Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-07-30
RAILROADS AND PEOPLE.
THE TRANSPORTATION CUES
TION IN ALL ITS BEARINGS.
Address of Colonel w. L. Trenholm
at Greenville-The Nature and Ex-
tent of the Railroad Problem
Dangers of Federal COntrOI-COl.
Trenholm Solution.
delivered before the State AGRICULTURAL So.
cietu at Green4rLEe

| having been requested to appoint one of its
| me nbers to prepare an address upon Trans.
! portation. that duty has been assigned to me.
| The subject is one of wide importance and
| deep interest because it touches so very near
| community
Every man who is a worker is a producer and
between each producer and his market there
| ton.
You will net, of course expect me to dilate
upon this part of the subject nothing can be
SAID ABOUT 1t that is either novel or useful and
InereIore' proceed at once to that which is
realIy the great question of the day, namely,
| the question OF railroad transportation.
rlIty years ago there was a question Of rail-
ROAD transportation, but then It was a Ques-
| tion as to whether it was feasible At a later
period the question of railroad transportation
meant. How can each community secure its
benefits? To-day the question of railroad
transportation is, How can each community
escape its evils?
The answer to the first question is found in
the 80 600 miles of finished railroads in the
United States, and the S5.1O0,OOO. 900 of capital
invested in them.
The answer to the second came in the form
or the practical enterprise energy and talent
tnat raised this capital and built these roads
Inc answer to the third is still to be found and
No answer is worthy of consideration, nor
Will any be conclusive, which does not assure
protection to capital, freedom to enterprise,
and impartial accommodation to all the Gus
toners of each railroad.
Such result would constitute a balance
among the conflicting interests which now con-
TEND with each other as opposing forces in
shaping the administration Of the railroads
and ought to be better for all than the occa-
sional brief and accidental triumphs OF each
In turn or of either out of turn.
Ihe earliest projectors of railroads were
naturally mistrustful of the results; they were
adventuring into an unexplored province Of
enterprise, and they needed not only encour-
agement, but some assurance of indemnity for
G hnrr Fr,ONU T--kI.
reputation.
For this reason the public readily granted to
tnem charters with such powers as at the
tlme seemed not only reasonable, but abso-
lutety requisite to the success of so problemati-
cal an enterprise as it then was to build a rail
road.
These charters became models for those
asked and granted subsequently, for it was not
until long time after the success of the rail
ROADS mad become assured and their profitable
ness established that the public began to per-
celve that the changes wrought by the rail-
roads themselves in social and economical
conditions rendered it no longer necessary to
offer brlbeS for the building of them, and that
concessions that were not inappropriate at an
but dangerous.
Then it was that some of the States provided
Tor the repeal, or amending, at their will of all
subsequent charters granted to corporations
Wnere such provision has not been made
and In the cases of charters free from the ope-
ration OF such reserved right, the question has
arisen as to whether the State may regulate
the freight charges and Other. administrator
measures of its railroads without violating
that provision of the Federal Constitution
winch forbids the States to pass any law i'm
pairing the obligation of contracts the char
ter or corporation being admittedly a con-
tract.
The Supreme Court of the Urited States has
decided that the States have this right a7d
what is more to the purpose popular opinion
has confirmed that decision and has exacted
from the States the performance of the duty
arising out Of the concession of the right The
rlght 10 regulate the railroads exists only upon
duty.
Our State, like others, has, then, duty to
perform with respect to the subject of trans
portation, and the question before the people
is, what is it just and polite and practicable for
the State to do in the discharge of that duty
Be1ore gong into these questions however
permit me to say why, in my judgment, this
duty should be exacted of the State and not
conhded to the Federal Government
For some reasons it would appear most ap.
proprlate and convenient to call upon Congress
TO deal with the subject.
In the first place, the Constitution invests
| Congress with power over the internal trade
| OF the country. and the right to regulate the
railroads is generally admitted to be included
in that grant of powers
In the second place. Congress possesses suf-
nclent power to enforce its regulations effect
lively, while experience shows that in some
cases railroads have disregarded or circum-
vented the State regulations
In tne third place the argument drawn from
considerations of economy, and the advantages
OF uniformity, is strongly in favor of the CEN
tralZahon or railroad control at Washington;
and, lastly, the railroads themselves would
more readily accept Federal than State control
Notwithstanding these obvious and plausible
Inducements to set rid of q question which has
| become difficult and troublesome one in many
states, by calling upon Congress to take charge
OF the whole subject, the popular opinion
seems to be adverse to doing 81 and there iS
nrOfOnnd Nit itvyf in
there is in most of the well considered and ma
| tured conclusions of the public mind
IG cannot be denied that the constitutional
| provision investing Congress with authority
| to regulate trade between the States was never
| intended or expected to confer upon the Fed
eral Government such vast and dangerous
power as would accrue to it from concen-
trating at Washington the administration of
all the railroads OF the United States consti-
tuted as those railroads now are. A power so
overwhelming, so comprehensive, penetra-
ting so lrreSlS1oly into every private interest
and so capable of abuse, has never in any ege
been intrusted to any government; beside
such power, that Of a standing army would
seem insignificant.
In creating governmental bureau of rail
road control at Washington, we would not be
Justified in expecting it to be either so effec-
tive or so innocuoIs as are similar institutions
in Europe.
In the first place, we have not in this conn
try the trained officials, nor the rules of civil
appointment and promotion, nor the tradi-
tional sense OF official honor and responsible
ty, nor the social restraints upon conduct
which go so far in those older countries to rem
der institutions which are in form despotic
practically benefcent.
In the second place, the railroads in France
for example, are simply public highways, To-
Gated and managed Systematically so as to
serve the public requirements for trade and
travel with the least waste of power and at the
least expense OF administration Our railroads
on the contrary, cross each other and com
pete with each other in so many ways that
systematic arrangement would be hopeless
They each have distinct histories powers and
privileges; they each have a distinct capital
debt and body Of corporators, and many have
special interests whi n have been built up with
care and expense and to the monopoly of
which they are Justly entitled while others
have usurped powers and seized upon monopo-
lies to which they are not entitled.
To any one who follows the comparison into
details, 1t will become obvious that it would
take years OF patient investigation to devise
scheme which would satisfy all the require
ments of government control of the rail-
roads OF this country, and that meanwhile new
interests and new questions will be constantly
arising to complicate the problem and retard
its solution. In Europe the bureau has grown
up with the railroads; with us it would be like
mounting a horse 10 full career.
The danger would be great even il the rail-
road legislation of Congress could be relied
upon to result in well considered and COM
plete organization Of the railroads upon the
basis only of the general good. and with their
administration guarded by checks and limita-
tions and subject to the restraining influences
of publicity and official responsibility I'm
fortunately, however, as we all know, this is
not to be expected. The moment Congress
takes up a subject of this sort, hundreds of
subtle brains are set to work to give the legis-
latton such direction and form as will subserVe
some particular interest and the most sincere
and honest representatives of the people are
those who are selected to be the unconscious
instruments of special legislation concerning
the objects and effects of which they are skill
fully misled.
Hence, the proposition to commit to Con-
gress the office of regulating the railroads
would be, If accepted, and urged by the peo-
pie, the signal for the organization of a lobby
as powerful as are the railroads themselves
and the effects would be either abortive legis-
lation or such as will unite and fortify the cor
porations while dividing and enfeebling the
public.
That which now excltes the public appre-
hensiOn is not the existence Of railroads as
instruments of transportation, but it is the
power or the corporations which manage the
railroads. This apprehension Of danger is in
tensihed when the power Of each of these
corporations is found to be tending towards
concentration 10 the hands Of a few
men OF exceptional wealth and personal
ability; it rises still higher when several cor
porations are united under one management
and eliminates in presence of the pool Now
railroad bureau at Washington would be a
gigantic pool, embracing all the railroads of
the United States, taken as they are, with their
charters by that very act confirmed and per-
petuated; their administration emancipated
from State supervision and control just as is
that OF the national banks; their claims to local
power and privileges accepted with insufnclent
scrutiny and placed under the sg1s OF Federal
protection their alliances with local talent,
capital and ambition, relieved from the re-
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