Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1875-03-20

SATU RDAN, MARCH 20, 1875.
SLEEPING CAR AND EXPRESS COM
PANIEs.-While the railroads are re-
ceiving their full share of attention at
the hands of the legislatures Of the
different States, there are other corPO-
rations far more exacting and far less
useful, that pass unchallenged. There
are sleeping car conductos that charge
two dollars and half for a berth, in
Tennessee, and the greed of the South
crn Express Company, which is only
a branch of the old Adams Express
Company, is simply beyond endurance.
We see that some Of the Western
States have put bit in the mouth of
the Pullman Palace Car monopoly,
and limit the price for berth to one
dollar night. The same thing should
be done here, and in the end not only
the public, but the company would be
the gamer thereby, owing to the in
crease in its patronage In regard to
the Southern Express Company, more
emphatic legislation is needed. We
had occasion a few days since to make
extensive inquiry among the business
men OF this city, as to the manner in
which its business is conducted. We
had been oyercharged in the office at
Louisville, and although the mistake
was promptly corrected by the local
agent at this point the regular rate
was itself exhorbitant and this led us
to inquire into the subject carefully,
We learn that the express rates south
of the Ohio are altogether dispropor-
tionate to those that OBJ tain beyond it..
There is. a vague idea current that
these rates are only about twice as
great as those on regular railroad
freight, while in fact they are often
three or four times as great. The
charges are also said to be irregular.
Some Of our dealers say that the rates
often vary on the same article, in 60
ing different directions for the same
distance. We have learned that the
charges on fruits, celery, vegetables,
fish, oysters, etc. are often as great as
the original cost of the articles at Mo-
bile, Memphis or st. Louis. Another
trouble with the Southern Express
Company, and with all of them we
suppose, is the uncertainty Of its
charges, When anything is ordered
by it, there is no way of ascertaining
beforehand what the cost will be, and
this brings us to the remedy that we
propose. We do not wish to cripple
the business of the Southern Express
Company. 1t can be vastly beneficial,
and can also be vastly injurious to the
community. We have no complaint
to make of its officers here or any
where, but the thing needed is fair
understanding on the part of the peo-
pie as to what they will have to pay
when necessity or inclination leads
them to call the express company into
requisition. The company never pub
fishes its tariff, and we do not know
that there are any limitations ON its
rates. If these rates are not too high
at present, and the legislature does not
care to regulate them, it ought at least
TO require their publication in the
newspapers of every county in which
it transacts business. The United
States Government enables the people
to know precisely what it will cost to
carry anything by mail, and this pre-
vents all Misunderstanding and saves
the post Office people from a thousand
evil thoughts and words that fall to
the lot of express agents. In the alb
sence of something better we recon-
mend the passage of a law that will
require express companies to publish
their rates, and which will give to any
party. who is overcharged the right to
repleSy his goods, the attorneys fee to
be charged TO the company in the
event that the plaintiff establishes his
case. An overcharge should also be
made indictable, with one half of the
fine to go to the informer and the
other half to go to the State. With
such law we will know exactly where
we stand, and then if we see proper to
pay enormous rates it is merely an in
dividual matter. As it is, no man can
tell what the rates on anything will
be, and the Express Company is the
autocrat of the land
II is thought that the Legislature
viii adjourn before any measure giving
relief to the people of the State can be
passed. This is unfortunate. The
financial condition is distressing to the
great bulk of the working men of all
callings. 1t is painfully felt by the
farmers, the merchants, the mechanics
and all those who are engaged in trans
portation. We hoped that some plan
might be adopted that would bring the
desired relief but all of them have fail
ed thus far. The difficulty seems to be
TO avoid the 31st section of the Sd ar
ticle of the State Constitution, and the
prohibition in the constitution of the
United States against States emitting
bills of credit One thing is very GER
tain. We want currency for the many
and not for the few. A currency based
upon the natural values of the State
and if there are obstacles in the way Of
getting it that must first be removed,
we hope the Legislature will at
least perform this preliminary act,
The present condition of things is in
tolerable. No man can now obtain a
circulating medium on the basis ofhis
land, his business, or the labor of his
hands or brain. Energy, probity, in
dustry, count for nothing. Every
great interest is languishing on account
Of the money panic in the land. Trade,
agriculture, commerce, mechanism, the
railroad, the shop, the factory, the
mine, the field and farm, al suffer
alike, and it is because there is not suf-
iioient currency 70 meet the necessities
of the times. The energies Of men
cannot be made available, for the rea-
son that there is not money enough in
existence. To talk about hard-money
in a lime like this is lunacy. All men
would like to have hard money, but
first we must have oaPaAStoa, expan-
sion We mean in all thiDgs-in the vol
ume of the currency, and from that
will follow expansion in trade, in all
industries, expansion in human conf
dence and in human hope.
To OUR READERs.-lleIediter we
propose to furnish to the readers OF
the Wing and Tribune. regularly at
short intervals, portraits and sketches
of tho 1ivas sc mon Who Co.u,,x- ~