The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1884-06-12
THE TENNESSEE COMMISSION
The COurier-JOurnal Protests
that the Worlds stand
ard of Democracy is
Wrong.
Cour ier- Journal, June 6.

- Coufler-JournaI, June 3.
q We regret that certain democra'
ic newspapers in Tennessee, wit
which upon all other topics th
Courier journal is and has been i
accord, are advocating in regard t
r one question a policy we are com
y y PEELED to believe lnjudiciOus AM
y dangerous.
70 They wish not only to introduce
> the question of railroad regulation
o into state politics, but to give it
s prominence and Importance which
: no other single issue shall have
Clamor for legislation which shal
permit extensive control and man
agement of the business and inter
ests of railroad corporations is tC
2 be made one of the cordial princi
pies of democracy-an indispensa
bic formula in the democratic con-
= fessiOn of falkland an advocacy
of railroad commission a test OF
: party fealty. We learn also with
unfeigned surprise that democratic
politicians in Tennessee, to whom
party leadership has, not unwiseiy,
been conceded, but from whose
good sense and experience we would
have expected other and more Judi
cious utterances, are urging in pub
lie speeches that the state conven-
tiOn which meets on the 18th inst,
in the platform to be then adopted,
commit the party to the contInu-
ance or re-enactment of just such
laws as the courts have recently de-
clared unconstitutional. So that q
democrat in Tennessee who desires
to maintain his connection with the
party organization and keep his re-
cord unspotted Of the World NAV be
req uired to approve, pro fornaa, a
policy which in his heart he knows
to be foolish and hazardous, and to
attempt Legislative experiments
which have already been judicious
! ly rebuked.
We have never believed this sort
of legislation to be necessary any
where or under any conditions at all
likely to exist in this country.
Laws enacted in a spirit of hos
tility to enterprises which are essen
tial to the proper and complete de-
velopment of commerce and the
vast and multiform interests which
it embraces, or restrictive of the
conduct of business, are, we honest
ly think, productive only of injury.
That regulation of some kind and
to 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
sustained damage by the acts of
railway corporations, and can com
plain of loss. or injury so inflicted
for which redress may be justly
claimed, should resort to the courts
for remedy. Their Jurisdiction is
ample; if their machinery be defec-
tive for the trial and determination
of the class of cases and complaints
wherein railroad commissions gare |
expected to afford relief let the
wisdom of legislatures be directed |
to such refor ms, meet and remove |
that difficulty. If we cannot trust |
the courts Of the country, then of a
surety we can repose confidence no
where; and if a special commission,
a triumvirate of visiting states
men," is to be the tribunal by which
the controversies arising out of bu-
siness transac tions of any kind are
to be adjusted, it would be better,
perhaps, to remain without a rem
edy.
Top,pI;oo+iopc ,,,r,4 -oroo+;,,oc |
occur, and some will occasionally
suffer grievances in all the affairs
of life. No business or vocation, or
system by which men deal, no mat
ter what the agencies, can be en-
tirely freed from inconvenience, or
be made to work perfect equity to
all parties at all times. Sometimes
and at some points the friction will
be painfully felt. :.
This must be the case in the i'm
mense business of transportation,
serving as it does such a multi {
tude and variety of interests. But
to submit this business alone to a
special and peculiar regulation
strikes us as unnecessary and i'm
polite, to put that regulation in
such shape that it must inevitably {
by harassing, inquisitOrial and OBJ
savors strongly of injus-
tice; to regulate by means ola com
mission composed of politicians, Sc
lected because of their ignorance Of
railroad questions and methods,
and to whose appointment it shall
be prerequisite that they have no
experience of the vast and difficult
business they are permitted to man
age-this is manifestly absurd.
Entertaining these views, we have
combatted the efforts which have
been made in Kentucky to estab-
lish managing railroad commits
sion, and, we believe, with some de-
gree of qualification, that the Cou-
rier-Journal has contributed to de-
feat such legislation in this state.
But it never entered the head of
any man in Kentucky to make
railroad regulation a party question
or political issue. The idea of
gauging q citizens democracy by
the amount of his distrust or dis
like of railroads or his inclination
to put legislative Instructions In
the way of their construction, has
never, we teel assured, occurred to
any inhabitant of even the remotest
kentucky precinct. We have never
had occasion, therefore, to protest
against such action here. But
feeling .for many reason, deep
and friendly interest in the people,
as well as the democracy of Ten
nessee, we cannot resist this most
earnest.appeal that no such thing be
done there which its bare sugges-
ton evokes.
The slightest reflection convinces
one that this is not properly par
ty question, and can scarcely be
callad political question. 1t Is
not q subject to be formulated in