Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1884-10-25
Railroad Commissions.

We have received the argument
Off J. Yertrees, of Tennessee, in
favor OF railroad commissions with
request to notice. All the sargu-s.
ments, legal and special, advanced
by Mr.. Vertrees have from tiinesto
time been discussed in these coll
uinns, and we do not desireat this
time to go over that again. The
trouble with them is that time and
experience overthrow them. The
proposition to organize mandatory
commissions, giving them control
over property not their own and
calling on them to perform duties
of which they are entirely ignorant,
is so absurd that as prejudice dies
out and the people look at it. in a
dispassionate way, no State in the
Union will consent to it,. f$E
Mandatory commissions have
wrought evil, anC only evil. FThe
first qualifications of a commiss-
Toner is that he be utterly ignorant
of the subject of transportation, and
the consequence is either that the
com mission as a rule falls under the
control of designing men, or by ig-
norant blundering it aggravates just
the evil it is popularity supposed to
destroy. 's@ =
The growth of corporate power is
somewhat alarming, but toEmeet it
there is a right and wrong way.
Most of the danger comes from over
legislation. The people must not
look to legislation for relief, for leg
islation can be controlled in the in
| tereSt OF corporate power when 1t is
| necessary. Two causes have pro
duced in the past twenty-five years
the gigantic corporations which
now SO Cypress the people; the first
cause Is the tariff, taking the many
for the benefit of the few; the sec.
ond is railroad legislation, remedial
or otherwise. The laws imposing
taxes and donating land grants and
comforting other special and peculiar
privileges are responsible for most
Of the evils from which our trans
portation interests suffer. The REM
! edy lies in another direction from
that pointed out by Mr.. Vertrees.
1t is less legislation, not more we
| want to keep our railroad managers
out of the halls of legislation, but
when we transient the control of
their lines to the Capitol they will
be there in force. e
The relief from monopoly comes
by undoing much of the evil work
OF the past few years. Legislation
has little value but this. We must
reverse the tariff, and so reduce the
power of monopolies to exact such
dues from the multitude. We must
see legislation destroy the special
privileges given TO corporations, and
| thus invite competition.
To give to so-called commission
absolute control Of the RAILROADS, as
is designed in Tennessee, us to es
tablish an Oligarchy with powers
never before equaled in a free coun-
try, and to overthrow which win
require political and social revo-
luton. AS soon as the people
establish such a commission the
railroads will, by methods familiar
to them, set about to gain control of
it. TETT 90 H@s
The only safety lies in unrestric-
ted competition. Mr.. Fink wishes
legislation to restrict competition,
and SO he favOrs a national COM
mission, but this means simply CEN
Trailing railroad authority, and is
a menace to popular government.
In competition lies the only safety
to our people.
Those who are constantly clamOr-
ing against railroads are IS q rule
men who are not in business of any
kind, who produce nothing to be
transported, and so they. specify
evils which arise from competition,
and which are consequently of
temporary character. The real
abuses Mr.. Vertrees does not touch,
but he is very indignant because
the Louisville and Nashville road
charges less to Henderson, 262
miles, than to Nashville, 1856 miles.
An examination of the figures do
not show that the rate to Nashville
is excessive, but that the rate to
Henderson is very low. There are
two railroads, one almost bankrupt,
and the river connecting Louisville
with Henderson. Here is competi-
fion in its m0staggravated form. The
u. d n. must meet the river rate or
do none of the business. The river
rate, if applied to the whole busI-
ness of the company, would be
ruiniOus. 1t might give little
surplus over actual operating eX-
penses, but it would not allow the
managers to keep up the road and
pay the interest on the bonds. Still
having these fixed charges anyhow,
they can afford to take business to
competitive points when it pays |
simply to run train, and all 1t |
makes with such service goes to re- |
duee its fixed charges anu so ena-
bies ii to reduce rates to other points !
No injustice is done by taking this
competitive business, as, any man
Of business can understand, though |
lawyers and politicians stumble !
over it.
So concerning local and through
freight. 1t is idle to suppose it can
be done at the same rate per mile.
We do not think railroad managers
have given enough attention to the
development of local business, but
there is no road in the country
which, if deprived entirely of its
through business, would not be
compelled to advance its local rates
in order to meet its fixed obliga-
tons. All the through business it
can get at margin, above the ac-
tual cost of hauling the train, re-
duces local charges.
1t is such facts as these which
politicians ignore, but which the
people can not afford to ignore.
Business is business, and the people
begin to understand that they must
depend on themselves and not on
fiat legislation for prosperity. We
want, especially in the South, to
encourage competition and not to
threaten it. The building of the
and Nashville road
will do more for Tennessee than all
the commissions in existence, for it
will furnish transportation facilities
to localities now deprived of them
and add to the value of every thing
raised in that section.
We think the Democrats of Ten
nessee have been placed in Il false
position on this question. The party
has no favors to ask of the railroads,
but certainly it IS not prepared to
enter into war to destroy their
and stop the building of
new lines. We.WOnld have all cor
poratiOns, railroad or otherwise, to
a strict compliance with the law,
but we should be certain that the {
law is to all classes just and equita- ,
nIn al Il dc of al &C |