Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1880-12-04

from the TACT that TdlirOduS 6to Puoh'
highways. Ifthey owned the corpus o.
The road and used it in the business o.
q common carrier, they might be com
pelled 10 behave themselves justly to aI
their customers and submit to any reg
ulation for the public good. The un
ansyerab,e opinion Of Chief Justice
Waite in Mum agt. Illinois (Otto 1, p.
llS) settles that. F'r
The reasonableness OF the freight tolls
or taxes that may be charged upon any
railway will depend on the expenses o'
running and repairing it and on the
cost of construction. THE latter will. OF
course, be the principal element in tue
calculation, ior the tolls ought to be
high enough to give the corporators
fair profit on the capital they have actu
sllv invested. But many OF these cor.
pora,ions have issued large amounts ol
stock and mortgage bonds, for which
the holders have paid nothing or much
less than their nominal value. Anotii'
er way of enlarging their apparent d.
menslons Is 10 water their stock under
the pretence OF increasing their capital,
while, in fact. the additional shares are
divided among themselves without Pot,
ting new dollar into the business. vi
course nobody thinks that the real value
of the road is measured by the nominal
amount OF these bonds and shares. u
is easv for competent engineer to tell
how much any road ought TO cost, sup-
posing the work 10 be zone honestly
and liberally paid for. That being as.
certained, you have the true basis OF
calculation which will show how muc'.
the tolls ought to be.
Most Of our Western roads were built
with the proceeds OF public lands grant.
Ell mediately or immediately by the
United states to the several companies
which now have them in charge. They
did not really cost the stockholders any
thing, and in some cases they got lands
worth a great deal more than all ex-
penses Of making, stocking, and running
the roads. The two companies between
Omaha and San Francisco raised in cash
out of Government bonds, lands and
mortgages OF their franchises iour or
five times as much as they necessarily
upon the roads. The stock
holders, without paying anything, put
the enormous surplus into their pockets
These roads thus built at the public ex-
pense, and in some cases paid iOr by the
public five times over, are now claimed
as the private property OF the COM
pauies, and the right OF the pub
lie 10 use them as highways
il u,,er'y denied Nevertheless, | think
the claim of these companies to take
reasonable tolls stands upon the same
foundation rs that of companies whose
roads were built by the stockholders
themselves, at their own proper ex.
pense. The grant OF the lands invested
the grantees with title which could
not be revoked if the conditions III 1t
were performed. II they sold or mort
gayed the lands and invested the pro.
ceeds in the construction OF railroad
under charter from State or general
which authorizes them to
take fair profit in the shape OF tolls,
they have as good a right 10 the tolls as
il the capital to build the road had been
raised by themselves; that is to say,
those companies which built the rail.
roads with capital donated by the pub
lie have the same right as other COM
panies 10 charge 4 reasonable toll; nut
their demand OF excessive tolls, though
NOT worse in Jaw, seems in the eye OF
natural reason greater outrage.
railroad corporations have the un-
limited power which they claim, then
all business is at their mercy; asricul-
ture, commerce, manufactures must sui
fer what they choose to intiict. They
NAV rob poor of the bread it wins and
deprive altenterprisc OF Its just reward.
Though this power does not belong to
them legally, they have been
Permitted to Usurp IT.
and | need not tell you that Il ay have
grossly abused it. We know that they
make their exactions with an eye single
to their own advantage, without consid-
ering any right or interest OF the public.
They boldly express their determine.
tion TO charge ~ much a. the traffic will
bear; that is to say, they will take from
the profits OF every mans business as
much as can be taken without compel
ing him to quit ii. In the aggregate this
amounts q the most enormous, oppres
sive, and unjust tax that ever Was laid
upon the industry OF any people under
the sun. The irTe2ularity with which
this tax is laid makes il still harder TO
bear. Men 20 into business which
NAV thrive, at present rates, and Will
find themselves crushed by business un-
expectediy thrown upon them after they
get started.
1t is the habit Of the railroad com.
panies TO change their rates OF transpor-
t,tion often and suddenly, and in par
ticular TO make the charges ruinously
hlrh without any notice at all. The
farmers of the great West have made q
large crop OF grain, which they may sell
at fair prices II they can have II carried
To the Eastern ports, even at the un-
reasonably high freights OF last summer.
But inst now il is SAID that the rail ilway
have agreed among them.
selves TO raise the freight tive cents per
hundred weight. which is equal to an
exIort tax upon the whole crop OF prob
ably seven,y.iiye millions OF dollars.
The farmers must submit TO this
HIGHWAY hopDery,
or else keep the products oil their land
10 rot on their hands. They submit. OF
course, as all other classes OF industrious
people submit To similar impositions.
Common justice imperatively requires
that ireiyhts be fixed, settled aud pre-
scribcd by law, and that they be not
at the mere viii OF the railroad
But the Determinations
which make the rates unequal are the
most odious feature. A grain dealer at
Baltimore gets a reduction or drawback
which is denied to others, and he makes
a fortune for himself where he ruins his
competitors by underseliing ,h' m. A
sinciemill at Rochester can stop the
wheels OF all the rest ii its -four De car
RED at a rate much lower. BY discrim'
ina;ion of this kind the Irohts OF one
coal mine may be quadruplet, while
another with all it's fixtures and ma
chinery is rendered worthless.
Such wrongs as these ar, done, not
only in few sporai;c cases, but gen
erally AMI habitually on a very large
sc-le. Certain oil men, whose refinery
was on Long Island gotreba.es amount
iny 10 Sl0,OO0,0 900 in eighteen months |;
snd seventy nine houses believe that
is the numberl engaged IN the same
business were broken up.
The creditors OF the Reading railroad,
having coal lands OF :heir own, made