The Chickasaw messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1880-1900, 1880-12-16
IuTge BIsch- = Views upov Eea l.
Efouds.

ting tarLs Of railroad companies. :
The object WIS to collect Op'lions =
"A regard to a mat,er Of pressing T.
mpor .ance to the trade and com
nerce Of the county. Among 9TH
sr answers received is a long Que
from Hon. Jere s. Black who deals
in his well known, clear and incisive
way with the general subject OF the
relation Of the great transportation
to the Federal and
State Governments Mr. Blacks
views are bold, not to say radical, |
but he puts them Ia a style which
forces attention. The legally vested
rights Of railway corporations, he
SAYS, like other rights OF property,
are sacred, and no violation OF them
comes within the scope OF honest 10
curry. But, says Judge Black, "on
this question rail- Dad men misunder |
stand their situation" He holds |
that railroads are not holders Of
property, but Of franchises, and |
adds:
"They believe, or pretend to be-
lieve, that railways are the property |
Of tue companies authorized to run
them, which is a 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 a public highway as a turnpike
road, canal or nayigable river. 1t is
the duty of the State to promote in.
tercourse and trade by making high
ways Of the best sort through her
territory. To this end she may take
land and materials, which is the eZ-
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, and after
it is built she can make il free to all
corners or reimburse the cost by
special tax on individuals who have
occasion to use It, She can dele
gate the taking and the taxing pow
ers to a corporation or natural per
son; and that is what she always
does when she grants railroad char
ter. But IN either or any case the
road belongs to the State, and all
tbe people have the right to use it up
on compliance with the necessary
regulations and payment Of the pro
per tax.
"The corporations who have got
into the habit of calling themselves
the owners of railroads have no pro
prietary right, title or claim to the
roads themselves, but a mere fran
chiso annexed to and exeTcisable
thereon. They are the agents Of the
State for the performance Of a
public duty. II the franchise be
forfeited or surrendered, OF if it
expire by effiux 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 collector
Of port can appropriate to himself
the customhouse where he did his
| official work. The State having need
for a public highway at a particular
place, makes a contract with cor
poration to open and put it in con-
dition to be used, and by way OF
reimbursing the buildoys sud opera
tors she authorizes a tayaspon those
who travel or carry merchandise over
it. But this tax must be reasonable,
| just, uniform, prescribed and fixed,
so that every citizen may know be-
forehand exactly how much he must
pay, and so that when he pays or ten
| ders the proper amount he willacquirC
an absolute and perfect right TO the
use Of the road The amount OF tht
tax, toll or freight in any casels not
subject st bargain between th,
shipper and the corporation, but 8
hing to be settled, fixed and prescrib
"a BIZ public authority. If the com
pany may charge what 1t pleases ther
the road is not public highway
the public has no rights In it at AZ
and the charter which authorizes th,
taking OF land to build it is unconsti
tutional and void"
These principles" Judge Black
says, care discussed fully aud care
fully laid down in numerous decisions
Of the courts. Being public property
il is absurd to say that the State has
no right to regulate them and contro
them in the performance OF theil
functions by such laws as will pre-
vent partially, plumber and extOr-
tion No free State can disarm itsel
of this power by any act of its exec
utive, legislative or judicial officers
They could IS lawfully sell the State
out and out The franchises of rail
roads are property, but their limit:
must be regulated by law and these
limits must not be exceeded. A
charter doing so is void Legisla-
ton to bring fares and tolls within
reasonable rates has beer decided by
the Supreme Court to be constitu-
tIonal. The real, not the apparent
cost OF a road must be the measure oil
the reasonbleness Of rates"
"Most of our Westwern roads
were built with the proceeds Of pub.
| lie lands granted Immediately by the
United States to the several compa-
MES which now have them in charge
They did not really cost the stock
holders anything, and in some cases
they got lands worth a great deal
more than all expenses of making,
starting and running the roads. The
Two companies between 0maha and
san Francisco raised in cash out Of
government bonds, lands and mort
cages Of their franchises four or five
times as much as they necessarily
expended upon tue roads The stock
holders, without paying anything,
put the enormous surplus into their
pockets. These roads, thus built at
the public expense, and in some cases
paid for by the public five times
over. are now claimed as the private
property Of the companies, and The
right OF the public to use them as
highways is utterly denied; never
theless I think the claim Of these