The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1881-07-29


ilc corpora Cons, in order to give them |
the right 10 call into exercise the
power of eminent domain on the
part of the state and take away from
You aud me our land against our con-
sent, AMI give it 10 them upon which
70 build their roads, that SO soon as
their roads arc built they can turn
about and bid defiance to the people
and claim that they are above and |
beyond the laws" that they can levy
un all industries of the nation al
will; can reach their hands into every
mans purse, can by determinations
raise or depress the value of land in
any section of the country, and the
price of any article they transport,
aud by their rebates build up or
break down business men in any
part of the country" And yet from
the naughty and defiant manifesto
recently published by the railroad
king af California it would seem that
they feel that they had their feet
firmly planted upon the necss of the
people. In answer to certain inqui-
ries from the Chamber of Commerce
of New Yerk City he takes occasion
e. denoanee the decision of the Su-
preme Court OF the United States in
the following choice language.
"What you propose in regard 10
railroad property is on par with
principles eontended for by the COM
munists, and the agitator Kearney
advocated no doctrine in regard to
property more atrocious than the
principe embodied in the Granger
eases and the laws they sustain"
This is specimen of the langu lge
they use, anu the following Is II de-
scription of their manner of doing
business, as given by Horace Greeley
in 1871:
ga dozen or so Of railroad mag
mates summoned by private message,
meet from time to time in one of our
great cities. They consult in secret,
dine aud wlne satisfactorily, adjourn
and go their several ways. Next
morning the telegraph wires will
have flashed their decision that every
bushel of grain going to marker, ev-
cry bale of goods passing inland, shall
henceforih pay twenty or thirty per
cent more freight than has hereto
fore been paid. In effect this bevy
Of railroad kings haze arbitrarily re-
duced the value of every farm, every
quarter section, every bushel of grain
in the great West. IL they owned
the whole country and all who live
Ia it they could not lord it over Us
more tyraEn . .cally. And perhaps they
will proceed the next day 10 make a
stock representing nothing but their
own rapacity, so as TO conceal from
dull and colorless eyes the fact that
they are exacting from their Gus
toners an annual profit of Is or >
per cent on their actual investment.
1t is such language and such ee.. .5n
that Justified the &atfolliis .1Fffi-mo-
nopoly League in their address TO
the people, ip4eslarging upon the mo-
noDopolists @xne ssintent 10 increase
their gains and perpetuate their pow
ers by organized resistance to ap-
pointed authority, and treason against
their government, and that they in
tended to control our judges and dis
obey such judicial orders as they
do net approve until they can reverse
Them"
It is a significant fact that since
that address was issued, If reports be
true, the railroad companies have
taken long step toward reversing
the Granger cases, and the decision
on the Thurman Law by securing the
appointment and confirmation of one
OF their own attorneys as Justice
of the Supreme Court OF the Unlted
States. -
The Legislature of this State has
passed no law regulating fares and
freignts on railroads, nor has it been
thought necessary to do 81, for the
railroad management in this state
has generally been fair and reasona-
BILE to the people although the freight
on wheat from Corvallis to Portland,
a distance of 100 miles, is nearly
double what it is from st. Louis to
Kew Orleans by the Mississippi river,
a distance of 1900 miles.
There is no disposition on the part
OF the people TO do any inju stics. to
fho railroads ~ IN on., s.,,.,.,a. -: