Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1874-05-21
A Good Time Now TO Talk About
Building Railroads : The State
Journal.

country should be placed in close connection
with the great net work of railways in Wis
consin. The people there want an outlet to
the Mississippi and the lakes, and they have
vast mineral deposits as well as agricultural
resources to support roads after they are
built. They are just as sure to have roads as
sun is to shine. 1t is only question of time,
and we say that now, while one of the most
expensive materials used in railway construc-
ton is cheap, and contractors are idle, is a
good time to talk about building roads there.
1t is one of the Oldest and richest sections of
the State"
We copy the above from a late
| number of the State Journal. The
editor informs US that country
about 50 miles in width extending
through Green, Iowa, Lafayette and
Grant counties is much in need of
transportation facilities. We are
certain to have railroads in these
neglected counties While iron is
cheap and contractors idle it is good
time to talk about building railroads
out there.
This is about the coolest dish that
was ever served up for section of
country that is hungry for railroads.
In the name of all that is honest,
just and wise, we ask the State
Journal how it comes that these
railroad contractors are idle, that
railroad enterprises, except when
stimulated Dy land grants are utterly
abandoned as an investment of mon
ey? The Journal that ought to
speak the sentiment of majority of
the people has time and again in
sisted that the railroads in this State
and their compensation for the SER
vices they render, are wholly under
legislative control. That if the leg
islature chooses to limit the tariff of
freights across the State at one mill
per ton, or require the roads to trans
port persons or property gratuitous-
ly, the "cursed monopolies" have no
redress but to apply to the next leg
islature and if the next Legislature
does not afford them relief they must
apply TO a still future legislature.
But if they apply in vain and find
they are running at loss, they can
not stop their trains otherwise they
will forfeit their charters, and the
State will gobbe up the corporations,
body and soul-if they have soul.
They must not appear in force either
to lobby the Legislature. This is
wasting the money which they must
extort from the people and it is
nothing short of rebellion to employ
lawyers to rescue them, if possible,
from becoming the successor of the
Southern slave who was compelled
to work for Others under the legis-
lative lash and furnish himself.
1t may be said that it is not
supposeable case that the Legislature
of Wisconsin will ever SO rob and
cripple railroad or any other corpora
tons. This may be so. But men
that have money may not have the
same confidence in the generosity
and Justice of a Reform Legislature
that the State Journal has. Our
State Constitution will not allow the
legislature to take private property
for public use. directly or indirectly,
without just compensation. Does
our Constitution suspect a Legislature
might be guilty of such robbery, and
therefore put the breaks on the
wheels of such legislation M If men
could trust their live, liberty and
property at all times to the justice and
infaIlibility of the Legislature there
would be no use for Constitution
at oil. As we understand it the
State Jouanal, and the papers in &C
cord with it, sustain the Potter act,
not for the reason that it affords a
fair compensation, but on tbeground
that the railroads in this State are
wholly at the mercy of the legisla-
ture, and that they have no protec-
ton under the Constitution if the
law makers should require them to
work for nothing. If they have any
protection from such high-handed
oppression, will the State Journal
please tell as where it is? Surely
it is not In the Constitution or not in
the courts 1t must be in that ex-
pensive and INSCRIPTIONS swarm of
lobbyists that the companies will
annually send up to Madison IN
increasing numbers TO bribe and per-
suade members into a modification
of the tariff, and there will be eoun>
ter Hobbies in favor Of still lower
rates-lobbies for and against unjust
discrimination. Such IS to be the
hurly-burly character of our future
legislatures. 1t is now no use to
talk of BIENNIAL sessions. If the leg
islature intends to run the railroads
it must sit all the time.
But will men who have money
which they would put into railroad
building be anxious to invest it W hen
the legislature may not only say
they shall not exact more than rea-
sonable freights and fares-for this
limitation exists under the general