Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1883-03-01

road is not a public highway if the man
ayers may charge whatever they please.
That was settled as early as 1881 in the
FIRST great railroad case that ever came be-
fore the courts-the case of Bonaparte
against the Camden & Amboy railroad
company. To say the state caunot save
the people from such extortion and fraud
is to utter q preposterous absurdity. by
the right of eminent domain the state
always has the power to abate monopoly.
You can regulate the railroads just as you
can hack drivers. The opinion of Judge
Waite in the case of Mann against the
state of Illinois is unanswerable and
settles that point completely. Mr.. Gowen
says the railroads have great power with
the courts. don't know how that is, but
really they are weak and powerless in any
issue that brings them before the people.
For every millionaire they have made
thousand paupers for every man they've
done favor to they've cheated ten thou
sand, and these are the things that will
be remembered in popular issue. There's
nothing in the Lords Prayer more correct
than the seventeenth article of the consti-
tuition. Does anybody pretend that rail.
road companies have a right to monopolize
not only railroads, but other business be
sides and fleece the country?
Tho Influence OF Free Ticket
"Does anybody believe free tickets a
good thing2 I don't believe that any
member of this Legislature could be in
fluenced improperly by a free ticket, but
these tickets may be worth to legislators
who are men of business from $10O to $500
a year. Now, would there be any differ
ence in principle if Mr.. Robins came up
hero With cash enough to 60 around and
give that much money to each member ?
While you're at it don't permit any judge,
especially any judge of the supreme court,
to take any such accommodations. l
think any judicial integrity of the country
should be like Caesars wife-not only
chaste, but unimpeachable. The railroads
ask you to stop short when you come to
| something hard for them to bear. A
tavern keeper indicted for keeping disor-
derly house knows he's guilty. His friends
and customers are about to be called up. as
witnesses. He knows that he will be
| convicted if they all tell the truth. He
has given them many free drink and he
promises them abundance of free rum in
future if they stop little short Of telling
the whole truth. These railroad people
think that the whole commonwealth was
made for them. They tell you that they're
going to suffer if justice be done. Their
/ unlawful profits are to be curtailed and
that's their objection.
Contempt for tho Constitution.
81 don't doubt their contempt for the
constitution is sincere. They've proved it
in many ways. A mighty banker before
the Lord came up here from Philadelphia
to carry through the Legislature bill
that would give the corporation that be
represented four million dollars of ths
states money, to which that corporation
had no more right than the wolf has to the
mutton that it slaughters in the light ol
the moon. Certain persons got little
startled at the methods he adopted.
committee asks him if he didn't know thai
corrupt solicitation of legislators was very
wrong. No, he didn't know any such thing
What they exclaimed don't yor
know the constitution fOrbids it p 90
yes,' he replied /; know there's lot o
stuff in the constitution about that, but
then nobody cares for the constitution tina
I know Of That was the training he got
on that subject by his masters before b,
left Philadelphia, and now his MASTER
this bill" Judge Black then read pape
which he had addressed to the New York
chamber of commerce, embodying hi
views upon certain phases of discrimina
tion. "If you heard or read Gowen'
speech" he proceeded, "you know hov
gladly he said he would aid in putting Ger
tain persons in tho penitentiary, if tn
attorney general would only take tn
proper steps.
Some Things Gowen DID not Toll.
81 think his complaints were wei
founded, but he did not tell the Who'll
truth. He didn't tell how he got q mon
opo!y on the sale of coal at Philadelphia
If he had just told us how many hundre
millions he had taken from the peopl
over and above what he had right to W
might have been better able to judg
whether the Standard coal company wa
much better than the Standard oil com
pany. In the town of York there are 10,
600 tons of coal consumed every year. L
consequence of the freight charged upo
these Goals the consumers pay on
dollar more than the coal is sol
for in Baltimore. It ought to be on
dollar the other way, SO that makes tn
actual discrimination two dollars q ton, o
$500, 900 q year at that one town and thi
not to keep up the railroad companies
but to swell the colossal fortunes of tn
directors. I believe that it's worse il
Philadelphia. I believe that the Readin
railroad blackmails the poverty and tn
wealth alike, of the city of Philadelphia
to an extent that is appalling. can
give you the figures, but trust that MI
Gowen will be called upon to do so. Th
only way to stop these outfages upon Jh
public is by prohibition, with penalty
Mr.. Gowen and Mr.. Roberts don't wan
to 60 to the penitentiary and they'll neve
60 there. Pass bill like Gordon's an
the next morning every railroad man i
the country will wake up just as honest
man and as good Christian as you or
A Confounded Long-Headed Fellow.
81 quote Mr.. Gowen great deal, bt
cause he is my beau ideal of a great jurif
and confounded long-headed fellow
But I'm afraid Mr.. Governs mandarin
plan to compel the moving of freigh
wouldn't do. People would be afraid +
60 into legal proceedings that might las
four years and then be decided agains
them. How it ever entered into MI
Gowen's head don't know. How woul
you get . mandamus if the court had