, 1875-01-05
WI8COl19IN CORPORATIONS,

The La Crosse Democrat fluids fallt will,
our structures on the opinion Of Chief.Justice
1lrAH, of Wisconsin, il the railway intune-
ton cases, and insists tlat our arguments
lead to tho denying to the State of MI power
of control over tho railroads. Inas1nuch as
in our articles on tho railway decisions VIC
mid that it is c1nincntly just and proper tint
tho State should reserve to itself the power
at nlly time to nlter or nmond tho charter of
any corporation created by it, VIC cannot ,1n-
derstand how We lay ourselves open to such
charge. We agreo with tho nilyocates Of the
POTTER INV that power to alter or amend tic
charter Of RAILWAY company, or Of any other
corporation, should he reserved by tho State;
and wo agrco with the Supreme Court Of tho
United Stntcs, and with the Supreme Court Of
massachusetts, TINT that power should be
limited; and that, under tho reserved power
to alter or amend, it in fact is limited,
not. as Chief-Justice RYAN has held, unlim-
tied. lis Of no ayail to arg1e, as docs tho
Democrat, that tho people will always e4cr-
else their power with reason aud discretion.
It is notorious TINT in passing tho Potter
law they wero neither reasonable nor discreet.
We do not tako for granted that the people
Of Wisconsin arc unfit to be trusted with the
right Of self government, when VIC say that
their power over corporate franchises should
not be unlimited. We sny that the power OF
the Legislature of Wisconsin over life, liberty,
md property, should not be unlimited. Do
we therefore argue that the people Of Wis
consin aro unfit to bo intrustcd with the gov
ernment of themselves? Not at all. There
aro come things which are put and ought to DO
put beyond thopower Of the Legislature to ill.,
terfero with, and among these things are the
essential rights Of property, whether of indi-
yiauals OF corporations. The power Of Leg
islntures is in nothing unlimited. It is in oil
things limited by the Constitution; and that
it is SO limited docs not argue the undtnesa OF
the people for self-govornment.
We do not deny that the railroad con,pn-
nies have in some instances been guilty Of
oyercharging for freight OF this VIC have
no accurate information to enable us to form
belief one way or the other. But it is not
improbable that they havs been so guilty.
That was, Of course, all wrong, and calcu-
lated to impoyerish tho people Of the State
~ " "AcA94Aa4k4A 0At ~ HaH uUG Hull {43 R{lu III
it's effect on the wealth Of the Stats as the
passing of 1aw, and the delivery Of an
opinion, which mean simply this: that, go
long as tie one remains in force and the
other unroyeraed, not another milo Of rait-
road shall be built in tho whole State of Wis
consin; nay, which means great deal more
than this which means that no corporation
In thu Efnta nf iarnn cir, has n.,v =; nh 70 ,l,ot
ever under tho Constitution OF the State; that
no railway, insurance, mining, building, or
manufacturing company with = charter
has any guarantee that, no matter how
faithful it may be to the object for which it
wGs chartered and created, it shall be in ex-
istcnce tomorrow. TIE TR1BusR is no adyo-
cato of monopoly, but is an inaexiblo oppo-
nent thereof. At tho same time 1t is not an
advocate Of injuatice OR coniacation. If 9
railroad overcharges, forco it to reduce its
rntes and punish it for violating tho law, but
do not confiscate tho property Of the co1npa-
ny and annihilate it, If you ever desire the
construction OF another mile Of railway in
the State by private capital. 1t believes, with
the Supreme Court OF the United States and
with the Supreme Court Of Massachusetts,
TINT the right to alter Or repeal tho charter
Of corporation, reserved by the State, is
most certainly limited; and regrets, for tho
sake Of Wisconsin md tho West, that Chief
Justice RYAN has, without assigning any suf-
aciont reason for so doing, given an opinion
at variance with the utterances Of tie courts.
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