The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1884-06-04

iy ment Of the bill, in question, an
th party aggrieved by any unjust {
O. illegal discrimination on the part
re railroads, had clear remedy befcr
m the courts. The charters of NEST
t, not of all the roads in this Stat
Ie prescribed maximum rate beyont
n which the roads could not go, AM
70 as is well known for many year
@ few if any of the roads have charg
It ed rates as high as permitted by
their charters. The more prosper,
Gus the roads, the lower their rates
of transportation of freight and Of
. travel, and the less they are hams
pered and fettered by severe legis-
!. latlve enactment, the more prospera
Gus they will be. The general SUI
pervision given the commissioners
over the roads and their manage
ment is arbitrary, despotic, and un-
reasonable. They are empowered
to order repairs, additions to rolling
stock, changes of stations and sta
tion-heuses, rates of fare. In COM
pelling the disclosure of the business
transactions of the companies, etc.,
etc. Suppose the commissioners
should order that Morristown or
Newport be closed as regular sta
! tions of the road? Who would be
the greater sufferers L? The roads
or the communities a? The answer
Is easy. Now if this bill be what
its advocates claim for it, benefcent
in It's operations, what induced the
Legislature to except from its pro-
visions for 10 years, all roads in the
State In process of construction, or
that may hereafter be constructed? |
Upon the completion Of any road |
now in process of construction we
will have the anomaly in this State
OF all the old roads, running and OPP
Grated and governed under the pro
visions of the Commission Bill, and
the new roads operating indepen-
dent of its previsions-such a law
is not general law. Its gross in
justice is made manifest in this, that
it controls capital invested in rail
roads long before the bill was enact
ed, or thought of, and protects cap.
ital invested after its passage by an
exemption of ten years from it's pro-
visions.
Joseph Nimmo, jr., of the .. S.
Bureau Of Statistics for 1879, in
speaking of legislation similar to the
bill in question says: "Experience
"has proved that certain restrictive
measures adopted few years ago
"by some of the Western States,
"were in their practical workings
"detrlmentaL to the producing and
commercial interests of the country,
"and at the same time injurious to
"the railroad interests"
The origin of this character of
legislation was the British act of
1854. Ger the better regulation of
railways and canal traffic )" but that
act merely provided that railroad
and canal companies should extend
facilities for receiving and forward I
ing freight and passengers without
improper discrimination but not de-
nying the right of the carrier to !
make such conditions, subject to the +
decisions of the courts, as to their 7
Justice and reasonableness. This I
act was followed by the act of Par
lament of 1873, but even if these ,
acts are in successful operation
here, where Parliament is omnip-
,tent, must not lead to the supposi-
ion that such measures can be sue
inaugurated in this ceun-
ry, since many European national :,
measures would be imperative un- =
Ter our institutions. The "Grange
,raze" ef a few years past, had I
much to do with the severe repres- .
i've measures OF the Western Leg
slatures, and in crippling the rail : :,
ead interests, the State must nee :
ssarily cripple its own interests. :
Whatever remedy for the railroad :,
wills, if such exist, all thinking men a
will admit must come from the rail u
Dads themselves. Severe legisla- h
ion, although it may, for the mo- h
nent, crafty popular feeling, is not a,
he remedy. State legislation, even ..
successful, must stop at the con- "
mes of the State-beyend the bord- .,
RS of each State the hand of the
legislator is powerless. Federal leg .,
Station cannot contrel it. Within :,
be States they are sovereign. No h
federal statute can fix the rates !.
rom one point within State to an :,
ther within its limits Its hand is n
ewerless as to local rates. No legs :
station has ever been attempted on A,
his subject, except what is known q
s the Reagan "Anti- Freight Dis b
Bill" and this bill, it is :,
Omitted, is impractieable. The J.,
urden of it's reformatory feature is =
0 prevent unfair discrimination, !.
nd as has been well said, Nothing "
is mere patent than that the trunk !,