Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-02-14
WILLIAM KEYSER.
SYNOPSIS OF HIS SPEECH
Before the Senate Judiciary
Committee Last Night.

z
Mr.. Keyser anticipated, when he adj
dressed the committee few days pre-
viously, that he would hear from the
Senator from Tyler county some distinct
statements concerning the complaints
regarding the relations of the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad Company to the peo-
pie Of the State, and he had not there
fore gone into the subject in his former
address as minutely as he might, but
waited to first hear the remarks OF Mr..
Johnson, who has made the subject OF the
Baltimore and Ohio Company and Its
policy towards the people OF West
Virginia the subject of earnest study Tor
months. After hearing the vews ol
that gentleman and getting the points OF
his argument. he had expected to be
better able to give the views OF the com
pany. He, therefore, now desired TO
speak briefly in reply TO the remarks OF
the gentleman from Tyler, pertinent to
the b. 4 o. railroad bills, made ycster-
day. He also desired to briefly review
the practical bearing of the question IN
volved upon the interests OF the Balti-
more K Ohio company and those
OF the people OF West Virginia;
To 90 more into detail than before,
Not being lawyer, he would not cxpa-
tiate upon the legal questions involved
in the charter, but leave that 10 the
g ha "a
whom were leared in the law. lie
wanted, however, to give some consider
alton To the logical results that would
arise from the adoption OF either OF the
bills now under advisementby the COM
mittec. First OF all, he wished TO
correct some no doubt uninten-
tional errors into which the Senator
from Tyler had attempted to lead
the senate That gentleman had said
that the Baltimore and Chic Railroad
Company had by its actions placed itself
in the light OF II foreign corporation.
The plain and unavoidable inference
from this statement was that the com
pany hal assumed toward the people Of
the State an uniricndly, defiant atti.
tude, one that it should not hold, and
could not hold, under its charter. But
it had been decided in numerous cases
one or two OF which Mr. keyser cited
that the Baltimore and Ohio road was
not creature OF West Virginia or of
Virginia, but of Maryland; and got Its
vested rights under the charter granted
by Maryland.
The Senator had also quoted from
other cases to sustain his position that
corporations have no vested rights
that Legislatures are bound To respect,
and doing so-lrom the Dartmouth Col
lcge case and from the Charles River
case as wcll-the gentleman had, unin-
tentiOnally, no dodbt, created most
erroneous impression. lie had said that
the supreme Court OF the United States
has decided that Legislatures have a
right TO annihilatc the vested rights OF
corporations. But he asked that
the gentleman of the committee refer to
the books and see for themselves
whether the Senator had quoted correct
eSmpnny T ThS &RaiB@G96m Ras B@4G96mG 9&e 9Sn 9aings 6ak
Of the people-its bonds are held all
over this country and Europe.
People had been led to in
vest Ill llA HtNullNNS 'NNAN'N - ~
protection by its charter, AMI OF their
confidence in the integrity and ability
of the officers of the road. And where
corporations had received under char
ter franchises that had induced invest
ments to bc made in It's securities, that
charter constituted q contract within
the meaning of the provision OF the
United States Constitution, which for
bids the making OF laws 10y any lesisla-
ture that will impair the conditions ot
contract The act OF 1927, first incor-
porated the Baltimore and ONO railroad
company The acts OF 1857 and 1873,
were simply the general railroad law ot
the State. And the act passed i'll 1871,
Was accepted by the Baltimore and ONO
company, and conferred upon II certain
rights and privileges. The tariff changes
which the company were allowed to
charge under the acts of lSi1 and lS39,
as affirmed by the acts OF 1917, arc eight
cents per ton per mile for frcights and
4 cents per mile for passengers.
Section 2 OF the Act OF 1887 ordered
that all parts OF the road from Grafton
to Wheeling should he opened stimuli
tancunslv. The reason of this was, Mr..
kevser explained, To secure To- Wheel
ing the benefits Oi being the terminus.
Had this not been enacted, the com
panv, after completing the road To the
mouth Oi Grave creek, the present site
Of Moundsvlle, could have Claimed that
they had not funds enough Ia com
plctc the road 10 Wheeling, or on
anv preteXt failed 10 complete 1t, and
made the point on the river at the
month uf Grave creek It's terminus,
when, of course, town would have
sprung up there, and Wheeling found
il a lusty rival.
The speaker held that nothing in any
Of these acts previously reterrcdto could
hc construed, as MIR. Johnson had con-
strurd them, Ia refer L. traiiiC with the
! yreat West and Northwest. They were
made simply toto SeruTr to Wheeling the
| benefits ot the terminus Of the road,
and to the local points the benefits
oi the restriction in regard to rates, and
not with a view 10 making the cumrvil-
/ tive through rates govern the Local
rates. When the rOad MAS built there
was no prospect oi railroad Cummunlva-
| ton with the West and Northwest.
| The Central Ohio road was not thought
| of. ~ the Senator from TYLER hal
seemed to suppose, and there Va, no
| prospect, immediate or remote, that the
/ great traffic IN freight 1ud passengers on
I the western rivers should be diverted
\ from the water courses 10 the railroads
The hills, Of both the Senator from
/ TYLER and the Senator from Harrison,
/ prnfessed to secure the Ieople of the
| State against determinations, AMI were
Of course intended to b. beneficial IN
| their effects. But one tact would SECURE
the exact reverse, would make di~Cri-
limitations more arbitrary and enduring,
and instead OF resulting in good TO the
people Of the state would have an effect
! diametrically opposite That Vas The TACT
that these laws, nor the charter oi the
| company have no bearing on
the Parkersburg branch. This roal
| 4. .,ntr,llai A. ~ tolls ct hy the l-pu.