Morris tribune., 1886-05-26


for hauling freighta shorter
tnan for a much longer distance. Still
more unreasonable is it TO charge Il
greater sum for II shorter than Il long
er distance. When the shortest route
to market requires the use OF the
tracks of more than. one company the
charge over all lines should not be
greater than for an equal distance on
one line, except the additional reason
able cost of transferring from one road
to another. Car load lots ought to be
transferred without unloading from
the car in which the shipment was
first made.
To require the produce of farm
when once under the control of n
railroad corporation to seek distant
markets, or by long and circuitous
routes to seek q near market, when
by simply transferring to another line
the diatance and expense might be-
greatly lessened, Is to levy an unjust
burden upon the agriculture of the
state by the exercise of an arbitrary
power that cannot be justified.
It is an unjust tax upon the producer
to require the unloading and reship-
ment of grain and other freights
merely to add to the business of a city,
and can be defended only upon the
ground that the country exists for the
convenience of the city, having no
rights of its own, and that the city is
itself the state. Though rebates are
unlawful, there is reason to believe
that they are of daily occurrence, and
imply discrimination in favor of the
shipper getting rebate at the ex-
pense of those who pay the regular
rates.
By ingenious manipulation of rates,
rebates and classifying of freight,
made to fit long or short hauls, the
natural growth of trade between diff
ferent sections of the state is proven
ted, the small towns kept in subsection
and business concentrated at such
points AS shall make it for the interest
of railway corporations to foster a
monopoly of power, to extract from
the people "all that the traffic will
hear"
It is by such devices that COM
petition between places is prevented,
small dealers driven out, business con-
centrated in the hands of q few, the
rich made richer, and the people
placed in the power Of unscrupulous
combinations, which destroy legiti-
mate business while fattening upon
the spoils of labor. The keystone to
this arch of confederate abuses is the
assumption that railway property is
like other property-private property
with no responsibilities except that
which pertains to her private property
and that over it the public has nc
control; OF even if it had control that
it would be unwise to exercise it, be-
cause the management Of railway
affairs is of so delicate and compiled
ted nature that any attempt to con.
troll them would result in a greater
inconvenience to the public than to
leave the corporations unrestricted.
To assume that the control of railways
is not within the authority of the
state, is to say that the state has
created a power greater than itself.
To assume that the regulation of the
traffic of railways is of so intricate a
nature that only railway managers
can comprehend it, is to say that to
the few men who operate and control
railways has been confided a capacity
for wisdom and integrity so superior
that nowhere else in the. state can
equal wisdom and integrity be found
It is an assumption that men direct
| ly interested in increasing the
revenues of the corporations ovel
which they preside shall have the
arbitrary power of taxing the people
without their consent and that the
men who levy the taxes shall be re-
sponsible to no authority whatever
What despotism ever demanded
more?
We are not hostile to railway cor
porations. They are a necessity to
our civilization, and whether fol
good or for evil, must remain. AS
long as they are restricted to the
legitimate purposes for which they
have been authorized, we will defend
them from all unjust assaults as we
would defend our property. But they
are creatures of the law, and by law
must be controlled. 1t is of vital inn
portance to the public welfare, and
even to public liberty, that these
vast aggregations of power be SO
regulated as to give the humblest
citizen equal rights with the most
powerful. There must be the freest
communication between the different
DWCL1OhO vi iAC DUttOO Ny bhO
railway line. Traffic must be as free
to flow through the centers of business
as to flow into them; no place has a
right to insist upon breaking bulk in
order to take tribute: it is absolutely
essential to the best development of
the state that no city, however po-
pulous, be granted on these tracks
greater privileges than the smallest
hamlet.
We demand that the principles
herein set forth, where not already en-
braced in the statutes, be enacted in
to law and enforced by penalties that
shall make the law effective. We de-
mand that those whose duty 1t is to
execute the law, shall see to it that
the law is neither evaded,. ignored or
defied.n