The Daily Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Or.) 1876-1883, 1882-05-14

dtC Oy nA' -ASDii', "a
the creation Of board Of railway
commissioners-to consist ola civil
engineer with practical experience.
a shippet thoroughly conversant
with shipping matters, and either
a specialist who has studied the
railroad problem or good lawyer
is worthy Of much attention. In
his speech on the subject, Mr.. Nc
Dill expatiated Oh the the possible
evil results from the present un-
limited power Of railroad corpora
tons in the regulation Of rates
and he argued that since the pros
perity of every locality depended
upon its free commerce, there
could be no question of the power
and duty of Congress to legislate
in the matter. There is no doubt
that the large railroad companies
possess, under the present laws, Il
tremendous power. If they choose
to discriminate against any city b,
raising the import and lowering
the export rates, it must suffer a
serious loss of commerce and there
is no possibility Of redress. |
think the time is coming when
transportation Of persons and goods
will pass into the hands OF the
Government. There is surely as
much reason for a National mo
nopoly in this business as in the
transportation of mails. Bur
whether this is done or not it is
highly important that the Govern
ment should take some steps
toward regulating the system by
law, if only TO protect itself from
the possible arbitrary use by rail-
road corporations OF the power
they possess. The present com
bination of the Trunk lines be-
tween the East and West by which
the passenger and freight rates
have been put up twenty-five or
thirty per cent, is an Illustration
of the graspiug pethods of these
corporations. 1t is 10 be hoped
that Mr.. McDilI's bill will be
adopted and the commission ap-
pointed, and that some healthy
legislation will result.
The whereabouts of Capt. How
gate ramain as much OF a mystery
as ever. 1t is not unlikely that
we have seen the last of him here,
though like Tweed he may turn
up a wanderer on some foreign
coast after few months or years
But ir il evident his escape
was shrewdly planned, and as
the Government offers only
paltry $500 for his capture the
chances OF permanent escape
are rather in his favor. His
counsel assume 10 believe that he
will turn up when wanted, but
probability seems to be about as
thin as the shadows defined on an
iceberg in the region of the north
pole. There is something in the
atmosphere Of Washington that
creates a public sentiment in favor
Of such men as Howgate. Some
how it isn't regarded very wrong
to steal from the govern ment,
by a large portion Of the re ST.
dents of the capital, probably be-
cause we have so many here who
have done it. When 4 man vino
has had his hand in the crib gets
into trouble, they all instinctivelv
hope he will wriggle out of it.
Brady, the star route robber,
dimes and wines prominent people
while under charges, and when
Howgate took French leave there
were plenty who said, swell, I'm
glad he's. got away "Howgate
was clever fellow anyway; hope
they wont't catch him" There is
often a readiness to take this view
of things, even among pretty
high authorities, and so it goes
on the principle of fellow-ieel
ing. Howgate has a lovely wife
and daughter here, both of whom
are in great sorrow. The latter is
just out of Vassar college.
Since the agitation of the Chi
nese question in Congress thi:
winter there has been more curiosi
ty than ever on the part of the