The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1883-05-02

them. A single mill at Rochester can
stop the wheels of the rest if its flour is
carried at a rate much lower. BY dis
examinations of this kind the profits of
one coal mine may be quadrupled while
another, with all its fixtures and ma
chinery, is rendered worthless. Such
wrongs as these are done not only in a
few sporadic cases. but generally and
habitually on very large scale Certain
oil men whose refinery was on Long Is
land got rebates amounting to 100000
900 in eighteen months, and seyenty-nine
houses, Il believe that is the number
engaged in the same business were brok-
Ell up.
The directors of the Reading rail
road, having coal lands of their own,
made determinations between them
selves and others which drove ali compe-
tition out of the field, gave them the
monopoly of the Philadelphia market,
and enabled them to charge for their
Goals as they charge for their freight
whatever they pleased. Thus, pro-
| ducers, dealers and consumers all suffer
! together. Worse still than that. the
prosperity of large communities is
blighted by the refusal of railroads to
carry the products of their farms. gar
dens and shops unless they submit to
the payment of rates much larger than
what are charged on similar goods from
other regions much farther away from
the common market. The case YOU men
ton OF - from New York to Salt Lake,
and only $3.50 to San Francisco, is per-
maps not the most unrighteous; but it is
as gross violation of legal principle a.
can be conceived. If the RAILWAYS be-
long to the people, then the rights of all
cltlzens are precisely equal. and all dis !
examinations are unlawful. Without |
reference to the public right Of property
they are so shamefullv injurious in their
general etlectand in their particular con
sequences, that no we'll governed state
will endure them.
CORPORATIONS MAY BE RESTRAINED.
These railroad and transportation
companies connect themselves with
everything. The promotion of com
merce, internal and foreign, the interests
OF buyer and seller, the rights of pro
Queer and consumer, the needs of the
poor, and the prosperity of the rich. all
cry aloud for some system of manage
ment which will compel them to do the
duties they owe to the public faithfully
at rates reasonable, fixed, uniform and
equal without extortion, without wan
to- charges, without discrimination.
Inc laws necessary for this purpose are
not difficult to frame.
Ii you will look at the Constitution of
Pennsylvania as amended in 1878 Won
VIII IND In the seventeenth section series
OF provisions which, if carried out and
enforced, would be amply sufficient,
but the railroad men and their adyoratos
nave managed to impress the Legislature
with the idea that they are above the
Constitution. They assert that every
restriction imposed upon them in the in
terests OF justice, equality and fair deal
ing Is violation Of the contract en-
bodied in their charters. All this is no
doubt very false doctrine, but they
ccontnye IN some way q really do not
Know how to make the State authorities
accept 1T as true. | maintain that All
the States have a clear and indefeasibleI
right to protect their people against such
wrongs, and to exercise the power as y
sacred duty. When that duty is proper
iy performed the internal trade Of each
state will cease to be enslayed and
crippled as it is now. But tho com.
mefce between the States will still be
open to inequalities and liable to opnros.
SION and plumber by transportation com
l5"ilie"' thless the national Legislature
aoeS something TO save it. Congress has
power ito regulate commerce between
the States Is it not strictly within the
scope OF that authority when it makes !
IhW tordidding carriers through the
states to lnjure, impede or DESTROY the
general trade OF the country by extraya-
CANT and discriminating charres2 If
mat be not regulation OF INTERSTATE
commerce, what would be? The power
oelng conceded, an ehectual mode Of
'l9htlng the wrongs now complained of
AN easily be devised. =
Doubtiess you are right in the belief
NAT public opinion will he in favor az
your movement. Rejecting men can |
lot deny Its justice. But the influence
y Ihese great corporations can hardly
&c calculated. They have methods of r
ietence and offence which make them
Utmost invincibIe. You have referrod
Q portions of their history which prove :
ms Some of the State governments e
lre literally subiugatcd by them now y
VIII require strong organization and 9
nuch labor to reduce them. Undis. o
lphned militia in the open field make
, 700 night against regulars intrenched s
=, nat are corn-stalks against cannon9
, .l Is truth against money. You ask
mat think Of regulating these affairs 2
y the agency Of commissioners, n :
.ngland, believe, that plan has been :, =
omplete success; in California, / nm.
eiTrS r, it is dead failure. ~
I'm, Inns paper is much longer than I in
ended to make it, and as an answer -
our questions it is less categorical tban
ought to be. But you must take LII i
y Is, and believe me your obedient ser.
' j. S. BLACK.
! TALENT is power; tactis skill. Tai. |
At is weight; tact is momentum |
alent knows what to do; tact knows |
oW to do it. Talent r,,1.o.