The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1885-01-14
WHOLE NO. l74S.

& ECJO.fCl CO.
, In addition to this amount ID
; commission having the survey i
] charge has expended about s45O, ,00(
. making the total expenditure fo
. this work over sf.UCa000. Their
have been published % volumes, a
at average cost of about $4,000 pc
volume. OF each volume there hav
been printed from 2,000 to 5000 cor
les, making the cost of each boo
from three to five dollars. Th
work is still uncsmpleted, and addi
tional appropriations will probabl
be asked for the enterprise. Befor
any further money is spent upol
this undertaking, it seems to m
there should be some understand
ing arrived at as to when this enor
nous outlay viii cease, whether tn
value of the subject is eommensu
rate with Its cost, and whether tn
work so far paid for has been econ
omically done and the money Judi
ciobsly expended.
I The act Of 1874 providing for tn
survey should be carefully revised
by the Legislature, and Limitations
/ put upon the powers of the Com
missIoners to entail expense. The
salaries of the geoloeist and his as
sistants, and the form and charac
ter of the publications are now ex
elusively within the discretion of the
commission. This should be rene
died by provisions regulating te
some extent the cost to which thi;
undertaking can be carried Par.
tIcularly should the printing be
brought within some reasonable
limit. and a method devised for some
careful audit and supervision of tue
expense thereof. which at present,
seems to be without any responsible
check or control. The enormous
number of public documents printed
their great size, the unnecessary and
useless quantity ofmatter with which
they aro filled have long been a mat
ter of known extravaganza. The re-
peal of the present State printing
law is recommended. and the pas
sage of a new statute, with safe
guards thrown around the expendi-
lures in that department by specific
limitations, and a thorough system
of 1t1difs and accounfs
RAILROADS AND CANALS.
The Legislature should carry out
the provisions of the seventeenth
article of the constitution. The
wisdom of the provisions OF the arti-
Gle is not a question for the decision
of the legislature That was deter
mined when the people adopted the
constitution, which is the highest
and most sacred expression of their
will The wrongs of railroad dis
elimination and the free pass abuse
are as actual and glariug to day as
they were when the constitution was
adopted.
The people are az deeply in ear
nest in desiring the prevention and
punishment of these wrongs as they
ever were, and the justice and rea-
sonableness of the provisions of the
seventeenth article are more clear
and undoubted than they ever have
been. Recent investigations have
disclosed in single matter of the
coal carrying trade how widespread,
arbitrary, defiant, oppressive and
unjust to the people of the State have
been the determinations made by
railroad corporations.
What excuse can be made then
for the persistent and unlawful re-
fusal Of the Legislature to enforce
the constitution , Until the last ses-
sion there had not been even an at
tempt to give due effect to the law,
and the sincere effort then made By
some TO
BRING THE RAILROADS TOJUsTICE
was defeated by an abortive and
mecking statute that could scarcely
have been more favorable to the
corporations aud inimical TO the
people, had it been expressly in
tended TO defeat the enforcement of
the constitution. Under the pre-
tence of Furnishing discrimination,
it introduced descriptions and con-
ditions into the definition of the Of
tense that make it almost impossible
for any action to be brought under
the statute. Such conditions are
not contained IN the seventeenth ar
ticle OF the constitution, and the
Legislature has no right to interpo-
lat them in an act intended to carry
them into effect. Under the act. of
1888 discrimination, to be action
able, must be for a ike service, IN
der similar circumstances. uDoo like
conditions, and In transportation
from the same place; and, unless
all these conditions exist, no rene
dv or punishment is provided
How vain and mocking Is such an
aud how rarely, If ever,
could such identity Of facts exist as
to support this statute. The con
stitution requires no such likeness
and similarity in circumstances
kind OF service, conditions and
Of place, TO constitute dis
and to incorporate
these into the law Is worse than no
legislation at all, as it Is sort of
legislative construction of the con-
stitution that such conditions are
requisite. All that IS necessary to
be done to enforce the seventeenth
article Is to enact penalties for a Vi
olation of the provisions Of the
third. fourth, fifth. sixth. seventh
and eigth sections, and to require
publication by the roads of their
rates of freight, by posting or other
wise. The sections referred to are.
| believe, sufficiently explicit to
serve the purpose of statute; but
certainly any changes made in them
should not be Oy Incorporating into /
them conditions that rob them Of oil
their vitality. Let at least trial /
be made OF an enactment of the
clear letter of the constitution. and
provide adequate remedies for vi
olation thereof, that it may be as
certained whether the people are
able to enforce their supreme will