The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1877-08-24
THE LABOR PROBLEM.
Governmental Supervision OF Railroads
senator Mcdonald, of Indiana, Inter-

Governmental Supervision OF Railroads
Senator Mcdonald, of Indiana, Inter
viewed. .r
From the Chicago Times.l
"Do you think the labor question will
cut big figure in the elections, Sena-
tor?" asked the reporter.
at certainly will. 1t will cut big
| figure in the elections, and will no doubt
be forced on Congress. At any rate, the
railroad question will. That's certain.
The fact is that we are Mt present suffer
ing under railroad system that is anon
alous. 1t is peculiar to the country, and
peculiar because of our intricate State
and Federal relations. You see rail
road corporation is made by State, and
the rights which it as a corporation en-
joys, or the privileges it can command,
extend only to the limits of the particu-
lar State from which it derives its cor
porate existence. Thus there is no uni
formity about laws applying to railroad
which, we will say, is through line, and
which extends across several States.
Take, for instance, from here to New
York. A line runs through five different
States or local jurisdictions The rail
road law of each State is peculiar to
itself. There may not be much differ
ence in most of them, perhaps; but that
isn't the point. What is needed, and
what must be secured, is law which
shall insure the transportation of freight
and passengers from one point to another
with absolute or reasonable certainty.
AS matters are at present, there is always
the inevitable conflict between the inter
ests of the travelling and transporting
public at large, the particular interests
of the road, and the local interests
"Then railroad companies foster
class of employees that are very often
careless of local interests, even when not
actually inimical to them. They feel
that they belong to the Baltimore and
Ohio, or the Michigan Central, or to
such and such line as whole. They
identify themselves and their interests
with the line, and not with the interests
of the localities through which the line
may run. Thus there very often arises
local limitations, which need but the
merest excuse to develop into serious
difficulties. These difficulties work in
jury to the interests of general travel and
general transportation of freight, and of
course indirectly the locality of the
trouble suffers also in time. The system
of railroad combinations has given to us
direct travel and direct transportation
from one part of the country to another
Thus the several corporations have really
outgrown the limits of the States from
which they derived their existence in the
first instance. Their lines and the lines
through which through combinations
are effected go far beyond State control
and State supervision.
"Where is the general supervision to
come from, then?"
"From the National Government,
clearly. The National Government
should exercise q general supervision
over the through traffic on railroads.
This supervision need not be extreme.
1t should be equal to and in fact the
same as the Federal police power over
navigable rivers. That and nothing
more, but that would be sufficient to in
sure the performance of contracts on the
part of the railroad companies, and, ON
the contrary, protect the legal rights of
the roads from the violence of the peo-
pie. Something of this sort must be
done, and, although it is not an easy
problem to elucidate by any means, yet
it will be forced upon the attention of
Congress at ali early day. The railroads
are the highways of the country; the
companies common carriers. There are
principles involved in the matter which
are above the elements of ordinary con-
tracts. III n passenger behaves himself
and pays his fare, n railroad company
has got to carry him whether they like it
or not. They are common carriers and
their lines now constitute the broad high
ways OF the country. An illustration in
point: A man who ships car of wheat
through by rail to the Eastern seaboard
has not, under the present condition of
affair, any reasonable surety for its get
ting there. 1t may go through Illinois
and Indiana and be stopped in Ohio, or
through Minnesota and be stopped in
Illinois, and all this purely owing to
local causes. Now, on the other hand,
ii man ships a barge of wheat down
the Mississippi river he has protection
OF the police power of the Federal Gov
eminent, and it is so effective that his
wheat will go for certainty. Railroad
lines have outgrown mere corporate HIM
its, and, having become public necessi-
ties, their operation should be guarded
by sound general public laws. Now if it
was crime against United States laws to
stop train in Ohio, and also to stop
train in Indiana or in Illinois, and SO on
from ocean to ocean, through transit
would be assured, because the class of
people that railroad companies create
are general and not local in their in
stincts. They respect United States law