The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1884-06-25
RAILROAD REGULATION,
Lebanon Herald.

Democratic party in this state tc
make the enlargement of the powers
of the railroad commission an issue
In the coming canvass, reinforced by
the intemperature utterances ofvari-
GUS newspapers on the subject, has
naturally alarmed those who believe
that the develcpmentof our internal
improvement system is vitality i'm
portant to the prosperity of the COM
monwealth. 1t seems to be the fix
ed purpose of the dominant faction
of the Tennessee Democracy to de-
mand the creation, by the next legis-
lature, of a railroad commission with
plenary power. Two years ago,
this faction, in it's course in the mans
agement of the state debt question,
found a powerful ally in the Louis
vile COurier-JournaE. That paper
has recently spoken its mind on the
subject of railroad regulation, and
its uttsrances should be needed by
it's Democratic followers in Tennes-
see. The Courier>J0urnaL says:
Weregret that certain Democratic
newspapers in Tennessee, with
which upon all other topics the
Courier Journal is and has been in
accord, are advocating in reward te
one question a policy we are COM
PEELED to believe injudicious and
dangerous.
They wish not only to introduce
the question of railroad regulation
into state politics, but to give it a
prominence and Importance which
no other single issue shall have.
Clamor for legislation which shall
permit extensive control and man
agement of the business and intere
est of railroad corporations, is to be
made one of the cardinal principles
of Democracy-an indispensable
formula in the Democratic confess
sion of faith-and an advocacy of a
railroad commission q test of party
fealty. We learn also with unfeign-
ed surprise that Democratic pOliti-
clans in Tennessee, to whom party
leadership has, not unwisely, been
conceded, but from whose sense and
experience he would have expected
other and more judiclous utterances,
are urging in public speeches that
the state convention, which meets
on the 18th inst, shall, in the plat
form to be then adopted, commit the
party to the continuance or re en~
actments of just such laws as the
courts have recently declared un-
constitutional. So that Democrat
in Tennessee who desires to main
tain his connection with the party
organization and keep his record
unspotted of the world may be res
quired to approve, pro forma, poli-
cy which in his heart he knows to
be foolish and hazardous, and to at
tempt legislative experiments which
have already been judicially rebuk>
ed.
We have never believed this sort |
Of legislation to be necessary any,
where under any conditions at all |
likely to exist in this country.
Laws enacted in spirit of hos
pitality to enterprises which are es-
sential to the proper and complete
development Of commerce and the
vast and multiform interests which
it embraces, or restrictive of the con-
duct of business, are, we honestly
think, productive only of injury.
That regulation of some kind and to
a certain extent is proper, may be
true; but judicial, regulation in this,
as in all other matters, is the best
and safest. Those who have susA
tanned damage by the acts of rail
way corporations, and complain of
less or injury SO inflicted for which
redress may be Justly claimed, should
resort to the courts for remedy.
Their jurisdiction is ample. If their
be defective for the trial
and determination of the class Of
cases and complaints wherein rail-
read commissions are expected to af-
ford relief, let the wisdom of legls-
latures be directed to such reforms
as will meet and remove that diff
Guilty. five can not trust the courts
of the country, then of surity We
can repose confidence nowhere; and
if q special commission, triumvi-
rate of visiting statesmen" is to be
the tribunal by which the controver-
sizes arising out of business transac-
tions of any kind are to be adjusted
it would be better, perhaps, to re-
main without a remedy.
Complications must sometimes oc-
cur, and some one will occsionally
suffer grievance, in all the affairs of
life. No business, or vocation, or
system by which men deal, no mat
ter what the eagencies, can be entirely
freed from inconvenience, or be made
to work with perfect equity at all
times. Sometimes and at some points
the friction will be painfully felt.
This must be the case in the i'm
mensc business of transportation,
serving as it does such multitude
and variety of interests. But to
submit this business alone to spe
cial and peculiar regulation, strikes
us as unnecessary and impolitic; to
put that regulation in such shape !
Enthusiastically be harrassing,
inquisiterial and obstructive, savors |