The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1875-10-21
The Railroad Question.
Force Bills or Public Opinion?
Charles Francis Adams, Jr., at
Oshkosh.

Aaaals, Jr., at the Northern Wis
'consin Fair, Oshkosh, September
5oth, has been highly complimented
by the papers throughout the State,
and from the many excellent ideas
set forth in 1T we consider it well
worth the perusal of the readers OF
the lines and hence publish & por-
ton Of it. Mr.. Adams has long
been Railroad Commissioners in
Massachusetts, and has studied the
question carefully. His suggestions
are entitled to great weight:
| am here, to-day, from the farthest East,
invited by your committee, to address the far
merS of North Wisconsin, at thei- anEual
gathering, on a subject in respect to which,
IN the State of Wisconsin more than almost
anywhere else, public feeling has of late
years been peculiarly sensitive-l mean the
questions connected with
THE GOVERNMENT AND THE RAILROADS.
was invited. l suppose, more especially
because of the fact that, for a number of
years now, have been one of the Railroad
Commissioners of Massachusetts, and more
orless prominent in this long discussion ;
while, living III the East, my experience and,
perhaps, my views, as a railroad reformer,
may seem to have in them something of
novelty for Western audience.
Let US, for moment go back, not four
score years, but only a little more than forty ;
let US go back to the famous locomotive race
at Rainhill, in England, on the 9Th Of October,
S29, where sGeorge Stephenson and the
Rocket lnaugurated forever the era of steam
lOcomOton.
8eferring to the great growth in tie West
since railways were built, he said we have
Deen going ahead a little fast, subduin q
the wilderness too fast, peOpiing the waste
places too fast, building railroads too fast
From my point of view | cannot but think
this is the real root of the trouble and that
consequently we are now witnessing, as re-
spects this western transportation question, a
spectacle of not infrequent occurrence, on g
smaller scale east and west, al alteration
namely between two partners, in a venture,
which, for the moment scarcely promises
well. One partner has agreed 20 lay out and
TO improve tarms-the other TO build roads
to them; accordingly the first has laid out a
great MANY more farms than are ilumedia telv
required, and the latter has built altogether
TOO many railroads to them. The natural
consequence ensues in the appearance of a
great many impatient landhOlders, and quite
a many disappointed stockholders. The
Iandholder Indignantly asserts that the bond
holder ruins the value Of his farm by charg-
ing for carriage all that its produce is worth
and the bondholder, while stoutly denying
the accusation, adds that even upon these
terms the business don't pay. So there it is,
and there fancy it must remain until there
IS less competition among the farmers and
more business for the railroads. The worst
Of it is, that just at present both parties
seem TO be telling the truth
The essence Of all successful Republican
Government is conceded in theory to rest in
an appeal to calm and educated public
opinion III our practice the penal law re-
presents the constablc-force-and the mo-
ment anything is wrong 1t only needs TO get
control of the constable to have it set right.
so in Massachusetts, for 80 years now, they
have been trying, through the agency OF the
constable, to make men temperate in nearly
every State in the Union the constable is in
vOed to see that the borrowers do not paw
more interest than is good for them; in the
south the constable must see to it that civiliza-
onnipresent constable must have his eye on
the railroads. TO see that no injuries accrue
from any deficiency in the operation OF
neutral laws. TO my mind, the force system,
whether in Turkey, in Russia, in Massachus
ctts or in Wisconsin, is all wrong; it is
based upon power not upon reason; upon
Al arbitrary will, not an enlightened public
opinion
The public has suffered from the extor
tons, inequalities, and favoritism incident &c
fierce competition tempered by close com
biuatiOn and varied by absolute MONOPOLY
while on the other hand, a system of reck
less construction, and loose, extravagant
responsible administration that has more thar
once led the owner blindfold to ruin in Other
words. while the mania Of railroad cOnstruc
ton was raging the public was alternatel-
petted and robbed, and the stakeholder wa
caioled and plundered. From such condi
ton of affairs-and that such condi
ton did exist your statute books bear faith
ful witness here, as the swelling bankrupt lis
does in New York,-COOke, and Scott, ant
Cicws, and Duncan and Schuchardt, learned
to their cost that your railroad system wa
built over the very bellies Of the so-cale,
railroad klngS.-its collapse filed Wall stree
with tomb stones, from such condition O
fairs but one result could ensue-exactl
rha result that cid enere. Settling
dsv came at last and while the Yves
bristled with hostile legislation, the Eas