The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1883-11-08
MINING THE RACES.

MINING THE RACES.
a correspondent Of the Ncr. and Cou-
rity, writing over the signature Of 81. H.
says that neither the Commission nor The
railroads are responsible for the mixing
up Of the races U:i Cur passenger trains.
and proceeds to elucidnte his position by
quoting frat section, 2G04, Of the General
Statutes which provides:
Whoever, being n common carrier, un.
der any public license, charter, rule or
regulation, shall by himself or another
willfully assign any special quarters or
accommodations whatever to any passcn-
ger or person whom such common carri-
or may have undertaken to carry, or who
shall under any pretonce deny or refuse
to any person lawfully applying for the
Same accommodation equal i'll every ro
spect to that furnished by him to any
other person for like compensation or
reward in IL like case, having no regard
TO tho person per- Sc who may be applicant
therefor, shall, on conviction, be pun
ished by fine Of not more than ono
thousand dollars or by Imprisonment for
not more than six months
This, we admit fully disposcs of tho
idea that the railroads ought to have two
cars, one for the white and one for the
colored. AS the Inv stands, they cannot
do SO. -. H." then proceeds to excul-
pate tho Commission and the railroads
from blame for not fixing second class
rate, and contends that they have no
right to fix any second class fares. To
sustain this position he cites the railroad
act of 1882, which he says provides
that it shall be unlawful to charge, col
lect or receive for the transportation Of
any passenger Or freight of any descrip-
tion over its railroad greater amount
rs toll or compensation than shall at the
same time be charged, collected or re-
ceived by it for the transportation Of any
passenger or like quantity of freight Of
the same class, being transported over
any portion Of the same railroad of equal
distance and the only exception to this
is the proviso quoted by the Commission,
that the Act shall not be so construed
AS to prevent the issuing Of commutation,
excursion or thousand mile tickets. All
of the tickets included in the proviso
entitle the passenger to more than one
ride
He says:
II Is evident that 1t was not the intent
of the law to include secondclass tickets
In the proviso. First because it uses the
term any passenger. and only ns"s tl.e
word class ns applicable to freight Sec
ond, because tho law OF South Carolina is
to this extent a literal copy of tho law ofa
state III which second. class tickets were
never sold.
We do not agree with the writer in
this position, for the law provides that
railroads shall not have the right to
charge any passenger or freight greater
amount than they charge ''nny passenger
or like quantity of freight of the samo
class ior like distance. There is
nothing here in the sense or the punctu-
alton to indicate that the word "class" Ia
applied to ireights any more than to pas
Benger charges. On the contrary, the
sentence applies the classification to
both. This has been recognized by sew.
eEal roads III the State, We understand,
aad they have established Il lower Sec
ond-class rate. There can be no doubt
according to our construction of this SEN
tence, that the railroads have the right
to establish second.class rates subject to
the approval Of the Commission, and
that the Commission has the right to
make and enforce second class rate if
they see proper to do so. For this rea-
son, we think the people have right to
complain Of both the railroads and the
Commission when the.y subject our ladies
and children to the annoyance aud discom.
fort incident to a mixing of the races in
the sanc p assenger cars. We think the
Legislature ought to, and will, correct
these unnecessary annoyances. ~. H."
then goes, like most persons whose argu.
ments are exhausted, into personal
filings at the editor Of the INTELL1oEN.
GER. He says:
It Is clear, therefore. that 1t was the
Legislature OF 1870 and the Legislature
ture to suggest to the editor of the An
derson IHTELLIaEHcER that in addition
to getting the Legislature to give this
matter its attention, he also invoked the
aid of the same body to teach not the
railroads or the commission their duties
so much as to show the Anderson INTEL
LIaENoER the intent and effect Of law
which the Hon. Mr.. Murray, OF Ander. |
son, strongly advocated in tho I.egisla- |
turo, and also the rights and duties Of q |
railroad corporation which numbers |
among its directors the same gentleman.
This is not question involving Mr..
Murray. but one in which all of the
travelling public of the. State are con.
cerned, and we do not mean to allow
sneers nor personal criticisms tn deter us
from adsocating what we believe is Tor
the public good. We believed when the
railroad law owau enacted that It would
prove beneficial to the people, and we
still believe that 1t will do go, though It
will require aome time and patience in
it's details. We have never.
thought the Commission capable of com.
mitting an acs oflintentiohal injustice to
any party but, with all Dire respect, we
lhink they have shown a lack Of acquain-