Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1885-09-19
GEoRGIA RAILROAD COMMISSION.
Pronounced Failure and slaughtered In
tue Home OF its Original Friends.
Atlanta Constitution.

Atlanta constitution.
i The proposed legislation on the rail
road commission has stirred up th'
newspapers in the state, and these or
gans OF public opinion are PRACTICAL,
unanimous in their views. Indeed
we cannot now recall an Instance
where they have been more nearly
unanimous i'll their opinions. Amos
without exception $50 lar us their com
ments have fallen under our obserya
tion) they believe there ought to bt
some modification of the powers of the
commission.
Ine mass OF people. as we will show
are In favor OF this conservative legis-
lation. Theya are driven TO this view
on account OF the condition of affairs
in Georgia. No man inside the state
is willing tG subscribe a dollar TO
build railroad, and foreign capital is
unwilling to invest money in railroad
property here, because its owners
know that they can get twice the rate
ON money invested in South Carolina,
Florida, Tennessee and North Carolina
We are not in favor Of aboishing
the commission, but we are in favor OF
amodilication of its powers. We have
not the slightest doubt that these pow
ers have already been the means of
injuring railroad property in Georgia
to some extent, and they constitute n
menace to those who would otherwise
invest money IN new lines.
We have sustained the commission
and propose still 10 sustain it within
the limits suggested and set up by ex-
perience. The position OF the Con-
stltutlon from the first has been that
the law under which the commission
was established should be given full
and fair trial Hundreds OF times we
have alluded to it in these columns as
an experiment, and we have insisted
that The experiment should be free
from any difficulty or embarrassment
that the railroads might seek to throw
IN the way. We have been in favor of
law that would keep the scales OF
justice equally balanced between the
people and the railroads---,l law that
would result in finding and upholding
the equities of the case.
The experiment has been tried-ful-
ly tried and those who have watched
1T with impartial eyes are compelled
TO admit that the powers given To the
no matter how Cautious
ly or judiciouSly they are exercised,
are too large. There is absolutely no
check on the powers of the commits
lson, except the discretion Of the board |
itself, and the failure 10 exercise this |
at the proper time might be
the means OF impairing the railroads |
OF the state TO the extent of hundreds |
of thousands of dollars. We need not |
say that the railroad policy of the state |
does not contemplate such result us
this. Indeed, we may go further than /
this and say that the railroad policy of |
the state does not contemplate con-
dition of things that could, by any
possibility, lead to such result.
1t is settled beyond dispute that the
state has the right TO CONTROL the rail
road corporations i'll so far as such
control Is necessary to the protection
Of the people; but it never has been
md never will be settled that the state
has the right TO injure or to even
threaten the rights of the railroads.
On more than one occasion the board |
Of commission has alluded TO its large
power, and the members thereof are
On record as suggesting such niodifica-
lion OF the law us will give the roads
,he right of appeal,
First and last there has been good
ieal said about the railroad policy of
he state. That policy may be summed
Up III word-there shall be no unjust
determinations against individuals or
on the part of the rail
way corporations. This is what the
organic law eontemplates and all that
I contemplates. This is what was in
ended by the legislature that gave
orce and effect To the mandate Of the
and all that was intended.
rhe individual, as well as communi-
les, can be amply protected by the
under the operations OF
aw that will neither prevent The con-
OF new lines nor threaten
he prosperity oil those that are already
n operation.
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