The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1881-01-26

and will find themselves crushed by
burdens UNEXPECTEDLY thrown upon them
after they get started. 1t is the habit OF
railroad companies to change their rates
of transportation often and suddenly, and
in particular to make the charges rulnous!y
high without any notiCeR The farmers
of the great West have made large crop
OF grain which they can sell at lair prices
II they can have it carried to the Eastern
ports, even at the unreNsonabIy high rates
OF last summer. But Just now 1t ID SAID
that the railroad companies have agreed
among themselves to raise the freight five
cents per hundred weight, which Ia eQua!
to an export tax upon the whole crop Of
probably S75,OC00OO. Tho farmers must
submit to this
HIGHWAY ROBBERY,
or else keep the product OF their lands TO
rot upon their hands, They submit, OF
course, as all other classes Of industrious
people submit to similar impositions.
Common Justice imperatively requires
that treights DO fixed, settled and pre-
scribed by law, and that they be not
changed at the mere will OF the railroad
companies. But the determinations
which make the rates unequal are the
most odious feature. A grain dealer at
Baltimore gets a reduction or drawback
which is denied to others, and he makes a
fortune for himself while he ruins his
competitors by underselling them. A
single mill at Rochester can stop the
wheels OF all the rest il It's flour can be
carried at a much lower rate. BY dis.
ordinations OF this kind the profits OF
one coal mine may be quadrupled, while
another, with all It's fixtures and maChin.
cry, is rendered worthless. Such wrongs
as these are done not only in few spo.
radio cases, but generally and habituaIly
on very large scale. Certain oil men,
whose refinery was on Long Island, got
rebates amounting to $lO,00O,OOO in
eighteen months, and 70 housGa Il believe
that is the number) engaged in the same
business were broken up. The creditors
Of the Reading railroad having coal lands
OF theirown made determinations between
themselves and others which drove all
competition out Of the field, gave them the
monopoly OF the Philadelphia market and
enabled them 10 charge for their Goals as
they charged for their Observation-Disclosures
they pleased. Thus producers, dealers
and consumers all suffer together. Worse
still than that, the prosperity Of large com.
Is blighted by the refusal OF rail-
roads to carry the products OF their farms,
gardens and shops unless they submit to
the payment OF rates much larger than
what are charged on similar goods much
farther away from the common market.
The case you mention OF 81 from New
York 10 Salt Lake and only g 50 to San
Francisco is, perhaps, not the most I'm.
but 1t Is as gross n violation oil
legal principle as can be conceived. 1.-THE
railways belong to the people then the
RIGHTS or ALL CITIZENS
are precisely equal and all determinations
are unlawful. Without reference to the
public rightsoiproperty,th they arc so shame.
fully imperious in their general effect and
In their particular consequences that no
we'll governed State will endure them.
These railroads and transportation com.
panies connect themselves with every.
thing. Tho promotion Of commerce lin.
ternal and foreign the interests OF buyer
and seller, the rights OF producer and con.
gumer, the needs OF the poor and thepros.
perity OF the riCh-all cry aloud for some
system OF management which will compel
them to do the duties they owe to the pub.
lie faithfully at rates reasonable, fixed,
uniform and equal, without extortion,
without wantOn charges, without disCrim.
nation. The laws necessary for this
are not difficult to frame. II
you will look at the constitution OF
as amended in 1872 you will
Elnd in the 18th section a series OF provis.
ions which II carried out and en-.
would iorCedbe amply sufficient.
But the railroad men and their
advocates have managed to i'm.
press the Legislature with the idea that
they are above the Constitution. They as.
sert that every restriction imposed on
them in the interests Of Justice, equality
and fair dealing Is a violation Of the con.
tract embodied in their charters. All this
Is ne doubt very false doctrine, but they
Contrive in some way u really do not
know how 10 make the State authorities
accept 1t as true. | maintain that all
States have a clear and indeieasablo right
10 protect their people against such
wrong and TO exercise the power as
sacred duty. When that duty ia properly
performed the internal trade OF each State
will cease 10 he enslaved and crippled as
Il Is now. But the commerce between the
States will still be open 10 inequalities and
liable 10 oppression and blunder by trans.
portRtiOn companies unless the National
legislature does something 10 save 1t, Con.
,ress has power ITO regulate commerce be.
.ween the States" ls II not strictly with.
IN the scope OF the authority when II
makes a law forbidding carriers through
The State to injure, impede or destroy the
general trade OF the country by extravA.
gnnt and discriminating ChRrges2 Iithat
be not a regulation OF
INTERSTATE COMMERCE,
what would be2 The power being con.
,eded, an eTeCtual way OF Fighting the
wrongs now complained Of can easily be
leviaed. Doubtless you arc right in the
belief that public opinion will be in favor
II your movements. Rejecting men can.
lot deny its Justice. But the influence
II these great corporations can hardly be
calculated, They have methods Of de.
ense and ofTense which make them almost
You have referred to portions
Il Al ale I,tstaett tt,hioh tRn1,o1 khi6 gat,,a