Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-04-05
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.
street Car Charraa

street Car Charges.
To the Editor of the Ledger;
The w~ide-awake LEDGER merits and
will receive the hearty thanks of c%itizsns
Of town and country for it's earnest Gebt
against the street railroad monopoly.
and 1t is to be regretted that every city
paper is not with the LEDGER. In an
article this Wednesday, morning about
tho controversy" the Appeal, speaking
OF the company and of the late law re-
ducing its fare to FIVE cents, says:
Believing such repeal to be an neon.
stitutlonal infringement upon their
vested rights they have appealed to the
courts for a decision aud for protection.
pending which they are operating their
road at the old rates, as they have alro
an lndeteasIble right to do. Their pro.
ceedings being, then, perfectly legal and
regular, we do not see any occasion for
excitement or for any attempt BY anv
citizen to appeal to violence. Let thu
law take its course.
Inns IS strange Misrepresentation Of
of facts. TIE simple question is this:
What laU aoU governs s~treetcar fare
IN Memphisi Is it the old law which
gave the right to charge ten cents. or ia Il
the late law which reduces the fare n
1--WE cents2 Both cannot be the law
Then which isl The universal rule of
constituting statutes is, that the latest re-.
peals all conflicting ones; and therefore
that statute or act Of the legislature is
the Law" which reduces the fare to five
cents. There is bat one law.makinp
power in the State. Neither the peopla
nor the railroad company can make
laws. The Legislature only can do this.
and though it sometimes makes yeev
foolish and oppressive ones, yet these
acts are the Law" until they are repealed
or declared unconstitutional. We all
knowlhow we of the South have had TO
submit 20 most Unjust and odious laws
passed by congress and also by Brown.
lows legislature but, as unjrst ana evil
as these laws were, they we're obeyed
simply because they were the law"
So of this late Law reducing the fare
to five cents. 1t may be wrong.
It may interfere with vested rights. But
the railroad company cannot pass anon
its constitutionality; and, until the
proper tribunal shall do this, IL is ~
taD, and the company should obey Il
until 1t IS repealed or declared null. Thu
Appeal says the cbmpany has the rioht
10 exact the old fare of ten cants rnt;l
the question is settled. Ii il has ,bsn
1t has the right to defy the law simnlv bv
saying the late act is not 1.-THE law; and
this ia nothing mora nor less than ssviao
that every man can decide the law for
himself. Ii this suit should be in the
courts ten years could the railroad con-.
pany desire anything better than that
they o collect the old fare of ten
cents until the suit is ended2 The
Appeal also cheerfully advises every
BODY to continue to comply with
the c%ompanys demand aHd nav
the ten.eents fare. 1t would have bean
IN much better taste, had the Appeal
ventured to advise the company 10 core.
ply with the law and receive the five.
cents fare. The company defes II a Law
and public opinion in its present conrse
and is converting hundreds If frienS.
into open enemies. Would K not he far
more in accordance with a iust ssnse of
propriety for it 70 say, We believe the
law is unconstitutional, but we will obey
preme Cosrtg'
When the fare was ten cents people
paid It aud complied with the law. Ii Is
now five cents, and for one / will comply
with the law and pay the five cents, but
nothing more, Notwithstanding the car.
hook threat. T