Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-03-28
M,CRARY.s RAILROAD BILL.

MfCRAkf,S kAALkSAD BILL.
We venture little in predicting that
if this bill. which has passed the House,
should become a law, its en-
forcement viii prove a broader
farce than the famous civil service re-
form. 1t provides for a Board of nine
Railroad Commissioners, to investigate
and fix reasonable railroad rates. These
Commissioners must be men who are
in no way interested in railroad stocks,
bonds or other property. This looks
like a plausible safeguard, and yet the
man who has never been interested In
a railroad is the man least likely to
know what it Will benecessary for these
Commissioners to know, in order to dis
charge their duty intelligently. In
practice, this provision is liable to create
aBoardutterly unfamiliar with railroads
and therefore incompetent to fulfill the
objects of the law. Railroadlng has
come to be almost as complex as law,
and this provision embodies about as
much practical wisdom as a plan to ex-
clude lawyers from a committee to re-
wise the statutes. All practical men
will appreciate the awkwardness in
volved. We are not advocating the re-
verse plan Of filling the proposed Board
with Yanderbilts, Tom Scots, John
CARROTS and Jay Goulds. although we
candidiy believe the latter would result
in more uniform justice between the
various lines, and a more intelligent
| adjustment of their interests with those
of the public. When these nine Com
missloners begin to investigate the rail-
road problem, they are very likely to
call on just such men as Vanderbilt,
Tom Scott and John Garrett for their
views, and to be influenced
| thereby. Likewise, they are
apt to take the published reports OF
railroad officials, often cooked" as
the basis Of their calculations. If they
propose to 60 behind all such ex-parte
documents, and investigate each rail-
| road for themselves, no nine men can
do it, and they viii want a grand army
of observation throughout the country,
at government expense. TO be followed,
no doubt, by a system of detectives,
and notifies mayhap. In selecting this
new army of officials, the spirit of the
law would require that none of them
be interested in railroading, sad after
all, the Board would only have the opin-
ions and reports of inexperts unfamll-
lar with the business, 1t would be
simpler, and cheaper for the people IN
the end, if the Government bought up
the roads and run them in regular
monarchial fashion. We do not be.
Iieve the aroused farmers of America
can be duped by any such
| clumsy tub to the whale" as
this Board of Railroad Commissioners
will inevitably prove. There is more
likelihood of the railroads running the
Commission than the Commission re-
gulating the railroads. If the existing
State charters OF the various companies
were enforced, or altered where altera-
ton is needed, and if the courts were
so conducted as 10 give the humblest
plaintiff an equal chance with the
wealthiest corporation, we would have
a safer, healthier and more effective So
luton of railroad grievances than is
likely to result from ten years of tin
kering and experimental legislation at
the hands Of Congress. The utter IN
adequacy and mischievous tendencies
Of the McCrary plan viii become OBJ
vious from the moment of attempting
its enforcement, and its repeal by the
succeeding Congress viii follow its en-
actment by the present body, as sure as
night follows the day.