The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1881-03-04
Black OF MonOpolies.
HE THINKS THERE SHOULD BE A BLAST
FROM THE PRESIDENTIAL TRUMPET.

81 viii tell you what | know about
railroad monopoly, or at least what | be-
lieve. AT the bottom of this subject
there lies one question of mere fact which
one man of common sense can decide for
himself as well as another if he will but
open his eyes and look upon the proof
1t is alleged that railroad corporations
being put into the possession of the pub
lie highways of the country are bound to
run the roads in the interest of the pub
lie to whom they belong, and are public
servants and trustees But they have
violated their trust grossly and shame
fully. They are clothed with power suf
iicient by law to enable them to perform
their functions efficiently and well, but
not content with that they have grasped
and seized other powers which don't be-
long to them, and all which they have by
law and all which they have usurped,
they have perverted for the base purpose
of private gain (Applause.) Judge
Black then discussed the legal aspects of
the case from his present point of view
and went over the same ground as that
covered by him in his letter to the Com
mittee on Railroads of the Chamber of
Commerce, and which was widely circu-
lated by the newspaper press at the time
il was made public. Speaking of the dc
tenders of corporate rights, Judge Black
said: "Among this class of men there is
one that | should select because of his
respectabiity. Mr.. Charles Francis
! Adams has written more on this biect
than any otherperson that has advocated
that. side of the question. If it were not
odious to make comparisons with 9th
ers, | would say that he is the ablest man
that the corporations have got in their
service. He is great advocate of the
railroad monopoly; he believes it a good
thing, and he deprecates any kind OF leg
islation which would deprive them Of one
atom of the power they now enjoy, but
he utterly refuses to stultify himself by
denying the existence of these gross
abuses. He says he knows it is true that
the charges that have been made are
without law and Justice, and that the
determinations that they make between
persons and places are cruel in the ex
IRENE. He says that this thing has been
carried to such fightful extent that he
is filed with surprise that the business
of the country has been able to sustain
itself at all under such conditions, that is
TO say he is amazed as anybody else
/: might be who will reflect upon it for o
moment, that the general industry OF
the whole country has not been crushed
into annihiliation by the intolerable
burden imposed upon it by the railroad
corporations. He makes clean breast
of it; He pleads guilty to the whole in.
dictment, and under the circumstances
take that to be decisive.
LET me cite one other authority of q
somewhat different kind" said Judge
Black; it is that of very high placed
gentleman who has long looked into these
. offices from the standpoint of statesman.
Upwards of seven years ago, at Colum-
bus, o., General Garfeld-(cheers min
, gled with hisses) made speech in which
he introduced this subject He describ'
, ed the immense power which these peo-
, pie WELD, the vast area of the public do
main which they had absorbed, and got
, possession of more than nine States as
large as Ohio; the large endowments that
had been bestowed out of the public
moneys and their solid combinations,and
he then warned his audience that the
time was coming when conflict might
arise between them and the public an
t thorities of the country In which the gov
ernment itself might be overthrown IN
! less the railroad corporations were throt
tied before the fight began. Applause.
t Now, due respect for the elected Chic
/ Magistrate ought to make us very eau
tious hoy we differed from limbaugh
l term opinion, especially those OF u
who expect to hold federal offices during
, the next four years. Renewed laughter
If he acts upon the conviction which ht
; then expressed and with vigor in any de
gree corresponding to the subject matter
, you will hear q blast npon the Presiden
tial trumpet that will rally all hearts t.
, the cause of justice;if he does not act up
on his convictions,if if he is silent and sub
, missiye, and sees this government whicl
he is appointed to guard broken dowI
by the power against which he ha'
warned us, then he will have made com
mon cause with the monopolists and b'
as unfaithful to his trust as the monopo
l l.eta 60 h..