Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-01-22
GOVERNOR STANFORD ON THE RA1L-
ROAD QUESTION.

questions relate to the conduct and regu
lation of railroads. They have been form
nlated with view to obtaining the opin-
iona of thoughtful and intelligent observers
in regard to the desirability of establish.
ing some governmental supervision over
the transportation interest. The letter OF
Judge Black, which has been so widely
circulated, was In answer to these ques-
lions, and now we have the views Of one Of
the most eminent representatives of the in
terest mainly concerned. Governor Stanford
has treated great subject with commend
able breadth, dignity and originality. His
positions on many points are certain to be
sharply criticised but it will have TO be
conceded even by the most extreme advo-
Gates of regulation that he has not only
taken up his ground boldly, but defended
it with very great ability. The broad
underlying principle upon which he pro-
ceeds is that property in railroads is essen
tally identified with all other property.
From this he argues that governmental
interference with this particular form of
property is open to all the objections
which attend governmental interference
with any kind of property; that it is
impossible to separate the elements of
ownership and control that to do so
is to introduce Communism under the
guise of Capitalization that the measures
proposed are not only antagonistic to the
entire theory of democratic government,
but are wholly incompatible with the
exercise of that freedom OF action which
is necessary to the healthy development of
commerce. In the course of his argu-
ment Governor Stanford discusses the
leading considerations which govern
transportation, and shows that the as
sumptions OF the New York Chamber of
Commerce and of Judge Black are fatally
defective. 1t has been asserted by these
parties that the railroads were managed
with single eye to the securing OF the
largest returns from business, without any
regard to the interests of the shipper.
This theory, which has been put in the
form of fixing rates according to what
" goods will BEAR" has commonly been
spoken of as an illustration of corporate
and the inference has been drawn
that the railroads habitually exacted every
cent that could be imposed without pro.
hibiting transportation. Governor Stan
ford shows the fallacy of this idea, and
demonstrates the necessity for an elastic
tariff which has been created by the con-
ditions OF transportation. 1t is only by
virtue of the existence of maximum rates
that minimum rates are made pos
sible The treasury in the rail-
road is the first consideration, and
in this it differs from no business interest.
But in order to maintain and increase its
revenues, it must not only accommodate,
but develop, traffic, and to accomplish
this it must offer every inducement to
shippers within its power. Nor does it at
any time undertake to fix its rates rigidly,
for the conditions of transportation are
constantly fuctuating, and special cases
are as constantly demanding new regula-
lions. It is therefore Indispensable. not
alone for the well being Of the corporation,
but also for that of the public, that the
former should be untrammeled in the con-
troll of its business. It is the interest of
the public that the fullest facilities for
railroad traffic should be extended, but
this cannot be done unless the corporations
are allowed to adapt their rules to the
varying requirements of the hour. And
this latitude involves no unjust discrim
nation. Whenever that is practiced it is
no less violation of business principles
than of public rights, and however much
it may have occurred at an earlier period,
il is certain that it is now condemned and
discarded by all the leading railroad COM
paniss of the country.
Governor Stanford traverses the decla-
ration of Judge Black, that the railroads
are not the property of their owners, very
boldly. He asserts that they are as much
the proprietors of the property they con-
troll as individuals are of what they own /;
that the corporations owe nothing to the
State but right of wsy, which is of 40
little intrinsic value that everybody can
obtain it by paying the price of the pri-
vate property to be entered upon that all
the value which belongs to the railroads
has been created by the men who own and
control them and that the State has no
more justification for proposing to reg
late this property than it has for doing the
same thing in regard to all other property.
OF course Governor Stanford does not
subscribe to the doctrines of the Supreme
Court in the Granger and Elevator cases.
He thinks those doctrines rank Commun-
ism, and we entirely agree with him on
that head Indeed those opinions do
necessarily involve the declaration that
the State has the right to step in and regu-
late every imaginable kind of business, and
this Judge Field has very ably demonstra-
ted. The Governors views will be
somewhat startling to such as have allowed
themselves to drift with tie stream hith.
erto, and have never paused to inquire
towards what conclusion the country was
tending. But it is both wholesome and
necessary that the radical doctrines of Gen.
tralization which the Supreme Court has
of late years adopted should be met at
some time by as radical denial of their
soundness, and certainly no man is better
entitled to express the corporate views Of
the question involved than the author OF
this letter. 1t may be objected that the
country has already passed upon these
questions, and that therefore further dis
cussion of them is superhuous. But this
is not the case. The very questions which
Governor Stanford has here answered have
for their object the procurement of data
for the formulation of general scheme OF
railroad regulation, and before such a
scheme is adopted it is more than ever
important that the country should view
the subject from both sides.
Governor Stanford has two branches to