The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1883-03-07
Poor Slater.

railroads. lie even goes 30 far as 10
copy n portion Of the charter Of the
Nashville d Chattanooga Railroad Com
pany in order 10 show that that gigantic
monopoly is carrying freight and pas
sengcrs for less than It's charter gives il
the right to charge. And he shoots
straight out from the shoulder ut those
who are heapng abuse and vilIlGcation
upon the vampires who prey 50 heavily
upon the good people Of the State of
Tennessee. We don't know what will
become Of Slater. lie fought CALAMITY
"through the war" to "boat Hawkins"
and we thought he was fighting against
Republican principles as well. But here
he is right for ncnst one Of the cardinal
doctrines Of tie "platiGrm." Wont our
friend of the Murfrccshoro Free Press
read him out Of "thc par'y%-LTu
homa Guardian.
Our esteemed friend, Major Wilson,
Of the Guardian, in pleasant style puts
us in wrong position. In trying to
> enlighton the people upon the matter of
so-callcd discrimination by the railroads
as to through and local freight we have
M eye only to the tnc in the matter. In
our article, TO which the Guardian al !
ludes, We tried to prevent unjust crill-
cism by stating What we here rc-itcratc,
to-wit: We are not, have never been,
and never expect to be Thought up" by
railroads. The n, G. & st. Louis rail.
way pays us just the SAME price for adj
vcrtising in the Home journal as We
charge any merchant or other person in
Winchester, or elsewhere, for the same
amount Of space. If We take 900
mile ticket at 3 cents per mile, We do so
because if We did not the road would
get the same amount in money from Us,
aid this is plain to every sensible per-
son
Our object was to show the fooIishncss
of the effort to have Railroad Com
mission when il is palpablc that such Il
commission would infract the Constilu-
ton Of the United States and the State
of Tennessee. The Constitution o. the
United States says: "No State shall
pass any bill Of atlaindcr, cxpost tacto
law, or law mlaring the obligation Of
contracts " The Constitution of the
State Of Tennessee says that ono retro
spective law, or law impairing the obi
cation of contracts, shall be made"
Now, to save oursclf the trouble of
writing upon matter MS to which we
know any court of justice would agree
with us, We merely extract n little from
late speech Of Col. +. W, Cole in
Nashville, and regret that We have not
room in the Home Journal for all he
said:
The Nashville IL Chattanooga railroad
was chartered Dec. II, 1915, this being
the first road chartered in the State
that statute regulates the freight and
passenger charges Of all the roads in the
State, with the exception, possibly, Of
one or two unimporlant ones.
Now, you must rccollect tina: this
charter was written by eminent lawyers,
nearly forty years ago, Mt time when
the people were clamoring for railroad
facilities, and n quarter of century or
more probably before such thing MS u
railroad commission was thought of even
by the yankee protcctionists.
A mistake may have been made by
the State in making these contracts a
mistake which might not have occurred
you and had been there. But if
these charters have in effect been held
many times by the courts to be con
tracts, and even admitting that the
State did make mistake in granting
such rights, and | will 60 n step further !,
mud shy that the Supreme Court of the =
United States may have made mistake Il
in its decision in the Dartmouth College y
admitting all this, what then, i'll u
these facts, even though they he mis- =
takes, stand square across Dur path to II ~
commission to manage the roads built '
nnder these charters2 Shall VIC under !
lake to educate our own Supreme Court
mud the Supreme Courts of other States,
that have so often decided the principle
involved in the question under consid-
Grafton, aud EVENT. We could accomplish
such an undertaking, do you think we
could influence the Supreme Court of
the u. S. to reverse u decision that has
stood for nearly thrcc-qnarters of II cen
tury, and tho thousands of decisions ,
made based upon that first one for | :
nm advised that there is not State in
Tho Union that has not committed itself .
o that decision, in which the court =,
vas unanimous, and whose opinion was \
elivered by Chief Justice Marshall. 50
shall VIC undertake 10 do thisY or shall =,
ve' like honest and practical people, ac- &c
opt the Ind bargain, If it is bad one, y"
md go to work in reasonable and
way to remedy the evil if J..
Dne cxistsi ~" ~
certain charters with specific rights n
guaranteed to the companies by the of
State II the roads were built woro f.,
granted by the State. The roads were a.
built and the contracts between tho '"
State and the companies are closed the Sa
State has already and long ago received ci
he consideration she stipulated for dc
he construction Of the roads--and for Il
1aIlY Vaa rn Inc hoou nnin,,i.,.. IL. 49,. 1