The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1885-02-13
NO RAILROAD COMMISSION.


1t is bIuited about the Capitol at Har-
risburg that Railroad Commission viii
be inteTpOsed by the Legislature be-
tween the delinquent railroad pa
MES of Pennsylvania and the spikes of
the State Constitution. This thing will
not do. Some years ago when Com
mission was proposed as a tribunal be-
fore which the public could take their
grievances, the railroad companies, in
the plentitude of their power in the
Legislature, rejected it with disdain.-
They would tolerate no prying Railroad
Commission meddling with their affairs.
But since ther there has been a great
change of the situation in several i'm
portant respects. The Independent
newspapers of Pennsylvania have accu
mulated iD riOtOus prOfusion the evil
dence of railroad determinations in
freight charges, and upon this evidence
they demand the enforcement of their
Constitution. In the same time the
railroad corporations Lave lost much of
their power with the Legislature, and
they now appeal for the Commission to
which they were formerly so hostile.
The Railroad Commission bill which
has Just passed the Senate of the United
h1NchlCo ANoto hBOil AuASC uIhCtNhb = SlONAlNAS
from those upon which it is proposed to
establish a Com omission in Pennsylvania.
Great as are the wrongs practiced by the
railroad corporations, they violate no
provisions of the Federal Constitution.
In legislating upon interstate commerce
Congress is seeking to apply its remedial
power in a new direction and upon a
new subject. But in Pennsylvania the
ground upon which remedial legislation
is sought is already covered by the State
Constitution. The legislation in re-
straint of the railroad corporations has
been accomplished by the highest power
in the State, the people themselves, in
adopting their new organic law in 1873.
Nothing remains but for their servants
In the Legislature to pass the necessary
enactments for carrying the provisions
of the Constitution into effect. No
room for difference of opinion in the
Legislature can exist on this subject
There stands the Constitution, and the
Legislature is bonnd to obey l.. IL is
the deepest TeprOach to the Common
wealth that provisions of the COnstltu-
tion as sacred as those by which the
Governor holds his office, or those un.
der which the Judges administer law in
the Courts, have been treated with the
utmost contempt by successive Legisla-
lures for ten years. But it is now pro-
posed in very mockeTy to set up Rail
road Commission to enable still another
Legislature to evade the performance of
its sworn duty.
If Railroad Com mission were estab-
lished in Pennsylvania, what end could
it serve but to create new branch of
the CircumlOcution Office, with a fresh
brood of Tite Barnacles I? In and
around Philadelphia are more than a
million people who have been subjected
for many years TO the most iniqaitous
Determinations in freigEts. Coal is
carried past their doors and laid down
in more distant localities for lower
rates. This is but one in the long bead
roll of wrongs done by the railroad com
panies TO this community and TO all the
rest of the people of Pennsylvania -
When the people demand enforcement
Of their Constitution shall they be
mOcked with a Railroad Commission q?
What could a Railroad Commission do
20 relieve the peOple of Philadelphia
from the notorious wrongs which they
suffer Why, eXpOstulaie with the
railroad companies, to be sure. But
who shall represent them ? The Cuun-
cis ? Alas, the City Councils would
receive no more favorable consideration
than the people themselves. Tie sever
al Trade Associations, Exchanges and
Boards Of Trade have treated the sub
ject of freight Determinations against
the business of Philadelphia with the
same philosophical unconcern with
which they may be supposed to regard
the commercial affairs of Russia.
The only power TO whom the people
have need to appeal against unjust dis.
ordinations in freights is the State
Legislature. Their only demand is
that theiI Constitution be enforced -
This is so reasonable and Just that it
should require no discussion. In the
present stage of the struggle for relief
from railroad determinations the scheme
OF Commission is suggested as a
means of enabling the Legislature TO es-
cape from the performance of a solemn
duty. But 1t comes too late. The ON
nlpotent power of the railroads upon the
Legislature of Pennsylvania is gone.
AT a Wink from the railroads a Commits
sion would have been established by the
Legislature years ago when it was first
proposed, aud they would have had no
trouble IN naming its members. But
not now. The issue in the Legislature
VIII be narrowed down to the plain
question whether the Constitution of
Pennsylvania shall be obeyed. On one
side or the other of this question the
members of the Legislature must then
be ranged. There is no half way house
OF refuge.-PbjIa. Record.