Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-03-10
THE RAInKoADs AND LAW.

hctions and fallscle5 recently ut
tered in the railroad address delivered By
Col. Cole, in Nashville, have, TO some extent
received apparent confirmation from the &C
-tIor- uf-Tsss'1 5-----nr. nfIN.v-V~ss-S~h Who d nj
vetoed a railroad bill passed by the Legisla.
ture Of New York. That bill reduced the
fares Of the New York elevated railroads
from ten cents to five cents. The veto wai
given on grounds similar to those claimed
by Col. Cole to exist in Tennessee. In both
cases it is alleged that the State has made
contracts with the roads which takes from
all succeeding legislatures the exercise OF
certain powers when the railroads are in
question. The APPEAL has already shown
that such a construction of the law, loudly
Us il was proclaimed by Col. Cole, is errone-
Gus, but IS the action of the governor of New
York gives apparent weight to that construc-
tion, it is we'll that the people of Ten
nessee, and the Legislators, should know
whether q former Legislature has abridged,
or any subsequent one can abfidge, the pow
ers, in certain respects, of succeeding legis-
latures. In one or two cases railroad bills
were passed by the Legislature of Tennessee
in which it wss provided that the charges
of transportation or conveyance shall not
exceed thirty-fiv cents per 100 pounds on
heavy articles, ten cents per cubic foot on
articles OF measurement, for every 100 miles,
and Eve cents a mile for every passenger"
Tnis prohibition to charge over those rates,
Col. Cole claims to be perpetual contract
binding the State to allow those charges 10
be claimed by the roads aslong as they shall
exist. That claim is unfounded. Other
railroads have claimed The same thing, but
the courts have decided the claim to be
baselsss. A paper before us enables Us to
settle this point. The decisions are in
Otto, United States Supreme Court Reports,
in Peck vs. Chicago and Northwestern Rail-
road Company. The Court says: "These suits
present the single question Of the power of the
Legislature Of Wisconsin to provide by law
for maximum of charge to be made" The
Court then names cases that had been before
it, and adds with respect TO them: ave de-
cided that the State may limit the amount OF
charges by railroad for freights and fares,
ETC." Supreme Court United States, in Mum
Us. Illinois, the Court refers TO the powers
inherent in every sovereignty and to imme-
mortal custom ia England, and concludes:
"The Limitation by legislative enactment of
the rates OF charges for services rendered in
public employment, or for the use of a
property in which the public has an interest,
establishes no new principle in law, but only
gives a new effect TO an old one" The police
power inherent in the Legislature cannot be
taken away from it; no legislative contract
can strip the State of its sovereignty, or divest
its successors Of the police power of regu-
lating railroad fares by any char
ter it may grant, or by any law it
may make, as has been repeatedly decided
by State courts and the United States Su-
preme Court. The latter, IS Wallace, 129,
decides: THE State cannot divest itself OF
the police power" Also United States Re-
ports, page 604, the same court decides:
ait is not competent for one Legislature, by
contract with individuals, to restrain the
power of a subsequent Legislature fer the
public good" The New York Court of APP
peals, "a Nsw York Reports, 667: "The neces-
ssry powers of the Legislature over all subjects
of Internal police, being part OF the gene
raj graut Of legislative power by the consti-7
tuition, cannot be sold, given away, or relin-
wished" Supreme Court of Missouri, State
Reports, page 523: "The power of the State
10 prescribe such law canaot be surrendered,
even in the granting of a charter" The
Supreme Court of Vermont, q Vermont Re
ports, page 140, is very clear in its state
ment: "There is also a general po-
lice power OF the State by which
persons and property are subjected to
all kinds OF restraints and burdens in order
to derive the general comfort, health and
prosperity Of the State; Of the perfect right
in the Legislature to do which no question
ever was, or, upon acknowledged general