The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1880-12-21


Bat one not the franchises prePerty In which
the company has vested righif Yes The priy-
ilegc Of taking q certain fxed, prescribed ur,i.
form, reasonable rnte Of tell from all persons
alike, according to the use they make OF the
road, is power that the State may bestow upou
any person. natural or artlAcial But no lawful
franchise to take toll on public highway can
exceed those limits. A charter that goes beyond
this 10 void - Il b
Those companies will oppose any effort to
bring them down to reasonable rate with the
argumeaf that such reduction Is violation Of
the contract between them and the State But
on the principle laid down by Judge Baldwin IN
the case ab0se mentioned charter b inoperaiiys
which authorizes . maximum of toll or fare so
high that the company Is able, without exceed
ing It 20 exclude the people From using their ewn
road. In the Granger cases from Iowa and Wis
cOnsin. the bargain was that the companies 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
vielsiion OF the original contract THIS princi-
pie applies TO company whose maximum rate is
unreasonably high, because such . rate il pracfi-
cally ihe saIhe thing as M limitation at slf i.i
The conclusion that all the railroad corpora
tons 10 the country may be constitutionally re-
strained to reasonable and just charges is not
merely drawn from the fact that railroads are
public highways. If they owned the corpus of
the road and use il in the business Of common
carrier, they might be compelled to behave them
selves justly TO all their customers and submit to
any regulation for the public good The unan-
swerabe opinion ot Chief Justice Waite in Mum
agt. Illinois (Otto 4, p. 113) settles that
The reasonableness of the freight toll or taxes
that may be charged upon any railway will de-
pend on the expenses of running and repairing it
and on the cost of construction. The latter will
of course, be the principal element in the calcu-
lation, for the tolls ought to be high enough to
give the corporators a lair profit on the capital
they have actually invested. But many of these
corporations have issued large amounts of stock
and mortgage bonds, for which the holders have
paid nothing or much less than their nominal
value Another way of enlarging their apparent
dimensions IS 10 water their stock under the
pretence Of increasing their capital while in fact,
the additional shares are divided among them
selves without putting new dollar into the
business. or course nobody thinks that the real
cost of the road is 10 be measured by the nominal
amount of these bonds and shares 1t is easy for
q competent engineer to tell how much any road
ought 10 cost, supposing the work 10 be hon
estly done and hberally paid for That being
aScertained, you have the true basis of calcu-
latiOn which will show how much the tolls
ought to be.
Most OF our Western roads were built with the
proceeds of public lands granted mediatelv or
Immediately by the United States TO the several
companies which now have them in charge
thing, and IN some Cases they got lands worth
great deal more than all expenses OF making,
stocking, and running the roads The two COM
panies between Omaha and San Francisco raised
in cash out Of government bonds, lands and
mortgages Of their franchises, four or five times
as much as they necessarily expended upon the
roads. The Stockholders, without paying any
thing, put the enormous surplus into their pock
cts. These roads thus built at the public ex-
pense, and IN some cases paid for by the public
hve 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
Nevertheless, l think the claim of these compa-
nies 70 take reasonable tolls, stands upon the
same foundation IS that of companies whose
roads were built by the stockholders themselves.
al their own proper expense. The grant of the
lands invested the grantees with title which
could not be revoked if the conditions of il were
performed. II they sold or morgnged the lands
and invested the proceeds in the construction of
a railroad under charter from State or general
government which authorizes them 10 take q
fair profit IN the shape of tolls they have as
good right to the tolls as if the capital to build
the roads had been raised by themselves: that is
to say, those companies which build the railroads
with capital donated by the public have the same
right as other companies to charge a reasonable
toll /; but their demand of excessive tolls, though
not worse in law, seems in the eye Of natural
reason greater outrage.
If railroad corporations have the unlimited
power which they claim, then all business is at
their mercy; agriculture, commerce, manufac-
lures must suffer what they choose to inffict
They may rob labor OF the bread it wins and de-
prive all enterprise of its just reward. Though
this power does not belong to them legally, they
have been permitted to usurp it, and l need not
tell you that they have grossly abused it. We
know that they make their exactions with an
eye single to their own advantage. without con
as1 1awsv. ~ ~kt srfo ~f H1z
They boldly express their determination TO
charge as much As the traffic will bear; that is to
say, they will take from the profits of every mans
business as much as can be taken without COM
pelling him to quit IL. In the aggregate this
amounts to the most enormous, oppressive and
unjust tax that was ever laid upon the industry
OF any people under the sun. The irregularity
with which this tax is laid makes it still harder
to bear. Men go into a business which may
thrive, at present rates. and will find themselves
crushed by burdens Unexpectedly thrown upon
them after they get started.
1t is the habit Of the railroad companies TO
change their rates of transportation often and
suddenly, and in particular to make the charges
ruinously high without any notice at all. The
farmers Of the great west have made q large crop
Of grain, which they may sell at fair prices if
they can have it carried To the Eastern ports,
even at the unreasonaby high ffeights of last
summer. But just now it is said that the rail-
way companies have agreed among themselves
to raise the freight five cents per hundred
weight, which is equal to an export tax on the
whole crop of probably seventy-ive millions of
dollars.
The farmers must submit to this highway rob
berry or else keep the products of their land to
rot on their hands. They submit Of course, as
al other classes Of Industrious people submit to
similar impOsitions. M
Common justice imperatively requires that
ffeights be fixed, settled and prescribed by law,
and that they be not changed at the mere viii OF
the railroad companies. But the Determinations
which make the rates unequal are the most
odioua feature. A grain dealer at Baltimore
gets Q reduction or draw back which is denied to
others, and he makes fortune for himself while
he ruins his scompetit0Fs By underseling them. A
single mill at Rochester can stop the wheels OF
al the rest II its flour be carried ct rate much
l0wss, By Discrimination Of this kind the pro6is
Of one coal mine may be quadrupled, while an
other with all its fixtures and machinery b rem
desed worthless sa -
Such wrongs as these are done, not only in Q
few sporadic cases, but generally and h2bitually
On; D vcry large scale. Certain oil men, whose
refinery was on Long Island, got rebates amount
ing 10 3i0OOO 90 IN eighteen months and sew
enfY-nine hOusau believe that il the nnmberl
engaged ip the same business were broken up.
The creditors of the Reading Railread, having
eosl huds Of their own, made discriminations
between themselves and others which drove Gil
composition out Of the field, gave them the mo-
nOp0ly Of the PhiladElphia market, and enahled
them to charge for their coal as they charge for
their ffeiehs - Whatever they pleased. Thus
psoducers, dealers and consumers will suffer
together. Worse still than that, the prosperity
ol large conmunisies Is blghted by the refusal Of
w~s,x,a A f carry the yary.1uc1a 0f fh9iR fxYnG