Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1886-09-03

freight shipped from any intermediate
point, either IS in Ignorance Of the bill,
the terms Of the bill, the spirit and the
| intention of IT, or else he is representing q
remote terminal and wants to transport
/ his own products TO the commercial CEN
/ ters Of this country at cut rates.
"lf il had been the intention of the franz
/ crs of this bill to deceive the Senate, they
would not have pnt these seven words IN
I il. Therefore, | must accord that they
were honest 10 degree, for they put IN
words that no man can misunderstood
+ ON may ship from any point south OF
/ Nirginia,-a terminal point-yon may land
+ yOnr cotton or other produce at seaport
As good ~ that Of which New York boasts,
and better, at any rate of freight that the
railroads may fix from that point. You
come to Lynchbnrg on one line OF road,
and they may fix even higher rate from
/ Lynchburg to Newport News, or to Nor
folk, than that fixed upon that which
started from the Original point OF depart
ure" south of Lynchburg.
AVON may take another line OF railroad
that passes through Virginia and North
/ Carolina and on south, and ship from there,
! and tho same discrimination may be made
/ against Danville, Richmond, and any 0th-
/ or intermediate point on that line OF ROAD.
You may start from Kentucky over the
! Chesapeake aud Ohio and bring freight
across the West Virginia line and land II
AT stanton, and there charge from Stann-
| ton on down 10 deep water higher rate
I on freight loaded there than that which
| The railroad company fixed upon the freight
which was shipped from the Original
! point of departure" in Kentucky. II this
| he not true, then ask any Senator on this
| floor to explain what these seven words
meant
~ repeat, it is legalizing the greatest evil
/ from which we have been suffering at the
| hands Of corporations. IL is legalizing in
| the great hereafter these determinations
/ against the producing people who live out
side OF few cities where non-prodnclne
/ 60 nmission merchants thrive and eleva-
tors make fortunes. IL is discriminating
against everybody who lives between
terminal points or original points Of de-
parturc"
"Why. sir, | will take the Valley of Vir.
/ ginia and 20 on through TO the Tennessee
/ line, and | can demonstrate, or illustrate
rather. Just exactly what the President OF
/ this body said when he spoke to this same
|
the producing people along that line OF
road more per hundred, more per car, for
what they carry even here into the city OF
Washington than they charge for the same
carriage of freight over the same line OF
railroad under the same management from
points three, four, five, six hundred miles
west Of the Ohio River. THIS bill says
they shall have n right to do it, gives them
the legal right to do it. The people who
have been clamOring for legislative pro-
lection against this outrage and wrong are
met here with bill that contains seven
words which say they may 20 on and do
what they have done, and We VIII legalize
it for all time to come.
"That il this bill What is the object OF
iti sl5 to bring the States removed from
here thousands Of miles nearer to deep
water. to the commercial centers, than
those that are geographically located right
around them Is not that the object J
Would you take one of the States or all
the States that fed the millions Of peo-
ple of this country before the new ones
were developed, till their soil has been ex-
hanstcd to n point where scarcely any
profit comes from its cultivation and bring
these in competition with those Of the
| older States that fed yOu when yOu were
babies. and put the latter where they can
not get to market with what they produce 7
That is what the seven words would do.
They would simply say that any product
from west Of the Ohio or Mississippi Rlv.
ers shonld be put into market at lower
rate of freight than any product that
might be- grown in State that is thou
sand miles nearer the market. That can
only be sustained on one ground, that
there shall be no legislation here save and
except in the interest of New York Harbor
and the people of few cities who live
three thousand or more miles from il.
"But. Mr. President, there is one section
Of this bill-if may call 1t a section, for
believe the sections are not numbered,
but 1t is on page &, beginning at line S}-
| that has peculiar significance Just now,
i'm view of the frequent allusions 20 the
law Of Massachusetts,. hear it rs section
=. That section changes the cnmmOn law
and the statute law Of nearly every State
in this Union, fixing the liability of COM
mon carriers Of freight. Arc You ready
for that Gentlemen should sympathizo
largely with their own constituents. Hero
YOU take away from the States the little
security they have provided for them.
selves meyer saw anything more adroit-
Is drawn than that section, and | never
wonld have noticed il but for the fact that
an eminent Senator here, my colleague,
called nv attention to IL not over half an
hour ago. Here 1t is set forth in terms
that where there are joint tariff contract
rates they may be published, or must be
publishcd BY the different corporations
| Ilar0 "A
no provision for lines connecting where
this Joint tariff contract is not entered IN.
to. suppose, then, you start on a railroad
at one point and yOn encounter another,
and then another before you reach the
harbor at which you want to unload your
freight. What control have yon over that
middle line of railroad which you make
no provision for in this section IL is free
from all binding obligations under this
that YOU call law regulating Interstate
commerce. If there were three lines OF
railroad from Memphis TO Norfolk, aud you
were 10 start n carload Of cotton trem
Memphis aud land it upon this middle line,
and then again npOn another, and there
were no contracts between them, who is to
say that either the middle line or that
which had its terminus mt Norfolk can not
charge what 1t shall please !
Then comes the Joint contract arranged
between the railroad organizations OF
which the country shall know nothing
and the commission shall DO as Ignorant
of. have heard il said not only on this
floor but in general talk that the railroad
men of this body want this bill to pass as
it's. am not surprised to hear It. II
there be a railroad man here say that |
do not know 1t, and when ] make the
statement only do it because have heard
these things said off this floor rs argu-
ments to influence vOtes-if there be
railroad mau here, or representative oil
| railroad interests, one who so far forgets
tho representative duties of one who rep.
resent, constituency and not railroad
ask him if he wants to vote against the
amendment of the Senator from West Vir-
ginia. / would be willing to risk the issue
on that if Senators who have made those
declarations and who have talked about
the question would Just take their position
on the amendment.
81 said that this changed the common
law and the statute law of the States.
sbould not expect an answer from either
| of the Senators from Massachusetts were
TO put what am going to say IN inter
rogativs form. say that section OF the
bill repeats the statute OF Massa.
chusetts regulating the responsibilities OF
railroad carriers practically and effectual'
~. For what this Congress proposes to
do now, it proposes to do in the exercise
of a constitutional right which is to over
ride the rights of the States in the control
and management of the corporations that
do business across their territory.
"Then there Is a law, common as well rs
statute. which makes common carriers the
insurers of freight and protects passengers
only whore there is wrongful act, neglect
or default, on the part Of the company or
some of its employees. You can hold them
responsible for injuries so done to every,
man and TO beast or to the products OF
the earth, they are held primo fdcid liable
and no testimony is taken in a court TO
prove more than that the property was de-
stroyed unless bv the act OF God aud the
public enemy. This bill gives corporations
au opportunity to ignore that law entire