Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1876-02-25

| IOau edTIlllS Sf,ooo q llllle was ldHh
ed with one earning $4,000. Now
the cost of running is but little dill
ferent, while the profits or net earn
ings are very much larger in one cas-
than in the ether. This ought to b'
considered in classifying roads, as i
is the net earnings that prove thu
ability to pay. Again, all the LEASED
lines, no matter if they only earn
$4,000 per mile, are put into the same
class with the main line that earn
$4,000. The law takes no account
either, of the difference in grade
Whether road is so situated as t.
require an engine for IA cars or 20, i
| is classed the same. Neither is thu
! condition Of snow blockades noticed
The road that never has a cent t.
spend III shoveling snow is treated
the same is one spending onetourti
of its earnings, rs was the case will
the western part Of the |. c. road las
winter I mention these as few o
the points that Mr.. Duncombe can
didly and fairly set forth in hi
speech.
Mr.. Clark, the general manager
confirmed what III. Duncombe haC
said, and went into the details o
railroad management, answering ma
ny questions from the delegates from
Dubuque and elsewhere. 1t seems
that Dubuque is very much agains
the I. G. road, but Mr.. Clark sale
that the management had been know
to discriminate in favor of that city
Col. Smith, the attorney of the c
& n. W., went into a more minute
criticism of the railroad tariff law
and showed that it had many little
defects. AS an instance, he mention
ed one of their stations that had tC
make out TAO way bills in single
month under 25 cents, some less than
cent. He also pointed out tina,
valuable small packages could not
be charged anything like what they
should be, and in stock, coal and
other matters, there were large de
fects. He said his road had no IA
vors to ask. They had made them.
selves good for all their losses and a
quarter of million dollars more by
adding to the through freights. But
he thought the General Assembly
would hardly want the responsibility
of taking that amount from the
Western shippers. Mr.. S. showed
the vast amount of railroad property,
$4,000, and not cent had ever
been paid by the State of Iowa, and
but little by its citizens, and yet tax,
es are collected on s22,ooo,Ooo for
the benefit of State, county and
schools. Now, it is the duty of the
State to legislate evenly for this
vast property held by innocent pur-
chasers all over the world.
The next evening the railroad tar
if side was heard. D. E. Lyon, OF
Dubuque, claimed that the question
was one of principle, and its discus
sion would show whether the people
are sovereign, or that railroads can
discriminate and extort at their pleas
ure. 1t is a question that interests
every citizen. He said the Illinois
Central complained of running the
roads at a loss. That is caused, he
said, by contested elevator contracts,
big lawyer fees, damages and bonuses
to construction companies. The roads
could be run by the tariff at profit,
if properly managed. He charged
that the l. G. had such high freights
that trade was driven to other roads,
and that caused loss. Mr. L. was
quite personal and severe in answer
to Gen. Clark.
MIR. O'Donnell, Of Dubuque, took
a direct argumentative issue on the
business Of the law, and even the
classification, and alluded very peril
nently to the action OF the railroad
companies in raising the through
freights, as kind of retaliation, and
with a distinct desire to create oppo-
sition to the law and thus secure its
repeal. But, said he, let it once be
known that the State is in earnest
about this matter and no such thing
would be done; and besides, the com
petition at the river by other routes
will itself work the remedy, as it al
ready has at Davenport. He urged
firm action by the Assembly in re-
gard to this matter, to protect the
people IN their rights, and not turn
them and their productions over to
the mercy of the corporations. Mr..
ODonnell, as well as Mr.. Lyon,
was much interrupted by questions,
which, however, they promptly an
sWered.
And now comes the champion of
them all, Hon. James f. Wilson, the
attorney of the c., B. & O., with the
bold, defiant doctrine that it is impo-
lite and wrong for Legislatures to
interfere with railroad management,
as the property is private and should
be allowed to govern itself on bust
ness principles. 1t is a corporate ar.
rangement, he said, but that does not
change it's nature at all. 1t had the
right of eminent domain, but that
did not convert it to public institu-
ton. Nor did the fact that railroads
are common carriers bring them into
the public list. He justified the rals'
ing Of through freights as protection
to the stockholders, and said that 1t
would not be possible to do that al
ways, tor it would depopulate the
country. But he submitted that the
policy of the law was to raise an is
sue between the State and the ship
per, and not the railroad. And
further, he claimed in regard to the
law that it subverted good railroad
usage in giving preference to the long
haul. This, he said, had tendency
to equalize the different extremes of
State, and enhance the value of