionally delegate our authority? 1t is
alone given to US and with no right of
substitution.
Turning for moment TO the actual
condition of the country, we are struck
with the growth Of corporations in this
country, Especially in this country have
their number and progress been rapid,
and include within their grasp almost
every living industry and interest That
they have accomplished much good, | will
not gainsay. 1t is equally true that much
Of evil, of fraud of wrong and oppression,
has followed in their train, and their
tendency is fruitful of more, and in their
effort to secure power over the industry,
the trade, and the currency of the coun-
try, threaten it with an Iliad of woes.
How can individual labor and enterprise,
personal effort and industry, be expected
to thrive and prosper when associated
capital and labor is protected from the
hazards of responsibility by corporate
charters? Privileges and exemptions
denied to individual capital and labor are
granted and secured to corporate capital
and labor. The race is unequal.
1t was against such monopolies and
privileges that the origin and forms of
our governments were a protest By
american constitutions the largest liberty
to the individual, consistent with the
rights of others, was intended to be Sc
! cured. No privileged class, no monopo-
lies, no perpetuities, but the coequal
sovereignty of the citizen, are the under
lying principles of American liberty
| Monopoly in land was stricken down.
Shall it be said that monopoly in personal
property and privileges is to be perpetu-
ated under the sanction Of our laws2 1t
| is a libel upon the spirit and theory of
our institutions to so claim. Sir, | am
| not prepared to concede that in repre-
sentative form of government whose leg
| lslative bodies are but the agents of the
| people, the granting of franchises and
| privileges is a contract; but cOnceding
| such an act is, | submit that it is a sound
| principle in law and in morals that an
| agent cannot exceed his authority; and
| that he who contracts with a known
| agent musttake notice OF the extent of
| his authority. The agency or trust of the
| legislator is one to be exercised alone
| for the interest and welfare of the public
| No right or power is granted TO any
| representative under our American consti-
tutiOns to create monopolies, to confer
| privileges and immunities over, above,
| beyond, or inconsistent with the public
| good and the public welfare; none what
| ever.
Sir, when we turn yet again to the con-
| dItlon of the country and behold the gIgan-
| tic strides it has made i'll increase OF popu-
| lation, in the multiplication of manutac-
| lures, in the tremendous increase of agrl-
cultural production, and that the annual
| value of these neutrality-suspicious.
| 1 mean-estimated at over three billion
dollars, and realizing the necessity of
| cheap transportation, as we'll i'll the sale
asin the purchase of the conveniences
| and necessaries of life, involved in the
| exchange of their immense amount OF
values and the supply of this large popu-
lation and knowing as we do the magni,
| tude of the exactions levied by the car
| riers upon this work of exchange, es-
| pecally by those carriers who are shield
| ed in their exactions by corporate
| charters, We must recognize that tie ques-
| ton under consideration is one OF the
| deepest Importance and gravest in conse-
| quences, not only to parties, but to the
! very life of the nation itself.
By the political faith of my life, by the
humble record have made as a public
servant, as well as by sense of the justice
! and truth of the complaints made by the
| people, am cordially in sympathy with
! their earnest protest against the eXac
| tons, the eXtGrtiOns, and the encrOach
ments Of the monster corporations of the
country. But the bill Under considera-
ton fails to give relief is fraught with
more danger than existing evils, and is
liable to the grave suspicion that it may
be prostituted by the very agents it pro
| tessedly seeks to control
Another remedy has been suggested
! and that is that the Government shall
! build By its money and credit, various
| railroads and canals, the estimated cost
of the most prominent being $500, COO :
| 600, the real cost of which Judging by the
! experience OF our National and State
! Governments in similar public enter
| prises, il is entirely safe 10 estimate will
| be nearer billion dollars. Launch the
| Government into the experiment of build
ing those already suggested, and there
will come an irresistible demand from
! every section of the country to build
! other roads and other canals, which you
! are compelled to heed, or else gross in
! Justice will be done; and the end no man
| can foretell. Build them TO any extent,
| and you place the Government i'll compe-
tition with its citizens, and you confer the
appointment of horde of agents and
| employees upon the commander of your
! army and navy, and whose army of civil
| officers now aggregates in numbers by the
| thousands. Can this state of things exist
in harmony with the character of your
| Government as founded by its fathers?
| Sir. il seems that the mere statement of
/ the probable cost OF such improvements,
the cost of sustaining them in repair and
in the employment of agents to operate
them, with the knowledge by the people
of the inevitable anu iinsenarable eorrup-
''"" and extravaganza thstt seem natural
-ssnciRtiOnE of Govern
" TO attach to an 49,. ~ cha
ment with public works, together WIN 49,
| too certain increase of taxation, is suth-
cicnt to condemn the propositions.
Akin to these is yet another suggested
remedy, now but remotely limited at, but
yet the one most to be apprehended that
is that the Government shall take, hold,
and use the roads already IN existence.
In all this struggle, Mr.. Speaker, the
real contest is one between capital and
labor. Under our institutions feudal
rights have been abolished. Estates are
not held for centuries Lords princes,
dukes, and barons are not born to inheri-
tanees saved to them without labor. The
theory of our institutions is supposed TO
be in conformity to the injunction of God,
that by the sweat of your face you shall
earn your bread. Unhappily there is
with all ofus an effort to avoid this in
junction, and no better method of avoid
ing it has been discovered in this country
than by the investment of capital in
bonds. The bondholder neither tolls nor
labors, and it is to the perpetuity of debt
that he looks for perpetuity in estate,