The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1880-12-16
ANtsee11
FREIGHT DISCRIMINATION,
JUDGE BLACK ARRAIGNs THE
GREAT TRUNK RAILROADS.
Legislative Interference Necessary'-Gi-
Rantic Corporations that Tax the
COuntry,s PrOductIOnS---HightS
of the Public.


men in various parts of the country, a
number of questions relating to railroad
freight ratea. These questions were in
tended 10 elicit opinions from leading
business men and manufacturers, as to
the il jury accomplished by Auctuating
and discriminating charges for the trans
portation of merchandise. 1t was claim
ed that shippers were not justly treated,
even where all circumstances were equal
that certain sections derived adVanta
ges by special arrangements denied
to other sections. For instance, to send
100 pounds OF freight from this city to
San Francisco cost only $3.50, while to
send the same weight to Salt Lake City
cost $4. The leading idea was to learn
the feeling of the country concerning the
assumption by the companies Of the
right to charge whatever the traffic
may bear" rather than adopt reaso1s'
BILE tariff based on the cost Of service. AS
a valuable contribution toward solving
the d ticult problem, the Conn ittee on
Transportation Of the Chamber of Com
merce have published the following let
ter from Judge jeremiah S. Black OF
Pennsylvania:
YoRK PA. Nov. l6, 1880.
Committee on Railroad Transportation OF
the N,w York Chamber of COmme,ce'
GENTIEMEN-You propose movement
in favor of some legal regulation which
will compel railway companies to per-
form their duties to the public on proper
terms. will answer your questions as
directly as possible, but without observ-
ing the order in which you put them,
You desire above all things to be just
The legally vested rights # railway COM
psnies, like other rights of property, are
sacred, and no violation of them comes
within the scope of your design.
But on this question railroad men mis-
understand their situation. They be-
lieve, or pretend to believe, that railways
are the property of the companies au'
thorized to run them, which is cardi-
nal error, and the cause of much false ar
gument. A public highway cannot be
priyste property, and railroad laid out
and built ly authority of the state for
the purposes of commerce is as much
public highway as turnpike road, ca
nal or navigable river, 1t is the duty
of the state TO promote intercourse and
trade by making highways of the best
sort through her territory. To this end
she may take land and materials, which
is an exercise of the power of eminent
domain. She can build railway at her
own expense, using the direct agency of
her own officers, and after it is built she
can make it free to all CCmers, or REIN.
burse the cost by special tax on iudivid-
uals who have occasion to use it. She
can delegate the taking and taxing pow
ers to a corporation or natural person;
and that is what she always does when
she grants railroad charter. But in Ell
ther or any case the road belongs to the
state, and all the people have a right to
use it upon compliance with the neCes.
sary regulations and payment Of the tax.
The corporations who have got into
the habit of calling themselves the own
ers ofrailroar have no proprietary right,
title or claim to the roads themse yes,
but mere franchise annexed to and ex-
ercisable thereon. The are the states
agents for the performance of public
duty. If the franchise be forfeited or
surrendered or if it expire by eff1ux of
time, the state takes possession of the
road and runs it herself or employs a
new agent. The company cannot keep
the road any more than an outgoing col
leCtor of port can appropriate to him.
sell the Custom House where he did his
official work. The state having need Of
q public highway at particular place,
makes q contract with corporation to
open and put it in condition to be used,
and by way of reimbursing the builders
and operators she authorizes a tax upon
those who travel or carry merchandise
over it. But this tax must be reasonable,
just, uniform, prescribed and fixed, 30
that every citizen may know beforehand
exactly how much he must pay; 80 that
when he pays or tenders the amount he
will a. aCquire an absolute and perfect right
ito the use of the road" The amount
of the tax, toll or freight in any case is
not a subject of bargain between the
shipper and the corporation, but thing
to be settled and fixed by public author
ity. TIE railroads being public proper
ty, in which all the people have equal
rights, and the companies that run them
being pnblic 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 pre-.
vent partiality, plunder and extortion.
This is a power of which no free state
can dissrm itself by any act Of its jndiC-
ial, legislative or ,xeCutive officers, They
could as lawfully sell the state out and
deliver up the entire population to sack
and pillsge. But are not the franchises
in which the company has a
vtBed righ,2 Yes. The privilege Of
taking Il fixed and reasonable rate of toll
from all persons alike, according to the
use they make of the road, is a po" or
the state may bestow upon any person,
natural or artificial. But no lawful fran
chise to take toll on a public highway
can exceed those limits. A charter that
goes beyond this is void. Those com
panies will pose any Effort to bring
them down to reasonable rate with the
argument that such reduction is a viola.
ton of the contract bet Jeen them and
the state. In the Granger case from
Iowa and Wisconsin, the bargain was
that the com mpanes might fix their own
rates. But the Supreme Court of the
United States held that subsequent law
to restrain them within reasonable Limits
was no violation of the original contract.
This principle applies to a company
whose maximum rate is unTeasonRbly
high, because such rate is practic-
ally the same as no limit at all. The
Sonclusion that all ra lroad corporations
In the country may be constitutionally
to reasonable and just charges
is not merely drawn from the fact that
railroads are public highways Il they
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