Morning journal and courier., 1883-05-19
,SqnrHal aab Gaurier.
EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY
Saturday, May 19. 1883.
RAILROAOs.


 There is in these days good deal of feel ing against great corporations, especlahS against railroad corporations. Perhaps there is no better measure Of this feeling than the conduct of iuries. Verdicts are often rem dered against railroads in the face of the clearest evidence Even in Connecticut the difficulty of obtaining Q fair trial by jury in railroad cases is so great that counsel for the companies generally prefer to suffer default, for after default the jadgs and not the jury assesses the damage. certain class Of newspapers attack railroads by way of show ing their own virtue and independence, and often attack them indiscriminately and un- justly. The prevailing prejudice against rail roads also makes itself felt in legislation. Politicians feel it. Demagogy is nowhere on the side of railroads. Blatant hostility to railroads is the faverite method by which 'sthe friend of the people, displays his pat riotism.
 As commercial activity is the distinctive feature of modern times so the corporation is the distinctive feature of modern com nerce All the most important business of the world is now done through corporations Great enterprises require vast com binations of capital which far sur pass individual means. The railroads stand provements that have been brought about by the aid of corporations, and afford perhaps the very best illustration of what organized capital has done for the world. And in no part of the world are the benefits of railroads greater and more appar- ent than in this country. It is to it's railroad system quite as much as to its natural re sources that it's present prosperity is due. For without the railroads it's resources would not have been developed. Its square miles of wheat fields would have remained prairies until now if the railroads had not enabled the West to sell it's grain in New York and Liverpool. It is curious comment upon human nature that the Changers, who axe the most jealous of railroads, should be the very ones who owe the most to them. The railroads have peopled the West. They have made Chicago, St. Louis and the other great distributing centers of that region what they are They have stretched their lines across the continent and brought San Francisco near to New York. They have done almost as much to cement this Union as have its political institutions. They have immensely y | benefited 'ths workingmsn," who is now SC often and so Yociferously melted to attack them They have built the factories anG opened the markets which furnish him the means of labor and bring the comforts oi civilized life within his reach.
 For all this, 1t will not be denied, those whose money and whose enterprise have brought it about deserve @eanA return. We suppose it is 8 fact, that, taken as 8 whole, the rail road system of the United States has not ye paid. Vast amounts of money have been in vested in railroads for which there has beer no return. Comparatively few railroads to day are paying properties. For instance, oi the twenty two railroads in this State but two so far as we know, are attractive to inves tors. Look over the list of railroad stocks dealt in in Wall street and sec how few ot them appear to be really worth buying | Thus far railroads have done their full share of the worlds work for much less than fail share of its pay.
 We do not wish to be understood as de lending all that railroads have done or may do, but simply to point out that there are two sides to the railroad question as to other questions We know that railroad compan ies have frequently abused the privilegel 1 granted them. And, for that matter, so hav'
 other corporations possessing public fran chises But we dc believe that the present 1 outcry against railroads has much less justi fcation than demagogues commonly assume A war against railroads is really war agains
 the industries of the country. Those whc l attempt to arouse general and unreasonine hostility against railroads, or capital in othel
 forms, are not, even if they are hon est, serv ing the best interests of the people.