Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1880-12-30
CAN A GOVERNMENT REGULATE
ITS OWN CREATIONS?

The Enterprise of Tuesday morning has the
following: fe-fr..
The Carson APPEAL, arguing that the Gov
eminent has right to regulate the rates
which the railroad corporation shall charge,
says that ''the power of the State to regulate
the salaries of its officers might also be dis
puted on the ground that the figures might
be put go ridiculously low as to compel all
the power of the State to regulate the salaries
of railroad employees whenever the railroads
are operated by the State. If the principle
be admitted that the Government has the
right to fix up a tariff of freiehts and fares it
must also be conceded that it has the right to
regulate the salaries of all railroad employees,
and of ali other employees for that matter.
The advocates of unlimited corporate pow
err seem unwilling to distinguish between
a company acting with its own private capt.
tai and corporation whose powers have been
derived directly from the Government If
Tom Jones, for instance, erects a tavern on
the plains between Ogden and Omaha and
announces that he will charge five dollars for
a meal and ten dollars for a nights lodging
people can accept the conditions or not as
they see fit. The Government has no inter
est in the private concerns of Jones and his
tavern and cannot Interfere, SO long as he
does not cut the threats Of his guests and rob
them by force. If. however, Jones should
call upon Congress to appropriate sufficient
sum Of money from the public Treasury to
erect his inn, he would be ameanable to
IL Al IL,
he treated citizens of the United States who
patronized his house. Without the assistance
of the Government the Union Pacific and
Central Pacific railways would to-day have
no existance, from the fact that private capi-
tai would never venture to. pend 30 vast a
sum of money as was required in their con-
struction. The land over which the roads
pass belonged to the United States and was
voted by Congress to the road that great en-
tsrprises might be pvt on their feet. The
Government was in reality the hacker of the
roads and the power which enabled them to
be built Uncle Sam was anxious to develop |
the Great West and was willing to 90 down |
into his pockets to do it, He clearly has the |
right to regulate freights and fares upon his |
own highway that his subjects may be pro-
tected. The postal service was built up by |
the Government and the law provides that |
three cents shall be the uniform rate on let
ters. Now suppose that some postmaster
should refuse to send letters for less than
i've cents. The Government would immedi.
ately protect its citizens and remove the post
master. The great lines which extend from
Omaha to San Francisco now look with con-
Tempt upon tho National and State Govern
ments, having secured all that they want of
both. The Union Pacific broke faith with
he Government when its officers organized
IF lining their own pockets and defraud
ng the Government ont of its first mortgage
IN the road by depreciating the security.
Under such circumstances il would seem that
he time had arrived when such institutions
hould not be "oppressively'' or "tyranni-
ally" but properly and fairly regulated. In
10 country on earth citizens afforded so
title protection as in the United States. In
france the Government regulates the price
f bread and the baker who gives short
veight or over charges is Immediately brought
'efore tribunal and punished. During the
eige of Paris bread did no. decrease in
1eight or change in price. The system
FORKS well, the people like it and the bakers
hrive, yet they do not call for land appro
riatisns in order to build an oven.
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