The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-08-28

shall take this measure, so lenient, so
conservative, and abnegate the power
that we possess to legislate as circum>
stances may require, tie up our hands for
twenty years, is what |, for one, can
never agree to. | would great deal
rather let the law stand as it is than
| agree 20 any such proposition. II
such an amendment as that of the Senae
tor from Maine should be inserted in this
bill, it would be the best bargain these
companies ever made The idea will not
do at ale Mr.. President, let no one deS
ceive himself ebout this; let no one ima~
CINE he can be friend of the Judiciary
Committee bill and at the same time a
friend to the amendment of the Senator
from Maine. The amendment of the Sem
ator from Maine is prussic acid to this
bill. Ii cannot survive day, not an hour,
perhaps, after that amendment is adopt,
ed. 1t is stab at the very heart of the
bill it is as fatal as any stab could possis
bly, be. hope, therefore, the friends of
this bull, those who mean to make these
companies live up to their obligation and
do what they assumed to do; those who
mean that these companies shall know
that the government is their master, and
they are not the masters of the govern
ment, will see that no such poison is taxi
en- into this bill as the amendment of the
Senator from Maine.
Senator Edmunds joined in the fight.
In the course of powerful speech against
Blaine's amendment, he said
1t is reserved, Mr. President, to the
senator from Maine to be the first man, and
at this late period of time, to propose in
any act regulating or creating a corpora
ton or any part of its operations, the
sovereign power of the great tribunal that
imparts to it its gifts; that creates it for
its monopolies; that is bound to stand
between it and those dangers that mon
opolies always threaten the people with
for the first time, say, it has been
proposed that an act of administrative
i Justice which calls for the accumulation
of sinking fund, and which is nothing
but an administrative act for the future
, that changing events may change the
, aspect of from day to day as other lines
are built, rs other men come into the
management, as the stock is either run
down or up to please bears or bulls
for private interest-that the hands of
this supreme tribunal shall be tied behind
ats back, not in respect of anything that it
has received to discharge a debt. but in
respect of the future administration of
the affairs of these companies so far
as it affects the interests of the United
States connected with this debt. =
Mr. Blaine: The senator from Eer>
mont has asked me question, and in
answer to the criticism which he has in
J dulged in with regard to the amendment
| have offered, l will say every particle of
the evil anticipated or suggested by
him as possible to flow from it would be
entirely averted by putting in proviso
that the amount paid by each company
| per annum during these years shall not
be less than given sum. He says it may
entirely change. Put in such proviso,
and that would at once displace every
suggestion of danger which the senator
! has made.
| Mr. Edmunds; Yes, Mr. President, a
proviso! The suggestion of a proviso is
pregnant of the suggestion of the danger
of any such binding and final legislation. .
Mr. Blaine: Then, if the senator will
r permit me, he has brought more danger
into this body than any other member OF
it, for he has been more fruitful of pro-
j visos in our legislature than any other
y senator that ever sat on the floor.
t Mr.. Edmunds: Mr. President, l have
Il
up the hands Of the congress of the United
States from tie future exercises Of its 500
C ereign pocer. When | shall become so, il
4 will be time enough for the senator from
: Maine to suggest that | am fruitful OF
provisos He, as l said before, is the
original father-there IS no grandfather
J and no collateral relation-of a PROPOSE
ton in the legislature of the congress OF
the United States since the time when tht
evil of the hands Of states and of cons
crosses being tied up has been discovered
in the last few years, to provide that in
any respect or under any circumstance;
the hands of the legislative power shall
n be held off from the exercise of their leg.
itimate and constitutional control over
corporations.
Are we going to throw away our pow
It er in that way, Mr.. President? Have W.
g any right to throw away our power in tina
way? Are we doing justice to the poor
Il est creditor there is of these corporations
r Are we doing justice to the public inter
8, ests2 You cannot tell, sir, what will hap
n pen. You cannot tell who will manage
j these corporations. You cannot tell hov
long there will be any net income, depend
u ing not upon the the fair progress of nat
t. ural resources of development and natura
J. competition, but depending upon the evi
devitry of stock boards and private jobs
There is the trouble about all these cor
III porations. And yet my honorable frient
s, from Maine. IN THAT SWEET INNOCENCE
i WHICH CHARACTERIZEs HIS CHARACTER
6 THAT SUBLIME FAITH THAT EVERYBODY
AS vIRTUoUs AS HE, Is WILLING TO FOIL
IL UP HIS ARMS AND BE TIED IN BAG B
a. THE UNION PACIFIC AND CENTRAL PACI
a. FIG RAILROAD COMPANIES FOR TWENTY
~ TWO YEARS, MERELY BECAUSE WE RE
QUIRE THEM TO ESTABLISH sINKIN
} FIND
The Blaine amendment will be as famou
in in the future annals of railway and Othe
" corporate Legislature as the Wilmot pro
: viso, although made to a rather differen
end
IS shall feel bound, for one, with complet
ed sense of the responsibility of it, and
II, ask everybody who has the same purpos
in view that ] have, and feels it with tb
W same intensity, to vote against tn
a amendment; and if the senate should b
Sc pleased to adopt it. to vote against til
ed bill itself. because / would much rathe
that the Congress of the United State
the representative of public right, Shout
n wait for year or two until 'returnin
ilo Justice lifts aloft her scale, than that W
n should commit ourselves to piece {
Ter legislation that would be almost certai
en- in the future to be fatal in respect of tt
cir very objects that the bill wishes to al
e. complish. besides being destructive of Il