Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-04-26
The Railroad commission Again.

Z RN0A VI
present Railway Commission law Of
Georgia is on the increase, there is no
shadow of doubt. The cause of this is
that the people of the State are evidently
just beginning to realize the damage
which might be wrought to u iron
roads-and, in consequence, to the best
interests of Georgia-by the arbitrary
law now upon our statute books which
places all the railroads, either in
existence, or in prospect, in the
State, under the despotic control
of these disinterested gentlemen. The
State press, too, is rapidly ranging itself
in favor of a new law materially differ
ing from the present, and we are glad to
to see that even our Atlanta o
temporary, which has ever heretofore
been the most ultra champion of the
present law, weakening, and preparing
to acknowledge the justice of the position
on the subject, steadily maintained from
the first by the News.
In its issue of Friday morning our con
temporary says:
"a correspondent of the Augusta hrOn-
| icLe is pleased to observe that the C0nsti-
tuition is a partisan of the Commission.
If this statement is intended to convey
the idea that the Constitution is seriously
interested in the principle of right upon
which the Commission law is based, then
the correspondent is correct. If, how
ever, it is intended to intimate that the
Constitution is in favor of any condition
of things which experience may perfect
and improve, then the correspondent is
mistaken. The law under which the
Commission was established is doubtless
imperfect in many respects; but it is not
imperfect by reason of the power it con-
fers upon the board"
Even this admission is a great one for
our Atlanta contemporary to make, for
if, in any of its previous articles on the
subject, it has been willing to admit hat
there was any possibility that the pres
ent law was not a perfect statute in all
respects, we have either never seen such
admission, or it has wholly escaped our
memory. Now, however, it places itself
almost on the same line with the News.
We have never fought the Commission
nor the Commissioners. We have only
coutended that the present law was too
sweeping and despotlc; that it was in
equitable and unjust to that large class
Of our population who are personally
interested in railway property, and hat
its tendency is to drive capital
away from investing in railroad
enterprises in Georgia, and so prevent,
or retard, the development of the State,
inasmuch as it really gives the Com
mission power to run the railroads into
bankruptcy. should they be so disposed.
Capital is universally acknowledged to
be the most sensitive thing in the world.
We admit that capitalists do sometimes
engage in foolish ventures, and they fire.
quently meet with misfortunes, but we
greatly doubt if an instance in the his
tory of the world can be cited to prove
that capital has ever been invested with
out, at least, the belief in a remunera.
tive return; and it cannot reasonably be
expected that capitalists will be willing
to risk their means in railway enter
prise in Georgia, while our Commission
law stands on the statute books a con-
slant menace to their interests.
These are the main reasons that we
have, time and again, presented for op.
posing the law under consideration, and
their justice cannot possibly be success
fully disputed. As we stated at the out
set, however, it is not the Commission
that we oppose, nor the Commissioners,
but the law itself, and what the Commits
sion are capable of doing under that law.
We have always been in favor of a Com
mission properly restricted in its powers,
and we doubt not that every railroad in
Georgia desires a like Commission.
Such a body, not endowed with
despOtic and arbitrary control over our
railroads, but appointed to act as UNI
pires between the roads and the peo-
pleas is the case in Alabama, Massa-
chusetts and other States-would, we
arc satisfied, prove of inestimable advan-
tage. 1t would tend to harmonic all
differences between the roads on one
side, and the people on the other, while
it would be powerless to work injustice
10 either, and more than this neither
party would have a right to ask.
The truth of the whole matter is that
when the present Railway Commission
law was passed the people of the State
had been worked up to an unjust and
undue animosity against our railroads.
They had been told and retold,
until somehow or other they had
thoughtlessly and hastily been induced
to believe it, that the roads-by far the
greatest benefactors ever known to
G~eorgia-were grinding monopolies,"
whose only object was to crush the pub
lie. Now, they are having their eyes
opened to the utter absurdity of such
statements, and are realizing that, so far
from injuringt the people, railroads, which
develop the country, and convert
wildernesses into prosperous and
thriving settlements, are their best
friends. Hence it is that in nearly every
section OF the State the people are clam
oring for more roads to develop their
territory, and hence, naturally, as they
become more and more directly interest
ed in such roads, they oppose more and
more an arbitrary commission law which
tends to prevent the c~onsummation of
their plans and enterprises.
We have every confidence that the
feeling in favor of a fair commission to
arbitrate justly on all points of differ
ence between the roads and the people
will grow rapidly, and that a strong pres
sure VIII be brought to bear on the Leg
islature to repeal the present law, and
enact another embodying this principle.