The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1886-11-17
President Clark's Pam phlet.

NA<at = VI the 1AiiuDl5 central railroad
Company, for copy of his pamphlet,
Railroad Supervision Law in Mississip-
pi-Is it Useful or Detrimental to the
People of the State?'
We give the views of the distinguished |
gentleman a place in our columns,
because anything that he may choose to
say on any question Of public interest is
entitled to consideration. 1t should be
borne in mind, however, that there is
much ground for the belief that the |
welfare Of the people is not best con
served or promoted, by being subject
to the control of immense moneyed |
corporations and monopoIies; from
which it would follow that the views of
a successful President of such a corpo- |
ration, could not be too carefully |
considered by the public to which they
are addressed.
President Clark has not added much |
to the discussion Of the question Of rail
road supervision. The views ex-
pressed, though put in the form
Of axioms, are rather dogmatic than
automatic. The necessity for a law of
some kind regulating railroads has been
felt by the people of all the States in
the Union, and twentysix States have
enacted statutes on the subject, all of
which are in direct conflict with the
opinion, advanced by President Clark,
that there is ''no necessity in Mississippi
for such law" True, the State wants
more railroads, and the people are will
ing to aid in their construction; but
they want railroads that shall be subject
TO the law of railroads, just as they
want other enterprises that shall be
subject to the law of their being.
If the existing law prevents the devel-
opment of the State" because Capitalists
will not invest their money in the build
ing Of railroads to be controlled and SUI
pervised by politicians" why is it that
in New York and Pennsylvania, States
in which the power is reserved to the
people to alter, revoke or annul the
charter Of any railroad company, and
thereby wipe tout of existence, there is
such a network Of railroads as can
scarcely be hoped for in Mississippi for
the next half century? The Illinois
Central Railroad Company is itself sub
ject TO regulation in the State of its
domicile, and under its charter grants
may not retain Of its earnings more than
a certain per cent, the State of Illinois
being entitled to the excess.
Much that President Clark says about
the right Of railroad corporations to
earn fair profit on their investments,
proceeds from total misconception of
the requirements of the Supervision
Law. TO illustrate:
The Vicksburg and Meridian Railroad
properly is in the hands of receiver
appointed by Judge Hill. The receiver
reported to Judge Hill that the rate es-
tablished by the Commission will not
allow the road to earn enough to pay OPP
Grating expenses. Thereupon Judge
Hill ordered the receiver to disregard
the rates fixed by the Commission, not
because he believed the law invalid and
without binding force on the courts, but
because according 20 his view of the
meaning of the law, whichJ is undoubt-
eddy correct, the road was authorized to
earn a fair profit. In other words, on
the facts stated by the receiver, Judge
Hill found that the Commission was
violating the law, by fixing a seized.
ule of rates which would eventually
result in the consumption of the corpus
of the railroad property as well as its in
come. The statement of facts on which
Judge Hill acted was ca parte and
may appear to be without foundation in
an issue joined between the receiver and
the Commission.
1t may also be observed that the sug
gestiOns of President Clark, though
having reference to interstate commerce,
are equally applicable to interstate com
merce. These suggestions, for they are
not new, nave not hitherto been received
with much favor by American legislative
bodies. In fact large majority of the
members of both Houses of Congress.
supposed to be the best representatives
of the best thought on all public ques-
tions, are unalterably committed to
railroad regulation Of some kind. There
is diversity of opinion as to the means
70 be employed to correct the evils and
abuses of railroad management, but
there is great unanimity of opinion on
the general proposition that there are
evils and abuses which demand the cor.
recting hand of the law. President
Clark will say, perhaps, that the United
States Senators and Representatives to
whom we refer are political dema-
gogues" and that they are "actuated by
spirit of communism" We cannot
yield our assent to view of the subject
so gloomy and peculiar.
'The clamor in favor of controlling
the property of others" is not "gisited
upon railroads because they are species
of property that cannot be moved
beyond the reach of demagogues and
communists" but because railroads by
the law of their existence have always
been subject to regulation by the people,
though they may not always have been
subjected to regulation. The right to
build railroad and take tolls is fran
chise and belongs to the State, and is
parted With by the State on conditions
which place railroad corporations on a
footing essentially different from that
occupied by merchants, farmers, doc
tors, bankers, printers, BARRIERS, me-
chanics and laborers.' This is an
important distinction well settled and
understood both in this country and in
England, and cannot be disregarded in
any impartial discussion of the question
of railroad supervision.
LIVELY times are expected when the
Indiana Legislature meets. The Repub-
licans viii control the House and the