The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1874-07-18

produce the IMPRESSION that the Sen
ti,se1 had gone wild, had indorsed
Communism, And was advocating a
disregard of the vested rights of
capitalists because IL maintained
that all valid laws must be obeyed
by capitalists as well as by other
classes OF the community"
The Sentinel naturally expresses
satisfaction thht its views of the law
have been endorsed by the eminent
iurists who detided the case.
The IViscoasin in its leader says
"The decision ofthe United States
Court will undoabtedIy be in accord
with the -puks5c sentiment of the
State, for the feeling is universal
that every one, whether a great cor
poration or an humble individual,
must bow to the law, and they are
particularly gratified TO see the most
powerful corporations compelled to
submit to that law. That IS the nat
ural feeling everywhere because the
conviction has become deep rooted
that railroad corporations have from
time to time eyinced a disposition
to resist and defy the law. The de-
cision from the United States Cir
cult Court will be regarded with
more favor by that large class of
thinkers, because it emanates from
a Court peculiarly conservative of
property, inasmuch as the Judges
are not elected by the people, and
therefore not ruled by local intiuen-
ces"
But it adds that the Supreme
Court has yet to hear the case and
at least four of the nine Judges
9 have been bred in deep rooted
convictions of the vested rights of
property" and refers to the fact
that sixteen years after Judge Mil
Ter decided the Detroit and Superior
bonds void, the Supreme Court re-
versed the decision, and "compelled
Milwaukee to pay compound inter
est on the bonds"
The Chicago Tribune states the
case succlnctly and says:
"For all these and other similar
reasons, it was supposed that the
courts Of the United States would
hold the law to be not constitutions
| al. 1t has turned out otherwise.
I The constitutionaIity of the law has
been affirmed on the ground that,
under the constitution of Wisconsin,
the charters Of all corporations In
the state may be - altered OF repeal
ed aJ any time after their passage" ="
The decision means that no
corporation ID Wisconsin,, railroad.
life or fire insurance company, man
utacturing, educational OF other. has
; any rights which the state is neces-
sarly bound to respect. If this be
the correct Interpretation of the CON
sututIon OF Wisconsin-and Judge
= Drummond's authority is so high
, that we cannot gainsay tit con
talns the germ Of some grave mis-
fortunes to the state, for it is equiv
alent to provision warning capital
out OF the state. 1t strikes blow
2 at the credit Of the state abroad
W here there is no credit. there will
be little enterprise or capital and
where there is little capital, there Is
little OF anything that makes life de-
sirable or enjoyable. Where there
is no credit, foreign capital will not
come, and home capital will not
stay. There is no credit where
there IS no security; and there is no
security where, by the fundamental
law OF the State, millions Of capital
may at any time be destroyed, mil
lions Of debt made irrecoverable,
and thousands of contracts invalida-
ted. 1t the railway corporations OF
w NlSconsln were TO repudlate (sup-
posing them to have the power TO
do so) their debts, there would be Il
terrible hue and cry against them.
But here comes in the State and
threatens to compel them to repudi-
ate under the guise of law Ii Wis
, consln perseveres in her policy
toward corporations the era of her
development is gone Not dollar
would Lombard street or Wall street
loan in Wisconsin to-day to build a
mile of railroad Not a dollar will
she be able to obtain for such pur-
poses If the Interpretation now put
upon her constitution is enforced bv
acts involving political Reputation
by her corporations. And before
money is loaned to any Wisconsin
corporation for any purpose the
lenders will think twice or thrice.
What the railroads will do next
may be guessed at. To avoid loss
they will cut down expenses, run
slower trains, employ less expert
enced hands, use poorer cars, neg
lect keeping the roads in repair for
the present-in fine, by every means
In their power endeavor to make
their outgo less than their income
and all to the Inconvenience Of the
public. That the railway rates fix
/, ed at present cannot be continued,
is quite certain, unless we assume
that the railway managers are un-
blushing liars. Probably the sue
cessful parties to this litigation will
accept the advice Of the judges and
not bear down so hard on the rail
roads as the law enables them to do,
, and so the evils will be really less