New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-01-13
RAILWAY LEGISLATION.

Leaving ont of consideration MIR. Hurlbuts
5000 900 900 airline railroad. which Congress
inst now ia certainly not disposed to build,
the demands of the Western farmers for cheap
TRANSPORTATION may be said to have resulted
in two schemes of legislation at Washington,
one presented by Mr.. McCrary from the
House Committee on Railways and Canals,
and the other introduced by Mr.
Kasson. The fundamental idea Is the same in
both; namely reduction in the rates OF
freight and fare Oh railroads by the interpOsi-
ton of the authority of the Federal Govern
ment The justification for this sort of inter
ference is found in that clause of the Consti-
tuition which empowers Congress to regulate
commerce among the several States; and as
the interference would be useless unless IT
appled to all the railroads in the
country. or at least to all the
trunk lines between the East and the West
and their numerous feeders, these two bills en-
deavor to stretch the constitutional provision
so as to cover railroads generally. Accordingly
Mr.. Kassons bill defines the word railway, AS
used in the act, TO mean every railway cor
operation, company, or association OF persons
organized and acting, whether under the laws
"of the United States OF of any State or Terri
" tory thereof . where the same is used for
L" the general transportation of articles of com
merce destined from a station Ill any State or
"Territory of the United States to place in
"anv other State or Territory, or in any
"foreign country" That is to say, a road
NAV be wholly within the State, but if it re-
ceives freight from another State, or trans
ports merchandise whose ultimate destination
e. 3 .e 20, la
brought within the scope of the bill. Mr..
McCrary evades the difficulty by applying its
provisions to "every line of railroad extending
Through two or more States or parts of
q" States whether owned and Oper-
ated by one company. corporation, or per-
"son. and known by one name, or owned and
Generated by several companies. corporations,
or persons, and known by several different
"nsmes.n In other words, railroad Is
merely continuous line OF rails, ana the
New-York and Harlem road, for instance,
forms for all the purposes of this bill "a rail-
"way extending through two or more States
because its track connects at Williams
Bridge with that of the New York, New
Haven, and Hartford road.
These violent devices are merely attempts
to create a state of facts by declaration of
Congress. The Constitution having limited
| the jurisdiction of Congress to roads engaged
in the commerce between one State and an
| other, it is proposed to evade this limitation
| by assuming that every road is, or may be, a
link in the chain of connecting highways
spread all over the United States. But this
assumption, if it proves anything, proves too
much. Under such theory Congress might
claim authority to fix the rates of cart
age in New York, the fares on the Third
Avenue Railroad and the HobOken fer
| ries, and the tolls on country turnpikes, be-
cause any of those routes of communication
might DO used in the transportation OF
bushel of produce sent from New-Jersey to