Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-01-30
The Tyranny of Corporations.

gress that the heart of the people needs
to he changed before they can be freed
from the tyranny of discriminating cor
porations, and that the judiciary is an
inadequate bulwark against the danger.
Mr.. GOwen was testifying before the
committee which has in charge the bill
imposing restrictions upon the powers of
railroad corporations to discriminate be-
tween their customers in their charges
for transportation, and seemed to he of
the opinion that the control of the evil
must be left to the states, and that even
there it could not he controlled by stat
ute, owing to the vast power of the cor
poratiOnS which would cOntaminate the
fountains of justice if it failed to subsi-
dize the Legislature. We are altogether
in 4 bad way according to Mr.. Gowen's
idea, and there is more truth than
poetry in it. Judges are mortal, and
many of them are very poor specimens
OF mortality The title of judge is not a
guarantee that the man who wears it
honOrs it. If the g heart of the people :"
of which Mr.. GOwen speaks was all right
and the head likewise, the men who are
made judges would he worthy of our
confidence. 1t is the people who elect,
and if the people were fit for their business
the judges would he fit for theirs. ''The
people who elevated us to the bench
us Judge Patterson says, certainly expect
him and his fellow judges to administer
the.laws with wisdom and impartiality.
But it is eminently Il case of
great expectations very inadequately
satisfied. And in many more cases
than that of Judge Patterson. Our SUI
preme bench of Pennsylvania is by no
means illustrious in all its parts, and it
does not surprise us to have Mr.. GOwen
say that he has heard it threatened to its
face with the power of the Pennsylvania
railroad. We all know that this power
exists and is unscrupulously used in leg
iSlation. 1t is but now that the COM
monwealth is prosecuting in Harrisburg
the agents of this company who sought
todebauch the Legislature and secure the
passage of a bill granting the aid of the
state to the county of Allegheny to pay
four millions of damages alleged to have
been occaSiOned by the riots, though now
it is announced that the railroad COM
pany has consented to receive less than
two millions of dollars from the county
on account of its losses, which far ex-
ceeded in amount the aggregate of those
of those of all the other sufferers. There
was a large sum in this four million ap-
preparation laid aside for the use of the
men who sought to secure the states ap-
preparation. The state was not only to
pay the damages, but also the men who
forced her to the expenditure.
In this case the heart of the people was
too stout for the corporation and now
that the judiciary is called upon to pun
ish the offenders it remains to be seen
how strong its courage will be for the
work. If Mr.. Kemble is punished for his
admitted wrong we may conclude that
Mr.. Gowen despairs too much of
the judiciary and if Mr.. Kemble
finally gets past the gubernatoria
pardon into the Jail he has SO richly
earned, we may have confidence that
the heart of the people is approaching the
state which is needed to secure from its
servants the execution of its will. 1t is
certainly true that eternal vigilance, is
the price of a peoples liberty, and they
must have the needed intelligence and
courage to exercise such vigilance or
they will become the prey of the spoiler.
Their greatest danger now lies in the
vast aggregations of the capital of cor
porations into the control of few hands.
One of the chiefest instruments for their
oppression which the cupidity of railway
corporations drives them into using is
that of discrimination in freight. 1t
amounts to tax levied by the
power of the state upon its cit
liens unequally, SO that one is given
advantages while the other is ruined.
It does not matter much to the injured
that the state levies the tax indirectly
through the corporation it has created
and clothed with the power. The fact
that the power exists and is used is suffi-
cient to show that it should he taken
away. The practical difficulties at
tending legislation upon the subject,
though great, are certainly not IRENE