The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1881-03-19

ask Congress to enforce contracts bt :
tween railroads, so that if a road violates
its agreement not to compete. it can bt
brought to terms in the courts. What
ever merits it may have. the Fink pool Is
secret. irresponsible. and voluntary only.
Reporters-that is the public-were en-
cluded from the annual meeting at Chr
cago. The pool is not of the people. foI
the people. Its Judiciary arbitrate be-
tween the roads not between the road
and the people. These pools must be
either dispersed as the Reagan bill pro.
posed. or controlled, as Charles Franci
Adams. Jr.. would do, by legalizing the
federation. The cat must he killed OF
helled. In either case, it must be con
fronted by a power greater than itself.
There is but one such power.
Our experience in the riots Of 1877. il
! the countless cases Of excessive and TN
fair railroad taxation fairly represented
by the case of tie Standard Oil Company
and in pools. which have eliminated il
the Great Trunk Line Executive Commit
power must be called in to secure thcs,
things
o. Railroad charges must he public
Publicity is the great moral disintectant.
(2.) They must be stable. In trans.
portation. as in currency, taxation, ant
the law, it is Indispensable that the citi-
zen know what to count on.
(3.) They must be reasonable. The,
must be based on the cost of the service
not on what people will stand. Thu
community will not be taxed to pay divi-
dends and interest on the So, 501, 600 o.
water in the New York Central. til.
$G3. 9..5, SS1 in the Erie the 81. 900 900 i'll
the New York Elevated roads, and So on
through the list, or to iatten CORFU /
railroad officials. like the secret stock
holders in the Acme Oil Company.
a. They must be equal: for similar
services. similar rates. IF the ahSolut'
equality of the post office, which SELL
stamps at the same price by one or on,
million, is not practicable. and ther'
must be wholesale and retail rates. let
the additional charge-ls in the case o,
the single harvester Of the small farmer
along the Northern Paciiic-in no cas-,
exceed the actual additional cost of hand
ling and hauling.
(J.) Railroads and railroad men must
exercise their public functions. No roac
shall voluntarily stop running, as several
roads did in July, 1871, and DO railroac
man or multiple of Inn shall desert hi
post or interfere with the operation o.
any road.
o. There must be national board
to hear the complaints of citizens ana
| railroads. with power to take testimony.
to investigate abuses. to publish the re
suits. and to call upon the legal Officer :
of the government to prosecute where
prosecution is needed.
a. Under the constitutional right o:
Congress to pass laws ana levy taxes,
to establish Justice there must be
such amendment of the law and its pro-
cesses that all violations of the duties o!
common carriers, lin commerce among
the States can be prosecuted by civil
or criminal proceedings promptly and
chcaply.
! The costliness, the delays, and the
! tcchnicalities of our law amount to a
denial of justice that is eating deep into
the hearts Of the people. Only the rich
can get justice; only the poor cannot es-
cape it.
In less than the ordinary span of a life
time, our railroads have brought upon III
the worst labor disturbance, the greatest
of monopolies. and the most formidable
combination of money and brains that
ever overshadowed Il State. The time
has come to face the fact hat the forces
of capital and industry have outsrowi
the forces of cur government. The cor.
poration and the trades union have for
gotten that they are the creatures of thu
State. Our strong men are engaged i'll a
headlong fight for fortune, power. pre-
cedencc. success. Americans as they
are they ride over the people like Ju@ger
naut To gain their ends. The moralists
have preached to them since the worlC
began, and have failed. The common
people, the nation. must take them il
| hand. The people ran be successful onl,
when they a"c right. When monopolie.
succeed. the people fail; when rcl
criminal escapes Justice. the people ar;
punished: when legislature is hribed
the people are cheated. There is nobod,
richer than Vanderbilt except the bod,
Of citizens: no corporation more power
full than the tran>continental RAILROAD
except the corporate sovereign at Wash
in.ton. The nation is the engine of til,
people They must Use it for their in
lustrial life, as they used it in / S61 fn
their political life. The States have fail
ed. The United States must succecl. o.
the people will perish.