Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-03-01
RAILROAD MAGNATES.
Senators Who Act Friendly Toward 40
nopOIistic C0ruOratfons.

btOHS, says a aSningJOn leLgef 10 Inc
Philadelphia Record. An analysis of the
causes Obstructing legislation designed
to correct the evils of the railway system
Of the country or to compel the payment
OF what is due the government from the
subsidized railways OF the West reduces
them all to variations of one great cause,
and that is the opposition Of majority of
the Senate. Mind, do not say the ma
jOrity of the Senate, whether Republican
or Democratic, but majority. Monop-
Olies have no politics. Their representa-
tives and friends in Congress sink below
politics. l do not mean to be understood
as saying that the representatives Of
railway corporation in the lobby bride
majority Of the Senate at any time to be
its representatives on the floor. But l
simply state the fact, which every body
at all familiar with the work Of Congress
knows TO be well understood at the capt.
tai, that across the path of every man
Who tries to bring the artificial persons
( Of the country to a legal level with the
natural persons, making the same rules
/ OF justice and equity applicable to both
class es, stands the Senate of the United
states by the VIII of a greater or lesser
majority. Why is this? 1t is because,
in the first place, SO many members of the
Senate are personally interested ia the
! railway corporations at which legislation
is directed. | can name twenty Senators
who have such an interest III some rail-
way or other, or in whom some railway OF
other has such an interest, that they can
usually be counted upon as certain to
vote against any important measure
which would place the railway corpora
tions en- basis OF equality with other
persons before the law. Then there are
others, against whose characters no word
OF condemnation has over been uttered,
whose conduct in dealing with the rail-
way problem is, to say the last, most
peculiar. They seem TO examine IL with
the clear eyes of judicial fairness, but,
somehow or other, whatever the partic-
ular question may be they always decide
1t in favor OF the railway corporations
and against the people. They seem to
have a constitutional bias in that direc-
ton. They bend the constitution Of the
country and the conscience of the Senate
to it. Then there are some very technical
lawyers who worship precedents as the
savage his fetiches. ''Stare decisis" will
be found engraven On their hearts when
they die. Inasmuch as the railways
nave Oitentimes so many more precedents
than the representatives Of the people,
who are trying to establish a precedent of
this class will usually be found on the
side OF the railways. There is, of course,
small but emiHently respectable class
of Senators, headed by Thomas Francis
Bayard, OF Delaware, who are not int flu
enCed in favor Of the railway by any of
these considerations. But they are gem
orally KEPT in the minority. Running
down the list, let us look at some OF the
railway" Senators. There is Edmunds,
OF Vermont, presiding over the Senate,
growing very bald as to his head and
very white rs to his hair and beard. He
wears a Dlack skulLcap nowadays. he
is by no means consistent supporter of
the railways. But as general counsel for
the Central Railroad, OF Vermont, at once
the greatest corporation and the strongest
political ring in the State, his sym athies
are generally with the railways. He sees
the strong points in a railways case very
quickly. Still, he deserves great credit
for some good speeches and some good
votes on this subject There is Allison,
OF Iowa, a suaye, sweet-tempered, schOl-
arly man, who rather leans toward the
railways, especially those III his own
State, dearly as he loves the people. His
colleague, James +. Wilson, is "a famous
railroad lawyer. VINO has represented the
great Western railways here at odd times
when not in Congress. 1t is not strange
that long experience as railway lawyer
should have made him a railway advO-
cate. Wilson's stout, sturdy figure
(his brown hair turning white
at the ends and standing
straight up on the top Of his big head)
has been familiar here Tor years. He has
come to be known as one Of the friends of
the railways. Bowen, Of Colorado, came
here with that reputation, and has done
nothing SO far to alter it. He is the friend
not only Of the railways generally but of
the railway men OF Colorado particularly,
and is counted on very confidently when
ever they get in a tight place. Bowen is
shabby-lOOking citizen with keen
face, whose sharp outlines are being
gradually duiled by the life he leads.
DOIph, of Oregon, is one Of the two or
three handsome men of the Senate. A
tall, broad man, with a fine classic head,
gray-haired and well-tinished, with long,
flowing silvery beard. He is rich law
yer, and a man who knows a good thing
when be sees it. he knows all about the
railways of the Northwest Now Brown,
of Georgia, knows all about the railways
of the Southeast. He is the saintly-lOOk
ing sinner, with the tlOssy white berad
and the full white face, with its gold
specialized, unsearchable eyes. lie IS
President OF the Western and Atlantic
Railroad Company. de IS just BACK
from a ten-day trip to Atlanta ON railway
atOrs from West Virginia. are railway
men eX-OtliciO. The Senators from West
Virginia always are. Camden is better
known as a Standard Oil Company man.
Eugene Hale is n railway Senator by
virtue Of the investments OF his father-ln-
law, the late Zach Chandler, OF Michigan.
Palmer, of Michigan, like all the rich
Republicans of that State, has two or
three RAILWAYS on his hands. Plumb, OF
Kansas, is a friend of Jay Gould, and is
always found fighting under the banner
of the railway barOns. Sawyer (tellcI-
tOus name J, the Wisconsin lumber map,
loves a railway corporation almost as
much as he does q thOusand-acre tract
of "piEe lands" Miller, of California,
the fur seal mOnOpOlist, looks kindly on
the suffering railways. Sewell, OF New
Jersey, is we'll known as railway law
yer. Malone has q record as railway
wrecker only equaled by his record as
political wrecker. And so | might go
on; but L have said enough, l think, to
show you that the railways have friends
at court. Please remember that l charge
none of these men with anything more
than a friendly interest in almost every
railway corporation brought before the
bar of public justice.
Sometimes the only power which the
Senate respects-that of the press-cOm-
pels even its unwilling majority to do the
right thing even in the case Of a railway
corporation. For example, take the for
feiture of the Texas Pacific lana grant
now owned by the Southern Pacific Rail
way Company. The bill went through
the House last session; "but,' said Hunt
ingtOn's lobbyists, "we'll block it in the
Senate" They always say that. Last
week Trey thought they had blocked 1t,
for thew had il laid aside in the Senate.
But the newspapers took the matter up,
and Van Wyck, one OF the most useful, if
be is one of the queerest and oldest mem
bers of the Senate, impressed upon the
Senators what the papers said about it,
read them some choice extracts from
HuntingtOn's famous "wild-hog" CORE
spOndence, and insisted upon immediate
action Before the lobby could rally it's
forces he had forced the bill right
through. Only two men voted against it.
One was Blair, of guanO-Shipherd noto
riety; the other Bowen, OF Colorado.
us THAT YOU. HUBBY >"