Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1880-12-16
The Railroads and the People
From seribner's Monthly.


In approaching the problem of the
relations of the railroads of this coun-
try to the people, it must, first of all,
be borne in mind that transportation
on sea and land has developed under
radically diffe. lent principles. The
ocean being free to all and open to
any individual who chooses 10 place
his ship thereon, a vessel could 90
wherever its owner chose to send it ;
the laws of competition, and of sup
ply and demand, which have hereto
fore been found potent to protect the
public interest, applied here, as in
other branches of trade, and ans.
wered their purposes fully. So uni.
versal was the operation of this law
that it has been relied upon to gov
ern the relations OF railroads to the
public, and only upon the larger de-
velopment of the new means of trans.
portation has it become evident to
all-what had been forseen by few
that the conditions of the two
kinds of commerce are essentially
different; that railroad is natural
monopoly, and must be treated as
such.
In 1874, the Senate of the United
States, in response to a general de.
man6, appointed special commit.
tee on transportation, composed oil
Senators William Window, of Min
nesota; John Sherman, of Ohio
Roscoe Conkling, of New York; H.
G. Davis, of West Virginia II. M.
Norwood, of Georgia J. w. John
son, of Virginia John III. Mitchell,
of Oregon, and S. B. Conover, OF
Florida. The committee occupied
the entire summer of 1874 in making
an exhaustive examination of the
subject, and in their report we find
the following:
I'm the matter OF taxation, there are to-
day four men representing the four great
trunk lines between Chicago and New York,
who possess, and who not infrequently exer-
else, powers which the Congress of the Unit,
ed States would not venture to exert They
may at any time, and for any reason salts
factory TO themselves, by single stroke of
the pen, reduce the value of property in this
country by hundreds of millions of dollars.
An additional charge of five cents per BUSH
ell on the transportation of cereals would
have been equivalent to a tax OF forty-fye
millions OF dollars on the crop of 1878. No
Congress would dare to exercise so vast a
power except upon necessity of the most
imperative nature; aad ye. these gentlemen
xercse il whenever it suits their supreme
will and pleasure, without explanation or
apology. With the rapid and inevitable
progress of combination and consolidation,
these colossal organizations are daily becom-
ing stronger and more imperious. The day
is not distant, if it has not already arrived,
when it will be the duty of the statesman to
inquire whether the re is less danger in leav-
ing the property and industrial interests of
the people thus wholly at the mercy of few
men, who recognize no responsibility but to
their stockholders, and no principle Of &C
ton but personal and corporate aggrandize-
ment, than in adding somewhat to the power
and patronage of government directly re.
sponsble to the people and entirely under
their ontrol."--Rsport of tie United States
Senate Committee on Transportation Routes
page l5s.
In the State of New York, dissat.
isfaction regarding railroad manage.
ment has existed for long time a
statement Of the grievances suffered
by the producing and other interests
has from time to time been laid be.
fore the Legislature, and investiga.
ton of the same asked but so many
members were controlled by the rail
roads that for several years even an
investigation of grievances-a thing
which ought to be the common right
of every citizen-was denied. Public
sentiment regarding this question
has been constantly growing strong.
er, and last year the Assembly ap.
pointed an able committee of nine
members,-Hon. A. B. Hepburn,
ebairdm33pOr hifbadf Nagj brlnerpaY
charges "fully proven aud It's com
ment upon the state of things then
developed was as follows:
The mistake was in not providing proper
safeguards to protect the public interest
and hold the railroads to a strict accounta.
bility for their transactions. Thus through
the laxity of our laws and the want of gov
ernmensal control (measurably excusable,
considering the unforeseen possibilities OF
railroad development at the time of the
enactment of those laws, but no longer
pardonable in the light of the evidence here
with submitted), have crept in those abuses
hereafter mentioned, so glazing in their pro-
portions as TO SAVIOR of fiction rather than
actual history" report, page ~
Yet this investigation did not touch
upon one of the most serious phases
of this question-the political cor
ruptlon directly resulting from the
departure from correct principles in
railroad management. In order to
arrive at proper understanding of
this question, it is necessary to re-.
view briefly these principles and
sketch the progress of this greatest
invention of the age.
1t is generally admitted that rail-
roads, being public highways and
common carriers, should treat all
shippers with equality under like cir.
cumstances, and with relative equal.
ity where circumstances differ. The
function of the railroad being essen
tall y public in nature, aud the vote
OF the small shipper having had as
much to do with comforting the fran
chlses under which railroads are
constructed and operated as that of
the large shipper, the right of the
citizen on the highway here comes
IN to limit the operation of the law
OF wholesale and retail, which gov.
ems in private transactions. When
the capital actually invested in rail-
roads has been fairly compensated,
the rest of the advantages accruing
from the discovery and application
OF steam to the purposes of trans
portation should be enjoyed by the
public.
Within the memory of compare.
lively young men ordinary dirt roads
were the only means of communica.
ton except that furnished by our
water ways. These were owned and
kept in order by the public. The
demand for improved roads resulted
in turnpike companies, which were
chartered by the State and allowed
to charge tolls to reimburse the cap
ltal invested in these improved roads