Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1874-06-25
Correspondent ce of the Heraldl
The Railroads and the People.


agitation of the ocean that keeps it
pure; the smelling of the ore that sep
arates the dross; the pressing of the
grape that gives us the juice. 1t is
therefore well, we think, to stir up
this subject, and if possible provoke
others to join in the discussion. You
very modestly inform us that you are
not OF the legal fraternity; and that
| you enter the discussion with hesi-
fancy. We then, might well hesitate,
being wholly without claims to legal
lily, craftsmanship, OF even erudition.
Notwithstanding, we entertain our
opinion, and assume the responsibility
of tumbling it into the public crucible.
We have watched with some inter-
est the issue between these parties;
have long been impressed with the
necessity of some restraining power
over the former and have also some
what DEPRECATED the extreme tenden-
cies of the latter. 1t is really by no
means strange, but fully in accordance
| with the laws of human aYarice, that
these corporations of inland transit
unrestrained, as they long were, by
law, bloated by prosperity and tempted
by the lack of competition, should be.
come greedy and INSCRIPTIONS, and
therefore exact Of their patrons re.
Enumeration for transit service beyond
the limit Of reason aud endurance.
Where competition in business is made
available, special restraint seldom il
ever becomes necessary, because the
law of competition is to adjust the
profits to approximate equity. On the
other hand, it is not less strange that
those who have smarted under either
the real or fancled lash of extortion,
paying royalty, as they suppose, to
Unsuitable ayarice and combined
tyranny, should, when they assert
their wanted rights, overlap reason
and justice, to the exacting of extreme
| penalty. History justifies the asser-
ton that injustice on the one hand
| generally begets it on the other. This
is apparent in all the incipient move
| ments of the reformers of the past,
and will probably be the written his
tory Of those in the future. In fact,
we are inclined to believe that CORE
spending extremes are necessary to
an adjustment upon the basis of truth
or equity. If, therefore, we discover
one extreme, we naturally look for the
other, and when it comes we welcome
it as token of deliverance.
Reform extremists are very usually
maligned, yet we have learned to pay
them the tribute of respect. If we
had no extremists we would seldom
if ever hear of reform, and we fancy
that without them the world would
soon brood in darkness, under
the iron rule of tyrants. Conserva-
tives usually receive the applaudlts of
the world, but we think the extremists
are equally entitled to them, for they
each till an important office in the
world of reform; the latter, to wake
| up to thought and action the former,
to calmly deliberate and separate
truth from error. Upon this theory,
then, we would most cordially invite
the contending parties to confront
each other in discussion, that the con-
servatIves may step in and adjust the
dispute.
We will now presume to lay down
a few of what we would term standard
facts, too palpable to be ignored in
this contest. To assert that railroads
can be dispensed with, is sheer folly.
To declare that, with all their monopoly
and extortion, railroads have not been
| a blessing, is to assume what reason
contradicts. To so restrain and fetter
them by law as to cripple energy,
blunt ambition and fetter enterprise,
is virtually to paralyze the Granger
himself. To bind the railroads down
to such a margin of profits as will
barely cover their running expense
and keep up repairs, is evidently to
smite them with a paralysis, making
death preferable to life. 1t is impos.
sible to have railroads without combi-
nation of capital; and to secure this
we must offer inducement for combi-
nation. Capital and enterprise only
embark where they can hope to ex.
pand and render remunerative re-
turn and hence, the state Of Wiscon-
sin, if she would be true to herself,
must not foster injustice she must
guard the rights and interests of cap
ital equally with that of labor; the
producer equally with the highways
of commerce otherwise her capital
will withdraw to be invested in other
states more generous and just With
out just protection to capital not a
new enterprise will be born, not a
railroad be built, nor can the old ones
be expected to long continue without
a hope of liberal return on the
amount invested.
1t does appear, however, that these
corporations should not run entirely
unbrided. The temptation to, and
the opportunity for extortion is too
great. And just here is opened up,
perhaps, the most difficult problem of
this contest. What would be a Just
protection to capital? With hope
of what generous returns shall we
offer inducements to it? Upon what
basis Of capital stock shall remunera-
tive dividends be declared, and what
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