Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1884-10-11
OUR REASONS.

iatA g. OUR REASONS.
THE CHRONICLE is always able to
show cause for the faith that is in ii
and has abundant reason for its oppO-
sition to a railroad commission in
Tennessee.
In the first place, a mandatory COM
mission would never be sustained by
the courts. and an advisory commits
sion would be nothing more than
scheme to create more offices and
more taxes to support them. ,..
No commission is needed in Ten
nessee. We have had railroads for
more than thirty years without any
commission and the scheme was only
thought of when the professional poll
ticians wanted more offices. The rail-
roads are not extorting from and rob-
bing the people as charged by the
demagogues. Their charges are lighter
now than ever before and from one
half to three-fourths less than their
charters allow them. Within the last
few years passenger fare has been re-
duced to 8 cents per mile, and the
roads show disposition to accommo-
date the people by giving reduced
rates to parties attending political con-
ventions, church assemblies, agricultu-
raj fairs, and, in fact all public gath
erings.
It takes the finest financial ability
and business capacity to manage rail-
roads and a commission would subject
a large amount of important property
to the control of office hunt
ing politicians, changed every two
years by the doubtful methods of pop
ular election.
1t will disable trunk lines of rail-
road passing through Tennessee in
their competition with other lines out
of the state and thus work to the det-
riment of Tennessee towns and the
State generally. To illustrate: Hunt
ingdon controls a system that now ex-
tends from New Port News on Chesa-
peake Bay to the Pacific coast. His
lines pass through Tennessee, and |
Memphis is the point where they con-
verge. Jay Gould controls a system
that includes several lines running
South and West from st. Louis, and
which compete with Huntington's |
roads for the carrying trade of Texas,
Mexico and California 1t can be
readily seen that if Tennessee cripples
the Huntington system with a com
mission it will work to the detriment
of Memphis in favor of ST. Louis. An
injury to Memphis win be an injury
TO the whole of West Tennessee, and
to some extent, to the entire State.
This argument will apply to all the
important roads in Tennessee which
have the greater portion of their lines
out of the State.
A railroad commission could regu-
late nothing but local freights and that
is too small matter to pay the ex-
pense of such an institution. All the
staple products Of the State are ship
ped miles beyond its borders and the
goods brought here in return come
from equally as great distance. Mr..
John ]. Vertrees urges against the
Louisville and Nashville road, which
he styles "the Dagon among these
Philistines," that its charges are higher
from Gallatin to Louisville than from
Nashville to Louisville. How would
commission with no control over
freights beyond the Tennessee line
remedy this evil if it be one? The
truth probably is that Nashville has
cheaper rates than Gallatin because it
is 90 much larger shipping point. ,
The proportionate shipping between
the two points and Louisville is as
thousand TO one.
The railroads are not growing rich.
No Tennessee railroad pays dividend
of 6 per cent on its stock, not even s
The Dagon among these Philistines.' {
The majority pay no dividend at all I
1t follows that il they are turned over =
TO the tender mercies of Savage & Co.
they will be bankrupted. Z
A commission will, from its very /;
nature, prevent the building of more
and Tennessee needs great
many new roads for the development
Of her mineral agricultural and COM :
mercial resources. No capitalist will .
invest money in enterprises they can !,
not control and whose management A
must be changed every two years and =
effected by the vacillations of politics. |;
We publish on the first page of this a
PAPER an extract from the Memphis 81
Avalanche giving letter from capi- Y
alist who contemplates building q
ong line of road through the State in !
addition to that he already owns. His
positive affirmation that he viii not
invest money in an enterprise to be q
controlled by a commission is conciu- n
i've Of what we have above stated. il
IIore evidence on this point is found p
n the following: We submit for con- a
liberation the number of miles of rail- o.
cad constructed in six States in little X