The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1878-03-20
The BfII 10 Regulate FreighIs on
Cotton.

In the last days Of the late session of
the Legislature, the bill introduced some
time before in the Senate by Hon. F. g.
Barry, of Clay county, regulating rail-
road charges for the transportation of
cotton, passed both houses, after having
been banded between them and unnec
essarily delayed, and was sent to the
Governor. For causes, of which we are
not apprised, but we presume for want of
time to examine the bill thoroughly and
an unwillingness to approve a measure
of such importance without full exam
nation, the Governor did not veto it, nor
yet did not return it to the House in
which it originated, with his objections
Consequently it will remain in state of
suspended animation until the meeting
of the Legislature in January, 1880,
when by the Constitution it will become
law unless vetoed within five days after
the meeting thereof
The measure is said to have originated
in the public Indignation which is felt
along the line of the Mobile and Ohio
Railroad on account of the inequalities,
| determinations and extortions which have
been practiced by that corporation, which,
as Governor Alcorn once said in a mes
sage about another corporation, is can old
offender" Under what is claimed to be
chartered privileges" it has not only
refused to pay taxes upon its roadbed
and the material used in operating the
road, but even its half million of acres Of
valuable lands which the courts, however,
have finally decided are not entitled to
exemption from taxes, and for which it
has been compelled at the emo of the law
to disgorge. We have heard no COM
plant against the Roads in the inter- and
western portion of the State. The public
are protected to a considerable extent by
the competition which the Mississippi,
and the Yazoo and its tributaries afford
for the transportation Of our chief staple
as we'll as for goods. From the extreme
western limits to the center of the State,
the influence of this competition is felt.
There is no transportation so cheap as
that afforded by the water courses, the
great highways with which nature in its
goodness has bountifully provided our
favored State.
The right of State Legislatures to
regulate fares and freights is beyond
question: and the duty of our Legisla
ture to take such action, if occasion re-
quires, for the protection of the people is
equally unquestiOned. Every member
elected as a Democrat or Conservative
stands pledged to the platform of the
Democratic Conservative party which
declares that corporations are supervise
BILE by the legislative department. But
there is weightier authority. 1t is the
decisions of the highest judicial tribunals
of the country. While it has been de-
cided in the Dartworth College vs.. Wood |
ward case that executed contracts cannot |
be impaired, it has been so repeatedly |
decided that the power of the legislative
authority to interfere exists in the absence |
of such contracts, that it has become d
part of the well established jurispruden
tial policy of the country, The decisions
of the Supreme Court of the United
States, settling this point, have been
published until they are familiar to every
tyro, and it has become fixed principle
in the legislation, as well as the jurispru-
dence, of most of the States. Doubtless
when our Legislature next meets the
subject will receive the attention which
its Importance demands, and we trust in
a spirit of justice and fair dealing both
to the corporations and to the people.