The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1883-01-26

to do what the commission i. TO doi
50, too, the constitution provides that il
shall be the province of "lhe attorney
general to inquire into the charte' ,hts of
all private corporations, and from lime to
time take Such'act in the courts as may
be proper and necessary to prevent any cor
poration from exercising any power or de-
mandlng or collecting any species OF taxes,
tolls, heights, etc not aul horned by law. !"
Now, does not the Chenoweth bill offer a
conflict of authority, when it puts this lden-
teal power into the hands of commission
for exerciseP These are some of the consti-
tuu0nal points that occur as we read the
act. Another feature about it is that it in
so many instances makes the ser, ants
or employees of the railroad compa MES
guilty of misdemeanOrs, telonies etc.
and subjects them to many zines. Section
VI, for instance, is replete with them.
This makes them, as II were, a marked
class, and snbjecting them to imprison
ment in jail or the tepenitentiary, along
with the fines, for any time from three
months up to ten years; it more or les de-
grades the character of the employ
ment. The corporations themselves
8 Iould be made liable to penal
ties aud fines, not the poor laboring man.
OF course, all individuals are held liable
under the laws of the state for all Will.
full harm and wrongs done, no
matter by whom employed; then why sim
gle out railroad servants and employees
specially?
In the matter of classifications of freight,
and rates thereon, il Representative Cheno.
weth, or this legislative body, or any one
else can fix these to remain of perlna-
nency, they will have solved one of the
most intricate and difficult problems of the
day, and which has puzzled, in these
times Of shifting prices in all things, the
ablest railway minds of the country. The
advent of the iron horse into Mexico, for
Instance, might change the whole aspect of
these classlications and rates.
There furthermore is strong lesson that
this bill imports, VIZ: That hasty and ILL
considered or partially adopted legislation
might and will be of the greatest wrong to
what Governor Ireland, III his inaugural,
calls "our Institutions For it will be re.
membered how, at the called session last
April, there was so general desire, intent
and determination to compel these corpora
tions to do what now appears would be
clearly wrong. And, indeed, many parts
o the Chenometh bill concede this TACT, as,
Tor example, in section u there
Is a clause which states that
at railroad stations, i'll this state
where two or more railroads, under differ
ent and distinct organizations, intersect,
either road may fix its charges to and from
said station without reference TO the sched.
ule OF charges on The balance Of their road. "
Section 10 Of the bill discloses, by the con-
spicuous absence of the matter of unequal
distances, the evidence OF still further en-
ltghtenment, when it merely provides that
railroad companies "shall charge the same
freight price to all persons Tor the transpor-
tation of the like quantity of freight of the
same class, transported from the same
point, in the same direction, over
equal distances on the same rail
'ad. This permits certain charge
fom Dallas to Houston for certain guam
THY and classification of freight, and dill.
erent charge for the same quantity aud
classification from Houston to Dallas. The
bill is sill in the hands ola committee, and
when 1T gets before the house will be the
subject Of close and animated discussion.
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