, 1881-03-19
Judge Black on the Abuses o.
Railroad Corporations.

II will tel you now what | Ano'
abou, railroad mon rpo..os At tbs bot
tom Of this subject there hes 3 anestio'
of mere fac, which one man of coiri'soi
Sense can decide for himself rs well
another. I. is alleged that the railwa,
corporations, being Pvt IN possession o
the public highways Il The country, thel
are bonnd 10 run them IN the interest %
the power to whom they belong. The,
arc oar public servants and trustees eu'
they have -ioiated their trust src~sis
and shamrfullv. They ~ere clothed viii
power sufficient by Law tn Siisbt4 them q
perform their rfunc,iunsefhciently Gtrt we'll,
bu. not content with that they have
crasped and seized other po~rrs which
| do not belong to them, and all they have
( by law and al they usurped by Law, they
/ have perverted and msnsed for th-iI
o-n profit and gain. (Applauss.) They
are en,itlea IN Law and justice 70 far
and full compensation for all the services
,ha. they are called upGc to perflrm 10
the public. That is 10 say, tiiey have a
rirht To he reimbursed all that 1t COST
n, m. and at the same time tn receive
reasonable profit upon the cast at con-
structing their roads. They don stop
a, that, but 30 beyond 1t and take mn,
lo,,, 81 ,s,nsy, and are engaged IN that
puhlie r..bbery every houa OF the day ana
ii hit This anIu,lnts tv >" much that IL
IS AZ uncomfortable wrong IL retarcs the
..,...ral prosperity. cripples the industry
If the country, and mas turned gu, an IN
caLulable number of private individuals
from pursning their lswfrl business. ana
robbed then. I, it true ar noh a
voice, "Yes0 If it he :alse, then those
railroad men are in the interesting pre-
d.e,u:Eat of much injured men-tur they
are fnuliy slanaer-a-and the newspaper
prrss is engaged all tic time IN ciinm-
mating them. Ii it b.. true, .ssn You
Are engaged in the hullsss ana h"oi'''
wuik TIA, human hands cali under lake
Now [ am sGrfr, :, say IT, but | rather
think it is true. Nay. IL may he a pity
To 20 a little further, bat l CAL 'l"s' :"
rhat-i Am convinced of that truth ;h
who have gwen their atteati"n~to the
subject have declared that tie aculsa-
tion ar,irst these railroad cImpan,cs are
true. The accnsed parties themselves 90
n,, I,pv it Yes, iErir silence Is c"n-
sfrued iutc an admission "i t"Tr gum
q, her persons say" True, wH 40 ms
thing; bnt these railroads are not puoiic
L;,i.ways; they be',l.'s t. US, AMI you, III
I :. mpriny to res'i4'n th"ti "iibih rea-
suustie limits, are guilty If an siscmpt
"a eon6scate private prTeTty- ffere
,r. nrhrrs wh confess the whole truth.
From this class there Is one l Wnuli Sc.
I,-ct. because If the great resp-ciaoliify al
his character - Chares Francis Adams
He has written more. on ,his subject IMAM
anv man xhr; has advocated t;at siie "f
the oues.i,n. and uoul.l say lie IS the
atlesr u,,n rhc curporati'n have III Their
.,.rv,ce Now, h. refnsc' 10 s:si.iiy HIM
self dy denying the eXi'itnc1 "f t;i'se
abuse. lie says thiS thIn" has heen
Has 1871 lfn:..El, tlIat !.
country. He make As clean breast 1' 10
| put il t. you whether these people are
convicted
I'n,-4fyl ,,f seven years a2"I III C"Iu'h-
Ii, G.u.r,l Garfield made speech IN
which h. introduced ;hls s;i'ies'i me-
General Gar6eLi, described tn Imn'shs.
p..xer which these people Wleided, an"
i,o. the, absorbed more than n:ne H'S'es
zach As lrrge as the state "t oiii"' ana
rh,. lag. benefits accru.ns To them out OF
IN. nubIIc money, anl h warned them
,,b..,, ia. conflict uuL!d grlse between
item aud the government, the govern
,,,,.,,t v,,I,,,i he overtEr"'vn unless those
,.,,r,,y,,i,us were thrnt'led beforehand
Now. our respect for the Chef has's-
,r.te ou.h, IL make Us careful how We
,litf.r from him-esp.cially If we expect
.nm.,bina from him. If he acts
with v:.nr YOU will hear h!nst upon the
Presidential trumpet that VIII rally all
n, arts If he does not act upon his COLI
yierions, if he is silent and submissive,
then he will have made Common cause
with the monopolis.s, and he as unfaith-
;pl tp his trust as they are to theirs But,
IN any event, there is To he N" neutrality
after this. He that Is not for us Is against
us-and the agitation when begun VII
tell the 80, 600, 900 of people the import
ant secret that they are o0VO,ooo
stronger How much have they taken
ont of the sweat and labor Of tins people
and attributed to themselves! "a voice
"Four.fifths.1 Well, that does not
answer the question:; want To know the
,,,ore,,a,e. a voice Ten tlmes the
national debit | am ashamed to tell
you. Iaughter.) In making the es,
innate liberal allowances are considered
for stock, capital, service, etc, and all
beyond that they have no manner OF
right to; it is lawless robbery. Under
this bl ssed constitution of ours, where
al are entitled to protection IN their
property as well as l.b,rty, charter VIII
not act as a written commission to go out
and plunder Nmmense cheerlng-) How
much, then, Of those la.se amounts to
xhich they have 10 right-that Is To say
tn. excess-eyery one will admit, | do
NOT want to make any charges like this
excessive or unreasonabie-have they
.nioyed from through frei2hts, particu-
larlv those from the CITY Of New ork 70
Chicago and back again They are the
largest charged, but they are twice As
high as they ought 10 be They are
thirty-fv cents per cwt- They had ad-
yanced from twenty cents To fortv cents
in the space of three months, when the
rivers and canals were frozen over. They
are now fifteen cents per cgf higher
than they ight To be. How much does
this make in the aggregate! IN addition
al charge Of five cents per bushel on the
! TRANSFORMATION of cereals would have been
eau:valent to a tax of S45, ,OcO, 600 on the
crop Of 1873. They have netted $500
OO5. 900 They have made sufficient IN
une year to pay off the natl nal deot; In
m. amount Of carriage IN short haul
thew have charged fifty times as much
as they charged for the long freights.
They have been doing exactly that for
! which you have sent the poor rogue to
/ S.ng Sing defy any man to point out
10 me a moral difference between the
two actions. A great many eoa1'nY
ar.ussls have ..eep made to Us Ia ie: them
/ 90 on But We mean business Of another
, kind. They give as a reason Tor oeing
/ let alone that railroads are good things
! The judseship is good thing; but sup
rse Judge did wrong, whst would you
4, With him. a voice--Cut his throat.
No. bat get rid of hun aud put soine one
better in his place.
| General J. II. Reagan followed IN an
efecriye speech, in ~hich he gave an se-
I.nII