The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1875-01-14

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third Of the States claim and safely assert
a similar prerogative, almost entirely With
out question or dispute.
PROTECTION OF FOREIGN CAPITAL.
1t is alleged that this reservation OF
power in our constitution, will endanger
the investment of foreign capital, and re-
strain the progress of public improve
ments in Wisconsin. indulge In no
forebodings of this kind. The power to
destroy includes an equal power to en-
courage and protect Moreover, the
power of the State TO destroy, by ways
more direct than those of public super
vision, has never been seriously denied.
No railroad company exists which may
not be annihilated by legislative enact
ment permitted by provisions OF our con-
ttitution, other than those under discus
sion. Under all circumstances possible,
investments of capital in Wisconsin and
al. other States, are more or less depend
ent upon the moral obligation of the peO-
pie and the good faith of the law-making
power.
have said that all power to destroy
includes the power to encourage and pro
tect. AS to the full purport Of this decla-
ration, need but remind you of the pecu-
liar relations of capital to modern ral4-
way enterprise, and its management. No
one can deny that in many instances,
capital is deprived of its rightful COM
pensation. No one will dispute that pub
lie confidence in investments Of this kind,
by those not Immediately concerned In
the management, is now, and long has
been, seriously impaired. We should be
slow to conclude that any capitalist would
object to such measure OF public super
vision ana control, as would insure him
an equitable dividend upon his invest
ment; and equally slow to conclude that
railway stock habitually sold in the mar
ket for a bare fraction of its nominal
value, can be seriously deprecated by a
power Of legislation capable Of enhanc-
ing its value Candor cOmpGls me to say,
more plainly, that believe no real coca
sion exists for the present depreciation in
the capital stock of many of our principal
railways, except the absence of that judi
Cous supervision ofrailway management
which our constitution wisely permits.
THE RAILROADS AND THE AGRICULTURAL
GLASSES.
Pending the litigation between the state
and the railways, distinguished counsel
for the corporations arraigned the agri-
cultural classes Of the northwest, on the
charge of forming combinations, of resist
ing Just administration of the laws, of
fostering the spirit of communism, and
instigating a new distribution of land, by
taking from those who have, to give to
those who have not; and this disparag-
ing discourse has been widely circulated
in the annual report sOf one Of the COM
pauics represented. | cannot permit this
aspGrsion upon the mass Of our people to
pass without contradiction and rebuke.
The agricultural classes of the northwest
are not conspirators. They are not agra
rians. They are not the enemies of pub
lie order or the public faith. Their lives
OfpeaCeful industry are stained by no of
fcnsive record Of reputation, bankrupt
Cy, ignorance or crime They earn an
honest living, as all men should. They
pay their honest debts as promptly as
most men do. They are obedient to law,
and in peace or in war, are prompt to de-
fGnd their government and its laws from
open or secret assault They have assent
ed to no encrOaChment upon vested rights,
unless it be rights vested by their own
constitution in themselves. They have
defied the mandates of no statute by in
genous, specious and protracted appeals
to courts of last resort. They have never
thr0nged the doors Of our Legislative halls
to camor for an increase Of special
privileges, and an enlargement
of their property rights. They have en-
ployed no professional lobbyists to infest
your presence or to corrupt the fountains
of law. They have constructed no noun
tains of county or municipal debt for
any but themselves to pay. They have
avoided no burden Of taxation demanded
by equity Or law. They have resorted to
no political or legislative legGrdemain to
forestal or subvett public opinion. They
have coined no mammoth fortunes from
property that fails to pay interest upon
itself They have encouraged no appOr-
tionment of lands to the landess, except
as they have approved free and frequent
donations of the common domain, or
mOrtgaged the homes Of their wives and
children, that they might enhance the
hard Learned wages of their daily labor
and contribute to the general welfare of
the State They have encouraged no CO.
lOssal associations of monied power, or
organized concentration of influence,
within or without the forms of law, not
INDUCED in by all intelligent men, for the
DIOIllOllOl Ol luClL OWu COhllilOh &OON'
But if in any of these things they have
indeed offended, they will look elsewhere
for warning and for judgment, than to
those whose eloquence is too often the
purchased product of the transgressiOns
they condemn.
The agricultural classes are not, and can
not be, the enemies of honestly managed
railroads. On the contrary, their natural
In dow h ir,fr Of
this kind is that of patrons, allies and
friends. This relation they will endea-
vor to maintain In demanding the up
rightmanagemento of railways by law, they
ASPIRE TO no exercise of public influence
not justified by their numbers, their intel
ligence, the dignity of their calling, and
the vast interests they have at stake. Linn
tied in their mutual intercourse by the
stern necessities of their occupation, and
moved by no ambition but that of pro-
noting the general welfare, they are not
likely to cOnspire against the principles
of public Justice, or consciously to sub
vert the progress of enterprises which
contribute SO largely to the prosperity OF
all.
If the grave charges so sedulously cir
culated, duplicating the good faith of our
state towards invested capital, have truly
impaired the credit of our corporations,
and their ability to complete or extend
their lines, they alone are responsible
who should have been promptto defend
the interests they represent, by vindicat-
ing the honor Of our people. But facts
that are incontrovertible, prove that CAPT
tai itself has failed to share largely in the
alarm thus zealously and wantonly en-
gendered. The year has been noted for
financial conservatism. In all things, and
everywhere, prices have gravitated to a
lower level. Business and business men
have not escaped the reverses of labor
nnd o hnrinm mon PLNAncliNn has been