The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-12-11
Railroads and the Public.

Railroads and the Public.
Judge Jere S. Black has written I'd
the New York Chamber of Com.
merce an answer to a series of Ques4
tions in relation to the proposed ael
of Congress to regulate inter Statt
CONNER and the regulation ofrails
roads by State legisIati0p 5utfgs
Black begins his reply by the asser.
ton that while the legally vested
rights of railway companies, like
other kinds of property are sacred
yet on this question railroad fneu
may misunderstood their situation.
"They believe or pretend to believe,
that railways are the property of the
companies authorised to run them,
which is cardinal error and the
parent of much false argument. A
public highway cannot be private
property, and a railroad laid out and
built by the authority of the State
for the purposes of commerce is as
much public highway as turns
pike road, canal or navigable river.
1t is the duty of the State to promote
intercourse and trade by making
highways of the best sort thro' her
territory. To this end she may take
land and materials, which is an ex-
ercise of the power of eminent do
main. She can build a railway at
her own expense, using the direct
agency of her own officers. AMI after
it is built she can make it free to all
corners or reimburse the cost by spe-
cial tax on individuals who have oc.
casion to use it. She can delegate
the tSking and the taxing powers to
a corporation or natural person,
and that is what she always does
when she grants railroad charter
But in either or any case the railroad
belongs to the State, and all the peo-
pie have right to use it upon com.
pliance with the necessary regua-
tions and the payment of the proper
tax. \ If the company may
charge what it pleases then the road
is not a public highway; the public
has no rights in it at all, and the
charter which authorizes the taking
of land to build it is unconstitutional
and void. These principles were
stated by Judge Baldwin in Bona
parie against the Camden and Am
boy Railroad Company Il Bald.
Rep, 252). You will find a more
extended discussion of them by the
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, in
Casey vs.. the Erie ana Northeast
Railroad Company q Casey's Rep,
2S7). do not think they are oppos-
ed by any high authority, but no
doubt they have often been over
locked in judicial decisions and for
ensic arguments.
1.-The railroads being public props
erty, in which all the people have
equal rights, and the companies that
run them being public agents, it is
absurd to say that the State has no
right to regulate and control them in
the performance of their functions
by such laws as will prevent parti.
ality, piunder and extortion. This
is power of which no free State can
disarm itself by any act of its judi
cial, legislative or executive officers.
They could as lawfully sell the State
out and out and deliver up the entire
population to sack and pillage.
4 "Ths reasonableness of
the freight tolls or taxes that may be
charged upon any railway will. de-
pend on the expenses of running it
and rsDairing it, and the cost of con
struction. The latter will, of course,
he the princIpal element in the Gals
culation, for the tolls ought to be nigh
enough to give the corporation fair
profit on the capital they have ac-
tually invested. But many of these
corporations have issued large ANTS.
of stock and mortgage bends, for
which the holders have paid nothing
or much less than their nominal
value. Another way of enarging
their apparent dimensions is to water
their stock under the pretence OF in
creasing their capital, while in fact
the additional shares are divided
among themselves without putting
new dollar into the business. Oh
course, nobody thinks that the real
cost of the road is to be measured by
the nominal amount of these bonds
and shares. 1t is easy for cOmpe-
tent. engineer to tell how much any
read ought to cost, surprising the
work To be honestly done and liber-
"a - no iH fnr That l,ai ., 80 n AL