Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1883-01-31
.,r.Ro.D LEGISLATION.

railroad legislation. a NUMBER ol ohiS
hearing on the subject have been intro
duced and referred to the Corporation
Committees in each House. 1t is a note
worthy fact that bills of this nature seem
To REQUIRE more deliberation in the COM
mittee rooms than bills OF any other
sort. Our Carson correspondent writes
that they are kept in committee always
as long as the rules OF the House Will
permit, and that in one instance a GER
tain railroad bill was pigeon-holed for a
longer period than the rules allow, Now,
this delay may be attributable to one OF
two causes, or to both. It may be that
tie bills proposed are distasteful to the
committeeman who have personal rela-
tious with the corporations, such rels-
tions as make them prefer the interests
of the latter TO the welfare Of their con-
stituency. This conjecture involves the
popular idea that those legislators who
are not denonstratiye and p~recipitate III
their attitude towards the railroads are
tools Of these corporations. That there
are men Of this ilk, to whom the people
OF Nevada have entrusted their law
making, has never been proved in a court
house, that we are aware Of, but that
Nevada has had such u~nprineipled legis-
lators in her service is as fully believed
as though it were so formally proved,
But we do not approve Of the too often
hasty and in~discriminate abuse Of public
servants. They are entitled to the pre-
sumption Of integrity in their favor, and
they should not be condemned on mere
appearance or hearsay, That they are
not seen riding conspicuously Oh the top
wave of popular prejudice and blatantly
uttering vows to cjnch the railroads
should not be taken as conclusive evil
dence that they are hirelings Of the
monopolies. 1t would be humiliating for
us to acknowledge that We have such
merceuary representatives in our State
Legislature in such numbers as to render
it impossible for the real servants Of the
people to secure The passage OF whole
some laws concerning the railroads. 1t
would be, in effect, an admission that
we are aptly named by our detractors
abroad, who speak Of Nevada as the
t~'rotten borough We are in hopes, to
say the least, that proper railroad legis-
lation is not being choked down in the
present State Legislature by any msn-
bers who merit the curses that are
being freely bestowed upon them; or, at
any rate, il there be any such recreant
legislators, presumably celebrating at
this time for the benefit Of the whole
community, that they are so few as not
to hinder an honest majority in accom-
plishing such legislation as is needed
and imperatively called for by the peo-
pie Of the State. Let us withhold our
condemnation until we are sure that it is
rightly placed. Mems regulations are
worth something, even if they are men,
bers of a Nevada Legislature. If mem.
bers of this Legislature who now rest
heavily under the suspicion Of being
owned by the corporations turn out to
have been Justly suspected, mark them
for the future, and hereafter elect only
such men as can be implicitly relied
upon to stand by the people and despise
the Establishments Of aggregated wealth.
The remedy is, at last, with the voters
Of the commonwealth, and they are to
blame for the ineticiency and unfaith-
fulness Of their representatives. The
people are long in learning a strictly
rudimentary lesson; to wit, that bad
men seldom can be relied upon to do
good work.
The more charitable view to take Of
the matter under consideration is that
the delay complained Of may be caused by
impediments of a purely unpersonal
character, Railroading is an intricate
business in its details and it is held by per-
sons who are familiar with the situation
that it requires almost the same knowl.
edge of this work to frame a perfect rail-
road bill as is required to direct the op.
e~rations of a railroad. Be this as it may,
we know that there are some more spe.
oifo difficulties in the way OF railroad
legislation in Nevada that would be
likely to cause delay in the consideration
Of bills on this subject. The obsta-
Gle of special legislation is very embar-
RAISING in this State. Our Constitution
prohibits it. The necessity of legislat-
ing for all the railroads in the State at
once suggests a problem that cannot be
solved in e moment. Under our Consti-
tuition, to speak vulgarly, what is sauce
for the goose is sauce for the gander. No
bill will stand the test OF the fundamental
law which aims at the Central Pacific
and fails to hit the Eureka h -Paiissda,
the Virginia & Truckee, the Battle
Mountain and Austin, the Carson and
COLORADO or the Nevada s Oregon in the
same way. Such legislation with regard
to the first big road as would put money
into our pockets by reduction OF fares
and freights such as it would feel no
more than the bull felt the buzz fly on
his horn, might cripple the other little
roads and force two or three OF them
to suspend operations. Lump them all
and it may be said that they are barely
making a living. The welfare Of the
State demands rather that they should
be fostered than that they should be
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