The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1881-03-03

I
by coEPOTation, and held by the terms of the char
ter for the Of any individual Of the public who
may desire to enjoy its benefits, complying with
tie conditions on which its use is offered The gov
ernlent Of New Hampshire had just as good ground
for claiming that Dartmouth College was the prop
erty of the state, IS my learned friend has for
claiming that the railroads the property of the
States which have chartered them. The court said
that there was single consideration that had
| ever proceeded from the State, and made up any
part Of the properly Of that institutions that it
controlling fact that the funds were Priva c
fuH6s ami that the fact that it an inst ,tion
OF ltarning the promotion Of which the State had
an interest, did not change Its property into public
property make it an agent 81 the State Nor Is
there anything in TIE charter Of a railroad to
which the State has given funds, which makes
its property public property, makes the eorpo-
ration public agent managing public property for
the State for the reason that from public motives
the State has authorized the corporation to acquire
lands by the exercise Of the power of eminent do
| main, on payment Of just compensation, or he
cause the road was chartered that public convc-
nieneo might be promoted by its existence. And
even IL the State becomes n stakeholder in rail-
road corporation, lends its credit by 4 guarantee
of bonds which private persons lend their money
my learned friend is well aware that the relation
ship between the State and the corporation is like
that of every other stOCkhOder and every holder Of
lien upon the property Of the corporation. a lien
is not a title in fee. Tht remains in the corpora
tion, until the title is changed by the assertion of
the lien in the manner provided in the contract.
have always believed, and I think it must be
apparent, that foreign capital has freely flowed into
tllis country and been invested In railroads to
enormous amounts, because it was known and con-
Times to be known everywhere, that States
cannot and that the United States will not, pass
any law iIupairin the obligation of contract and
that charter Of Incorporation is contract Every
American lawyer who has had occasion to advise
foreign capitalists in respect such investments
knows that his first inquiry has always been di-
rected 10 the charter, to If the Legislature
which granted it had reserved authority to leg
islate the terms ON which the company shall do
business with its customers; and he knows that
unless he has found such reservation he has uni
fuTmly declared that the power ne exercised
by subsequent law 1t is altogether incorrect and
Illogical, in my judgment to say that there Is any
thing in the general relation of the railroad to the
public which viii insert by implication into the
body of public contract provision which is not
there. If the corporation is by its charter author
izei to make its contracts, and there is fair
Interpretation which will show a reserved power in
the State tonterfere with them, IL be nothing
bat impairment Of he obligation Of the charter
for the State to undertake to dictate what contracts
the por5fions shall make. Besides, do not
conceive it to be a general legislative function to
prescribe the terms which person, natural or
artificial, shah sell merchandise or services to
another; and unless the charters of corporations
tain some notice thatth State will make its con-
tracts as the State thinks they ought to be made,
know of no ground on which its contracts are more
properly subject of State interference than the
contracts Of private ndiv duals It certain that
such power, if it he exercised Gil, is with
out any limit the State ii it reduce freIghts by
single penny fraction of penny below the
rates charged by the road, may reduce them so low
that the company can receive no interest on lis
investment, and it may be compelled to continue
business that can only end in bankruptcy.
tOIeFably familiar with the late decisions Of
tho Supreme Court of the United States; hut we
have not yet reached condition Of the declared
Law which will sanction interference by the
State with the contracts made by their railroads
with customers, unless in the charters themselves
in the condition of the fundamental law under
which they were granted and accepted, there was a
reserved power of revision aud alteration. On the
contrary case Las yet been adjudicated, in
which the re was not found by the Court to have
been reserved power which prevented the original
giant of the charter from being contract between
unqualified authority to make its contracts
for transporatio according to its own Judgment Of
its business inter, Only three years since, Mr.
Justice Swayne, delivering the opinion of the Court
in Shie DIS Ohio @ Otto 325), said, ''Beyond the
sphere of the reserved powers, the vested rights OF
property of corporations, IN such cases. sur
rounded by the same sanctions and as inViuabl
In other cases. and he cites decisions Of eminent
State Courts in support of this principle. read
with great astOnishment the following statement in
Judge Blacks letter: ''In the Granger cases from
Iowa and Wisconsin, the bargain WAS that the COM
panies might fix their own rates. But the Supreme
Court of the United States held that subsequent
law 10 restrain them within reasonable limits
no violation Of the original contract This principle
applies 10 a company whose maximum rate is
reasonably high, because such rate is practically
the same thing limitation At ALL" cuTsOry
reader would infer from this that Notwithstanding
State has by the charter of railroad made bar
gain with the company that ii shall tx its own
rates. ]. Is yet violation Of the for the
State afterEsrd TO interfere and declare the COM
Pany's maximum rate unreasonably high. Consid-
ering what constitutional Law is the subject
81 legislative contracts this is contradiction in
terms. -
There is no case which sanctions such an inter-
ference unless the State has reserved in the charter
or in the fundamental Law under which it wa
granted, power to substitute its judgment Of
what is reasonable in place of the Judgment Of the
company. In 1876, Mr.. Chief Justice Waite said,
referring to the Granger cases. eve decided that the
state m ~ limit the amount of charges by railroad
companies for fares and freghts Hiess reSfried By
soBae contract IN their charter" The Legislature
could not be 50 restrained by the charter, by its
constitution, as the in Wisconsin, all
poratioDs liable have their charters altered
or repealed at tine wiIlof the Legislature. When
ever there is such constitutional provision, and
the reservation IS not made in the charter ITSELF the
charter stands as an nviolable and unaterabe
pact between the State and the corporation.
think, therefore, that my learned friend should
have made clear the Determinations which the
Court has made and that he should not have in
volved aIl the railroad corporations III the country
In the sweeping statement that the Legislatures
which chartered them can pronounce tin, max
iu,um rates, or any OF their rates, 'unreaSonahIy
high" They are not yet included in the principle
Of the decision in Mum Hiu6is a Ottol. which
relatyd only unincorporated warehouses for the
storage Of grain, and incorporated railroads
holding aeontract from the State which authorizes
them fix their own rates Of charge. In the Iowa
case relating to the Chicago b. and Quincy railroad
C Otto), Mr.. Chief Justice Waite expressly declared
that railroads subject legislative control a.
ta their rates Of fare aud freight unless protected by
their charter.
It may be reasonable enough to hold that Z State
legislature cannot grant away any Of the powers
that reserved in its constitution and therefore
that Il cannot make a valid contract with eorPo-
ration which viii prevent The State from exercising
such reserved powers. But now it would seem that
We are TO have onslaught all the railroad cor
pOratons Of the country upon the ground t2at they
are merely public agents administering public prop
erty; that their Eads public highways, and that