The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1881-06-23
TuF QUESTION OF LEGISL ATIvE ST.
PEKyISIOY OVER CORPORATIONS.
GOV. Stones Letter.

lat.. the charges of all railroad companies,
and (2l those who deny that any such right
exists. as to the railroad companies IN this
State because they are protected from legls-
lative interference BY provisions in their
charters allowing them to fix such rates a
they may deem proper. We will assume
further, that the voters belonging 10 the hrst
class desire to elect Governor, who will
riv,. his approval to some reasonable meas
ure having tor its object the prevention Of
extortionate charges by the railroad com
panies. and that the voters of the second
class desire q elect 4 Governor, who viii
veto any such legislation, a that hoped for
by the voters of the first class. With these
preliminary suggestions, let Us examine the
letter of Governor Stone, recently addressed
to Mr.. Burkitt, and discover the position he
recently occupies upon this great and alb
sorbing question.
1t must be taken for granted that Gov.
Stone Is in sympathy with one OF the classes
of voters referred to, ana that he cannot be
in sympathy with both 1t is fair to pre-
sumo from his past record and present Ut
terances, that he Is in sympathy with the
latter class But he SAYS: "Aosry enter
prise, whether it be a railroad, canal, faeto-
ry or college, which has sought and obtain
ed in its construction an exercise of the
States right Of eminent domain, by trans
fer to itself OF the power u take private
property, against the consent of the owner,
upon the payment Of what ajury OF review
may say it il worth, is thereby estopped TO
say that it is a private business over which
the State has no control"
That passage is the embodiment of the
hopes and aspirations of those who differ
with the Governor on the question under
consideration. If he held those views
when bill the regulating charges was before
him for his signature he stultitied himself,
by interpreting the veto power. But he did
not hold those views then, nor does he hold
them now, 50 far the State of Mississippi is
concerned, as will be seen by tAe following
from bis letter: ANY legislation, CAREFULLY
guarding and protecting, the chartered rights
"of railroad corporations, which undertakes
"through railroad commissions, or by care
fully considered, wise and impartial pro-
"viSions to supervise and control the man
"agement Of our railroads and to regulate,
"upon just and proper principles, thier rates
'of charges, shall receive my prompt and
''hearty approval. That gross wrongs have,
sin many instances, been perpetrated by
"these corporations is undoubted. Let
wisely framed laws be passed to put an
'end to such things, but let US not,
Gin our anxiety to correct one evil, run
"into anothe, aud while striving to protect
zone class of our citizens, do wrong to 9th
GERS"
These words are intended by the Cover
nor as ! qualification or limitation Of the
legal principle expressed in the former ex-
tract, and they do 80 qualify and limit it,
that so far as tie State lbs concerned, it mat
tiers not whether he recognizes the doctrine
Of supervisory control oyer the tariff rate Of
railroad corporations by Legislatures or not,
or whether he ever heard of such doctrine,
because the railroad companies of this State,
according to Governor Stones legal views,
an protected by their charters from legsla-
tive interference in that direction; in the
light of which what comes after the words
''any legislation carefully guarding and pro-
tectiug the chartered RI hts of railroad cor
porations," sounds rather hollow. 1t may
we'll be said that the qualifying clause is so
much stronger than that announcing the
general rule, that the rule might we'll have
gone unannounced; unless it be that the
~ 1 IL, 1
that he knew the rule as we'll as the excep-
ton
It Is fair to the Governor aud fair to the
voter, that the issue involved in the CORES
pondence referred to, should be put before
the public so that all may clearly under
stand it, and none be deceived.
OF the two classes of voters above men
toned the Governor on his own chasing
belongs to the class which denies to the peo-
pie of Mississippi the right to enact laws
regulating the charges Of the railroads now
in operation in the State. lie IN effect says
that as tong q, he is Gorsrnor, no such lars
shall be passed That he has more wisdom
and better judgment than any Legislature
which would pass bill to regulate railroad
charges, and though one or two or three
laws on the subject may be presented to him,
his knowledge and his conscience being CO.
cincident, and both backed by his vow of
office, he will veto them.
The right of the people through the Leg
islature to give practical meaning to that
plank of the Democratic platform of 1877
which declares that Corporations OF every
{ -scriEtio4 ale sqperXisahIe within consti-
tutional limits by State authority, and
subordinate to State legislation, in the
interest and for the protection of the peo-
ple," has been treated by Governor Stone
and Mr.. Burkitt as issue in Mississippi
politics. l. it is an issue, it Is enc Of oyer
whelmlng Importance and should Governor
or one be renominated and reelected, it
will be equivalent to a surrender by the
people of the right which they claimed in
the platform of the victorious political par
ty in 1877, and which through tAeir law
makers they again asserted in 1880
1t will not do to say that the voters of the
frst-class must take Governor Stone for
another term of four years Notwithstanding
he is not in sympathy with them because
so far from there teigs any pressing need
for his reelection, she reasons offered bv
his friends in support Of his candidacy, are
all overshadawed By the importance of the
right which the people OF the State are
asked to surrender, that a Governor who
has been in office six years may make it ten
years before he surrenders it,
If a majority of the Democratic-C onser-
vative party belong to the frst-class of
voters, Governor Stone ghagld Tot lie re-
nominated. 1t is a serious matter when the I
Governor of State not elected because of
his judicial knowledge, stands at the door
of the courts and says to the sovereignty of /
the Stota anaa kiro- 1hrn,.o,- 81. l.l,l,..r, /