Omaha daily bee., 1883-05-30
u BLACK AGAIN.

question Of anti-monopoly. Judge
Black has given much study to the re-
Of the corporations to the PEG.
lie, and his opinion will carry with 1t
he weight which is always due to
caudor and judicial impartial
ty. His recent letter to the rail-
Dad committee of the Pennsylvania
legislature will be widely read.
Il defines clearly the relations
the corporations to the govern.
nent, treats In concise language the
question Of the states supervisory pro.
Jess, and denounoes discriminating
,harges of corporations al a fraud upon
their W charters, az well as a gross
wrong to their patrons.
"The functions of railroad corpora.
says Judge. Black, "are az
defined and ought to be 90
universally understood as those of
any servant which the state or general
government employs. Without pro.
prietary right to the highways, they
are appointed to superlntend them for
the owners. They are charged with
the duty of seeing that every needed
facility for the use of those thorough.
fares shall be furnished to all citizens,
like the justice promised in Magma
Charts, withort sale, denial or delay.
Such services, 1t faithfully performed,
are important and valuable, and
the compensation ought to be q
full equivalent; accordingly they
are authorized to pay themselves by
levying upon oil who use the road tax
or toll or freight sufficient for that
purpose. But this tax must be reas.
enable, fixed, certain and uniform,
other Wise 1t Is u fraud upon the poo,
plo which no department Of the state
government, mol all of them combined,
has power to legalize.
Now, where IL the express grant OF
power to take more than a fair and
reasonable toll for the use Of any rail
road2 In what act of incorporation is
it stipulated that the state may not
adjust the tolls according to what she,
by her proper authorities, shall deem
. reasonable rule2 The sole an
swer ever given to this 10, that In
some, If not all of the char.
ters, there is a provision torbidd;ng
the company to make any charge be-.
yond q c~srtaia rate per ton Pc mile,
and from this prohibition against tak-
ing more they infer the right to take,
In spite of the state, anything they
please under that maximum, whether
1t be reasonable or not. But Ii Is pre-,
cisely such differences that you CANNOT
make; they are excluded by the rule
of Interpretation already mentioned.
Neither does their practice of dis
elimination find the slightest counte-
nance in any word of the charters
Where did you ever see an act of In
corporation expressly declaring tina
the company shall have power to max,
a difference between two o~itlzenI
whose legal and natural rights to thu
use of the highways are precisely the
same? Where do you find the word
which clothe any company with tn,
awful power to crush out the baslnes,
of n man with burdens which h,
cannot bear, In order that another, Ii
which the railroad has ON interest
may be built up7 But especially ant
particularly I denire to know VIVA
part of any bargain with the stat,
justifes the extortion Of higher rate
from q poor man, on his little freights
than from o rich one on his great ant
valuable cargoeu2 II you cannot put
your finger on the very words tina
give this authority, then the authorit,
Is withheld and the practice forbidden
But this Is not all. From the YER,
nature Of the contract, the Limitation
of the charges to rates perfectly ans
uniformly proportioned to weight ans
distance Is apparent. The common
wealth, reserving the equal proprie
tary rights of all the people to the us,
OF the highway, agrees to employ
corporation as her agent to see tina
the exercise of the right by every clti
zen 10 properly facilitated, and never
In any case, impsded, delayed or hin
dered. The agent agrees to do till
service at rates which, In the aggre-
gate will be q reasonable compensation
for all the labor and expense of 1t. Al
between tho state, who ia the en-
ployer, and the corporation, who 4
the employee, the contract 10 an entir,
one, . lump bargain, an agrsemen
to do the whole job, which comprs
hends all the carrying for all the PEG
pie on that highway at a price fol
which the only measure furnished by
the contract Is weight and distance
Whenever, In those acts of incorpors-
ton, any mention Ii made of rates,
taxes or tolls, they are spoken of a
proportioned to the use made of tn,
road by him Who pays them-so mucl
per ton per mile, whether the mile
be many or few, up grade or down
without regard to the number of ton
carried ut one time, or at differen
times, for the same shipper.
Reasoning fairly from premises
known to be true, you cannot escapr
the conclusion that the extravagan
and discriminating charges of thes,
corporations are a fraud upon thel
own charters, as we'll as a gross wron,
to their Victims. The contracts the,
invoke to save them from the justic'
OF the state are as strong against then
as the constitution itself.
This Ia sound anti,monopoly doc
trine based on the common law an,
fortified by an increasing majority O
our states. II II were not for tn
daily denials by the railroad mapager