The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1881-03-24

The Oawning Signs of a con
Struggle. .

40 MI
Struggle. ing
On our outside pages will he .
ssresch. ollchIy touching the ab.gs
Ject. 1t i By a Republican a So .'o
tor. And now we have the ,nen.e
Democrat; a State Repre,sn,4 Ola
Congress; enc OF Carolina : trn... a
We a lude to the remark, .sC.a>
Alfred Vi. Scales, delivered 'sa
House of Representatives Nj ,as
entitled the dirty aaa Do,r@@ l
gress 10 regulate ruilroaa w., ..e-
Their Po'cer aud weaih daaq~ra.,.
Republic IL
Quoting from Burke that
and prorident fear Is Ms mol
safety, and the famous urt.r.
My Lord Coke that-"Corr.. t
cannot commit treason, nor BE- 'r .l'
nor communicated, for neg ~
souls, the speaker went an p"
that Congress has Now |ut
may have been the case in n.
power to regulate commerce ts.
the States, as well as tull aufl.-
prescribe regulations for comn.
rlers, or private property de4l....
Public use. He next showed th..
regulation became the bouuden H..
Congress and thar prompt ar
necessary. We quote d lew
graphs.
PROMPT ACTION NECESSARY.
What is done must be done ,.,
These corporations are daily grown,
wealth, power, and influence ~
At the close OF the year ISIS tha,
ser OF miles constructed in The Ir...
States by the railroad compan.n.
Sl,S4l, now II /, % 500 mllt. r
number OF officers and cmplovc, as.
reals a. taken from the census .,f.-
was l57.22i, then they had oaI. .9 ..
miles of railroads. From I>-anr>
the Increase OF mites Wa over -4
cent It the elnpluyeo increased In ,.-
same ratio. the nnmbcr 81 c~nr.a..
ISIS would be over 200, UGO OI tt..
1t may be safely estimated that n..
teen-twentieth are voters Add t.,...
the number who are Interested In ,.
roads and not employees aud th, r.-.
Der would be influenced by The 2tI ..
employees aud the number to be in4a....
ed by the power and wealth Of the
poratlons, and the number of vote. ...
trolled directly or Indirectly by rLs-
will not tall far short of 500. 00l r
votes than we polled in the p.c,.4.,.
tial of 1876 by all the States ut\er
Hampshire, Vermont, Maine. and
Rhode Island added together, and ,..-'
votes than were polled by any one 9TH.
Southern States or by any u oftts
other States OF the Union EXCEPT Nag
York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, N,.t.
gan, Illinois, Indiana, and Mlssour.
Their gross earnings exceed the ro-
ceipts of the United States Govern.
ment for 1879 over two huud ri mf..
lion dollars, and their working eArepse.
exceed the total net ordinary EXPENSE
for same time Sl4o, 90S, go, and the n.,
earnings exceed the net ordinary ~.
penses Of the Government for Isl.
S25 953 23s, and would pay the nat.oa.
al delt IN twelve years. They have
made a complete net work of roads over
the entire surface OF the Union. Iheg
reach from Canada to the Gulf and
the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean
they penetrate every State. The rivers
and mountains form no barrier 10 their
skill and power; they bridge the une
Iud tunnel the other
The o of freight paidin the year
to the railroads was 1885,. -l66. oh.
,nd the mount paid by passengers for
he same time was 1924 So, 29O. The
ORR er Is Involuntary. Men must pay II
o reach the markets, or suffer Their
produce TO rot on the farms; and it Is
to a per capita tax upon the
,ntlre population of the United Stat.
If S1.3D. The latter is to a great de
yree voluntary, and is equivalent to
tax per capita of 81 50; both to-
equal to a tax of - 80 on every
nan, woman, and child in the United
The power that made this T. -I
:ould just as we'll make it $25 per car.ta.
md ever beyond that sum. The PEG
de are entirely dependent upon them
transportation, and must pay what
5 demanded Of them, limited onh bg
he conscience ofthe corporation, and
t the corporation has no conscience. a.
hey have no soul, then there is no liar
tatlon upon the charges, except what
nay be necessary in their interest 10 iu-
u c the shipper to keep up the trade.
tIO be co~HtinHei.