Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-02-07
WHOLE NO. 2.3O6.

I
lie means that by absorption on
Kentucky corporation has taken al
our system. Every intelligent mai
in the State will at once ask, /
there no remedy for this? Canno
the people Of Tennessee protec
! themselves against such absorption
When the charter was granted t.
the Nashville q Chattanooga Rail
road Company, IL became a CONTRACT
between the State and the company
The State had reserved rights, one
.of which was to take away tho
franchise when ii ceased to perform
its functions. One of the highest
and principal functions was to elect
not appoint--a Board of Directors.
They, under the charter, are given
great powers. They have large dis
cretion. They have given, or there
is delegated to them by the State,
the right to exercise the States
greatest prerogative-the right of
eminent domain-to take private
property for their use because the
State Is interested. Will the keep
ing nominal board here, whose
duty is to obey the orders of a for
eign corporation and exercise no
discretion, be a substantial compli-
ance with the charter ? If not the
Legislature may take steps by di-
recting the Attorney-General to
proceed and have the forfeiture
judicially declared. If, as we have
heard to-day, the Nashville & Chat
tanooga railroad is to be run by a
foreign corporation and not under a
Tennessee board, with discretiotIs
and with the powers given by the
charter, then the questions will arise
what rights has a foreign corpora
ton? Can q foreign corporation
come into Tennessee and run a rail-
road without permission?
The courts, as well as the Legis-
lature, will look at the substance
and not the shadow, aAd IL il should
turn out that, ia fact, the Louisville
road-a foreign corporation-isu using
the franchise of the Nashville "
Chattanooga railroad, the courts,
without legislation, would have
the power to restrain the former
from such use of the Tennessee fran
chise, and indeed woold deal with
the persons running the road, and
not the foreign corporation.
This comes from a doctrine as old
as the law of corporahons-that a
must abide in the land
where it was created, and cannot
to another State. 1t cannot
go out of the State that created it;
It cannot buy and hold lands; IL
can perform none OF its functions I'm
another State; il must dwell where
it was created. Ed ...
All these doctrines have been rec
ognized by the Supreme Court of
the United States in numerous
eases. IIta H
And now it is best to be plain,
and / want to say to these gentle
men that if our railroad system IL
taken charge OF by a foreign corpo-
ration, the feeling among the masses
will be 50 intense that no power can
the Legislature from taking
away the charter. There is but
lne remedy for the feeling which
-hls absorption Is producing-an
OF the charter. Will
these gentlemen not concede this?
If they mean to give the CONNER
,ial cities of Tennessee the same
rates and the same rights which the
cities Of Kentucky
nave, why not put tin the charter?
If they mean to carry a bale Of cot
ON into Memphis or Nashville as
,heap as a bale of hay Is carried into
Louisville, the same distance, why
not put it in the charter? IL they
mean TO carry coal over their sew
sral roads into Nashville at the
iame rates they carry coal into
give us an assurance by
the charter. Is this ask
ng TOO much, when one great for
ign corporation absorbs our entire
system, and proposes to
axe charge of US? If we have "A
emedy, are we not justified in re-
orting to il? Would not any en-
ightened people protect themselves
they could?
The State owes an Immense debt,
which IS now bringing sore afiiiction
Ipon our intelligent men, which
vas made in building these roads,
nd under this combination they
all into the hands of foreign cor
which, by their use, may
crush us. ~ H.
DR. Standiford has assured YOU
hat you are better off by having
,ut one company to deal with.
This is contrary to all experience.
AIl experience teaches that cOmpe-
ition between railroads is better
han chartered guarantees aud that
n fact competition is the peoples
nIy protection. The danger from
abroad cOmbinations--big roads
aking up the small ones and be-
oming great mOnopOlies-is alarm
ng the entire country. -Four vast
ordinations, the Baltimore d
)hio, the Pennsylvania Central and
srle, and JAY Gould's trans-Missis-
ippi system, controlled by four
nen, have now the entire producing
lasses subject TO their orders. One
nan, Mr.. Fink, is paid $4,000 an
ually to watch the markets and
* freights, aud If wheat goes up or
aeon goes up or iron goes up, the
rofit Is taken up by Mr.. Fink
order increasing freights
o as to cover the rise. Farmers,
1erchants and manufacturers must
tand with hats off to these great
overs. The railroads were char
cred by the people, hooking to COM
etition for protection, but compe-
itiOn is not now an element 10 be
and DIR. StandifoTd tella
ou you are better Off without com,
He
repeat, these immense cOmbi-
ations, controlling and regulating
ccording to their liking the vast
Internal commerce Of the greatest
reducing country the world ever
aw, is alarming the country, and,
ihile the legal profession, ten or
wenty years ago, when roads We're,
; they were chartered, competing
With each other, did not recognize
he right of Congress TO regulate tho
uslness of the railroads under
he provision of the Constitution
living Congress the right to ret,u-
ite commerce among tire several
tates; now theIlegal profession, as
yell as the national legislature, is
oming to the conclusion that Con-
ress must regulate these vast arti-
cial highways, and they will be
ut where the rivers are, under the
Ontrol Of Congress. / was at WASH
lgton the other day when this
lost extraordinary feat was per,
Of one road at one step
lking control Of a great system,
5hich the brain and skill al Ono
lan had deVised--thc first by