The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1882-09-05
HON. DIN WELLBORN.
His Opening Congressional Speech
Last Evening at Cradd0cks
0perG-iIouSc.
A Mastery, Most Brilliant, Nigor-
Gus and Eloquent
Effort.
A Crowded House and Enthusiastic
Audience.

speech to an enthusiastic audience at Grad
docks opera-houso, which was filled tc
Overlooking. The effort was enc Of the
most mastery, vigorous, eloquent and
effective that has been heard in this section
for many day, The brilliant orator held
his audieRoe, from first to last, during the
two hours of his exhaustive argument, not
withs,anding lac was but two days out from Il
ten days confinement to his room thicyer,
and 1t IL to be regretted that our limited
space this morning will not enable us TO do
full Justice to the speaker aud his subject
matter.
lie opened by saying that he was here
now to render nm account o, his steward.
ship during the past two years, In what
he had to say he trusted that he would
not wound the feelings OF any democrat that
might have seen proper to oppose him in
| the nomination canvass, which had now
closed that while he had Il heart full of
gratitude for all who had aided him, he
felt that under tho decision that had been
rendered by the democracy there should be
n unity Of sentiment peryading
! the ranks of the party. All
should now strike and fight the implaHablo
enemies OF pure democracy as one man,
AS FOR ThE COMPLAINTS
| that had been made against MN, nc would
review them under two general heads, VIZ;
| LIST That he is II luonopollsi; Al, That he
had done nothing during his term III the
| interests of his constituency; II
these things bo true. then the democ-
| raCy ought not merely To refuse 10 On
| dorso him, but on the contrary, should re-
| Of la ga. 'ftI,a amt Al
propositions of our party 10 mat its agents
| should be faithful to the trusts with
which they have been charged.
NOW WHAT Is MONOPOLY
There are many answers to this question,
| but | conceive the true one 50 be that II ls
a corporation possessing such unrcs ricted
| power in the USE of its franchises. and so
! handled as to defeat the end Tor which II
is given. Those now most prevalent in
| this country are said to be of three kinds,
| LIST, the discrimination in favor
of the manufacturers through the
tariff; 3D. national banks, and
Bird, the railroads Pretermitling
the first for the time being,
will now consider the last, Now under
what conditions do railroads become mon
opolsts and what are the remedies
against their monopolistic power
answer that the possession
of unrestricted privileges, mlustly uscd
and ne, the wrongful charges discrlmlnlt.
ing against persons and places, Now the
trouble with tho railroads lies not with tho
road itself but with the powers granted to
IT.. But what is to be done My response
is, restrict the privileges in the interest OF
the citizen, while ut same time You secure
to tie road lnir margin of profit for its
work. one of the ways obtaining the de
sired result is through competition
under separate and distinct manage
mcnts, iut suppose these arrangements
consolidate Here * monopoly again,
What then is the remedy? Tear up the
road, burn the cars, DESTROY it's hcd' DO
these things, and millions OF people gov
crncd by the sentiment OF justice would
rise up in their popular wrath against such
u wrong. Restore the competition on whose
runsthc monopoly was built up, by pro
testing it, But how is this to be
done confess | am unable to
solve the problem, and 1t will take
The proioundest wisdom OF statesmen
to do It correctly. But | fancy that the
proper manner would hc by preventing
harmful consolidation by Legislative onnct-
mont or by the inducing OF the construc-
ton of other roads What applies to other
departments of trade herein applies equally
to this railroad industry, viz; that coupe.
tition reduces price. Tho dominion of the
law should he extended over all railroads,
as vel rs other corporations, the only con.
dition being that they should not ho injured
in the enjoyment of their rights Railroads
possess valuable franchises, conferred for
the public good, and it ~ the duty of the
government so comforting to see to II that
these do not defeat the end. The people
would thus be protected, and the roads
a 1 IL. Il.