Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1876-01-06

have Deen coiIecIeu iA o"Aio'i7
hridoes. 2.14l, $50 for other purposes, and
81 $50. 25G for railroads. The municipal
debt of Missouri amounts (besides a State
debt of $4,000, 000) to more than S32,ooo,-
nm If least $40 0 1000 of which have been
oiyen to the railroad corporations III
bonds.
Tn Ohio the local debt is double the
amount of the State debt. The debt OF the
cities. and towns in Illinois is five times
Greater than the State debt. The cities OF
the State of New York have bound tilem-
selves partly at twenty, thirty, ana even
fifty per cent. Of their tax estimation 1of Tie
railroad companies alone. The total bonded
debt ofthe counties, cities and owns OF the
State of New York amounts to $2l4,3ll,G16.
This illustrates to some extent the enorm-
Gus burden the people have taken upon
their shoulders in favor of the railroads.
The assessment of the taxes to raise the III
terests accruing from this enormous debt,
must indeed be felt by the taxpayers. But
in spite of all this, and the land grants, and
exemption from taxation, were the rates OF
freight raised so high by the railroad COM
panies thai it cost the price of five bushels
of wheat to the farmer to send one bushel OF
the same from Chicago to New York.
These high freight rates. were conditioned
partly by the imitation of the capital stock,
the abusive emission of bonds, and partly
by the extravaganza administration Of the
road, etc. The donations of the States and
municipalities to these roads had found their
way into the capacious pockets of the rail
road rings, the credit mobilier, contract and
finance committees, etc. The farmers found
themselves outrageously deceived. Their
displeasure increased, when they found that
the common law was insufficient to protect
them against the operations of these abuses,
the common course of justice and law.
Judges, legislators, and executive officers
were interested in the railroad business, and
the press of the country, enjoying the pat
ronage of the railroad corporations to their
material benefit, did not at first heed the
just complaints Of the farmers over the
abuses of the railroads.
The cause of the farmers appeared to be
lost, especially as the railroad companies
claimed the protection of the Constitution of
the United States which, in Article /, Sec
ton 10, torbids the States to enact laws
which condition a violation Of liabilities as
sumed under contracts referring to deci-
sions of courts analogous to the Dartmouth
College case. According to these judicial
decisions, q railroad corporation is a private
corporation, whose charter forms a contract
between it and the State which cannot be
subjected to change by the latter. By ex-
tending the Dartmouth case to the railroad
corporations, they gained a most important
power as monopolies. The State, although
the railroad companies did public acts, was
almost entirely prohibited from interfering
in their business.
One need but reflect upon the support and
the beneficial advances which were granted
to railroads in sucn a high degree by public
patronage, in the shape Of Legislative appro-
priations on the part. of the Union, us well
as the States, by loans or subscriptions to
share the guaranteeing of securities, land
grants ETC., etc. This popular favorite now
claims privileges and rights which put him
above the law and above the power of the
State. The railroad claims the exclusive
right to regulate the traffic, to fix the rate o.
freight, and referred to their corporate
rights which were protected by Section 10 0
Article |, OF the Constitution, if the State at
tempted to NEEDLE with them Had not
the donation already justified the interior
ence OF the State and the municipalities in
the affairs of railroads. thair nerfnrno.nca o.