The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1875-07-27
RAILROADS AND THE MISSOURI CONsTI
TUITION

we have been accustomed to speak of
" war against railroads as If a hostility ex-
listed against railroads AS such. The term
is misnomer. No such hostility exists.
All feel the great advantages of railroads
to a community, and all admit their neces
sity. No one can contrast the condition of
given portion of the country shut out
from their benefits with that nc e,iei pUi-
tions situated on the line OF the railway
and enjoying the few or many advantages
arising therefrom without seeing and be
ing forced to admit that the life of the
country is in its railroads. Take Vermont,
for instance, and mark those changes
which may be attributed solely to rail
roads, and then imagine them all blotted
out, the state placed back in the position it
occupied thirty years ago, and if there is
any hostility to railroads as such it will
vanish We have continuing and forci-
BILE argument in favor of railroads in q
comparison between those portions of the
state remote from these lines of inter-com
munication and those through which they
pass. We have the argument in a compar-
ison of the population, the value of farms,
the prices of produce, the growth of vii
lagos, the, appearance of thrift or the want
thereof, and even in the general inteli-
gence of the inhabitants.
There is no war against railroads, but
there is warfare against railroad manage
ment a management that, in turn, wars
against the people, the rights of travellers
and shippers, and the interests Of stock
holders. All the complaints that have
been made against railroads, thave been
caused by the acts of managers, who have
sought their own ACKNOWLEDGMENT at the
expense of the stockholders, on the one
hand, and the people on the other. Rail
roads have rights, but they are the rights
of the stockholders. The people, too,
have rights, but they in no wise conflict
with the rights and interests of railroads
as represented by their owners. The con
stitutional convention Of Missouri sees this,
and it has so provided in the organic law
that, If the people confirm their works,
both of these interests Will be carefully
guarded. A constitutional provision ,adop-
ted by the convention and ready TO be SUD
mitted to the people, provides that " no
president, director, officer, agent, or en-
"pioye OF any railroad company, shall be
" interested, directly or indirectly in the
" furnishing Of material or supplies 10 such
company, or in the business of transport
" tation AS common carrier of freight or
passengers over the works owned, leased.
" controlled or worked by such company. >"
We need not enlarge upon the importance
of this provision, not only to the stock
holders, but TO the general public The
history of the old Vermont Central rail
road demonstrates its necessity. With
such provision, how much of scandal,
how much of litigation would the people
have been'spaied? The conuuct Of the man
ayers may have been honest, but their pro-
fits should have been the profits of the road,
and with such provision AZ this they
would have been.
Recognizing that the right OF protection
carries with it the obligation 10 contribute
to the support of the protecting power, it
is provided that the general assembly shall
not, at any time, surrender or suspend the
power to tax corporations and corporate
property. Again, in our own legislative
and railroad history, do we see the impor-
lance, the necessity of such a prohibition.
At an early day, when VIC were without
railroads, the legislature of Vermont, to
encourage their construction, granted
charters exempting railroads built there
under from taxation. The charter of the
Vermont Central was a notable case of this