Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-03-10

OR~AeetAA7 AoAA1Oduc III EOmOeTlTl0n Will
| them. BY the first section of the act hotI
are declared amenable to ssiniured mar
tles~ Ior the causes therein enumerated
But the third section prescribing penal
Ties IN favor of the State, as hereinbefort
stated, for charges made in excess O
what jury may subsequently find il
manner aforesaid and upon the basis
stated, to be more than just and reason
aole compensation, or unjust and un-
reasonable discrimination. is expressly
cOnnned to corporations. Under this sec.
tlOn corporations are subject to be sued
harassed and worried by expensive and
ruinous litigation, and to the payment OF
the penalties and costs therein provided:
While persons operating railroads in ac-
tive competition with them, engaged in
the same kind of quasi public service and
under the same obligations of fidelity and
diligence, are exempt therefrom.
Another and like invidious discrimina-
ton IS contained i'll section 10. This Sec
ton makes 1t the duty of the commission
ers to ''cOnsider and carefully revise all
the tariffs of charges for transportation of
any person or corporation owning or ope-
rating railroad in this State" and if. in
their Judgment, 'any such charge is more
than just and reasonable compensation
for the service for which it is prOposed to
be made, or if any such charge amounts
TO unjust and unreasonable discrimina-
ton against any person, locality or corpo-
ration" the commissioners are to
notify the person or corporation of the
changes necessary to reduce the rate to
a just and reasonable compensation, and
TO avoid an unjust and unreasonable dis
examinations" and "When such changes
are made" or ''when none are deemed
proper and eXpedient, the Commissioners
are to append a certificate of approval to
such tariff of charges, and In case such
change" suggested by the commission,
''ShaIl not be made" or if '.any change
subsequently made shall not conform
thereto," said corporation shall be held
Dflnld tdcie guilty of eXtOrtiOnv 1t is
corporations and not persons operating
railroads who are to be held prinad facie
guilty OF eXtOrtiOn under this section,
and 1t is corporations, and corporations
only, who can be punished under its pro-
visions, and thus it appears the act is, in
It's seVerest features, more eXacting and
oppressive of corporations than of persons
operating railroads, the former being sub
Jected to penalties and to punishment
from which the latter are eXemDt,
But the unconstitutional discrimination
OF this act is not confined to discrimina-
tlOn between railroad corporations and
persons operating railroads. but extends
to a discrimination between railroad cor
pOratlons themselves, the tWenty-ninth
section thereof expressly declaring that
none of its provisions shall apply to
any railroad then being CONSTRUCTED" or
which might thereafter be ''begun and
constructed in the State" until sSten years
from and after its completion" Where
fore this distinction between existing
roads and roads to be thereafter built? If
the act was proper regulation, why not
apply it to roads to be hereafter built? II
the Legislature can thus draw the line be-
tween different railroads before the date
at which they were or are constructed
where and at what point is legislative dis
elimination to cease? If the Legislature
can thus discriminate between new and
OLD roads, 1t can assume any other arbi-
trary basis in support of invidious legis-
latlon, and in this way Oppres9 one inter-
est for the benefit of another; and if it can
do this, the foregoing wise and just pro-
visions of the State and National COnsti-
tutlons, intended TO secure an equality of
rights to every citizen, may as we'll be
eliminated from those sacred instruments.
Notwithstanding the act under consid-
Grafton processes to regulate railroad
operations, it, in effect, places the bust
ness OF all railroad corporations in the
State under defendants supervision and
control. In addition to the authority to
revise their tariffs of charges, as herein
lore SHOWN, the commissioners may for
undlsclosed reasons and without account
aDlllty TO any one, give better rates to
one corporation than to another. And
(sec. I'D whenever in their judgment sit
snail appear that repairs are necessary"
or that additional rolling stockv is
needed, or ''any change of stations or
station houses or "any change in rates.
are desirable, or ''change in the mode of
operating any road and conducting its
business is reasonable or eXpedient," the
Commissioners ''shall give information in
writing to the corporation of the improve
ments and changes which they may ad-
judge proper" etc. These powers, in adj
ditiOn to the authority to prescribe rates.
include all the incidents pertaining to
the absolute ownership of property. In
the exercise of them, the commission can
limit receipts and dictate expenditures.
insure prosperity to one company and
drive another into bankruptcy, and as
sumo the management and control of the
business and operations of every railroad
corporation in the State
But the defendants say that their re-
visions of tariff rates and suggestions in
regard to the methods of conducting bust
ness are not obligatory on the railroad
corporations; that the statute is advisory
and not mandatory in its terms This is
true; upon the face of it, the railroad COM
panies are left to adopt or reject the rates
fixed and ignore the suggestions made by
the commissioners. But if they decline
to conform to the rates fixed by the COM
missiOners, they do so at the peril of sub
jecting themselves to multiplicity of
suits by the State and by individuals, to
be tried by juries interested in the reduc-
ton OF charges, and upon the anomalous
principles declared by the act, which, by
fOrpp of fha a7.f,,a Il,
given to the eX parte action of the
commissioners, reverses the presump-
ton of innocence hitherto accorded to
all defendants in criminal or qudSi
criminal proceedings, and casts the bur-
den of eXculpation on the accused. That
such litigation will follow is not at all
prOblematical-it is certain. The authors
OF this statute have been careful to place
this beyond doubt. 1t is therein made the
imperative duty of the commissioners, in
the event any railroad company refuses to
adopt the rates to be prescribed by them,
to institute and prosecute a suit, as here
lnbefore stated, for every overcharge;
and the lurles called to try them will, by
the express command of the statute. be
compelled to find against the defendants
and assess the penalties imposed, unless de-
PENDANTS establish by affirmative proof
that It's future net earnings on the arbi-
u al UdolS utCldIGu by bue dCb WIFI NOT
exceed fair and just return on the value
of its property to be assessed for taxation
the jury being the exclusive judges of
what fair and just return is. This much
is expressly commanded. But injured
parties" are left to the exercise of their
own discretion whether they will sue or
not. Nevertheless, by way of inducement.
the pflDlG .fdcje effect given by the act to
the Judgment OF the commissioners, sup
plies them with the requisite proof to sus-
tain their actions, and, as an additional
encouragement, the act offers ten times
the amount of the damages sustained and
a reasonable attorneys fee to be paid by
the railroad company. No railroad in the
State can successfully cope with the liti-
cation that will inevitably follow refusal
by 1t to conform to the requirements of
the commissioners in the particular
mentioned. Through the indefinite
terms OF the statute, severity and multi
plicity Of its penalties, the impossibilitv
Of determining in advance of the verdict
of jury in the particular case what is
and what is not a violation of it's proyi-
sions, the power conferred or attempted to
be conferred on juries to define the Offense
and then lntiict punishment, coupled with
the &c post .fdctO effect given to their YER
dict, involves everything in uncertainty
and commits every railroad corporation in
Tue otdle 10 Ine mercy oil the commission.
BY the slow but uncertain operation of
this statute, the commission can, if they
want to, gradually take and appropriate
all the railroad property in the State to
the public use without that just compen-
sation provided for by the constitution.
In word, the commission, under the
terms of this act, hold, in so far as rail
road corporations are concerned, the issue
of life and death as in the hollow of their
hands. OF what avail, then, is the sug
gestion that the powers of the commission
are only advisory? To whom and in rela-
ton TO what is their advioa RI