Morris tribune., 1886-11-10

manufacturing are private enterprises,
how is it that they have the right to
come upon private land, and compel
its owner to part with it, at a price
which may he fixed without his con-
sent? There is only one thing that
will sanction such an invasion OF
private rights, and that is the public
good. The manufacturer can compel
no one to sell him land; the farmer
cannot compel his neighbor to sell
him his farm or give him a roadway
through his fields. The very moment
any one attempts to appropriate the
property of another for private gain,
the law will take hold of him. But a
railroad corporation sends its engineer
to farmer who is informed that he
wants the right of way through his
farm. The faImer says he has no
land to sell and will not sell foot.
The engineer laughs at him, for he
knows that he must seIlit; and will
ing or unwilling, with or without
great damage, that road will go
through that farm. 1t is foolish in
the presence of such an acknowledged
fact to place the railroad upon the
same footing as private enterprise.
It is a public institution managed by
private individuals, as the penny post
used to be managed in some of our
cities. The men who put their money
into railroads are not led into the in
vestment by any false representations.
They know very we'll that they are
investing in All enterprise that is of
public character, and that the gov
eminent can and ought to exercise
control over it. These men have no
right to come forward and whine
about attacks upon their capital. No
attack-if they choose to use that term
has been made upon them or their
capital that it was not the right of the
people to make. The Supreme Court
of the United States has said that. To
complain CT "attacks" which the
people have the right to make, is in
the direct line of railroad manage
ment, for it is nothing more or less
than denial of other peoples rights.
If the terms ola contract are complied
with, neither party to contract has
any reason to complain. If the bond
calls for the poand of flesh, the fellow
who has deliberately signed the bond,
has no business to whimper and cry
out injustice when the other fellow
begins to whet his butcher knife.
There are certain things that a con-
tractor with the government must
agree to. for they belong to the
sovereignty of government. They
are part of the contract before any
contract Is formulated, and it must be
expected that they will be found in il
when the contract is completed. Take
the penny post again as an example
It was the right of the government to
make post roads of all highways. 1t
was the government right to supervise
the gathering up of the mail by the
private parties who owned the penny
post. The government did the latter
all the time the penny post was in eX-
istence aud when it got ready to do
this business itself it simply exercised
its right and forbade the penny post
to longer do it. No doubt the pro-
prietOrs of these private post lines
were compelled to sacrifice some
money when they were driven out of
the business. But they had no right
to complain. They knew what the
rights of the government were before
they entered upon the enterprise and
they were not compelled to go into it.
So with those who have invested
money in railroads. They knew that
the government had the right to regu-
late them, and they knew that it
could not divest itself of that right if
1t wanted to. Che right is part OF
ltseII. Ihey knew that the govern
ment had the right to take the roads
If it desired to do SO, and that the on
ly claim they could make upon the
government would be for the money
that they had invested. They went
into this thing with their eyes wide
open. Why should they compla Il
now that the people simply demand
the enforcement of right which
every intelligent man knows that
the government has and has ALWAYS
had? The people are not disposed tc
deal unfairly with the roads, although
they have had great provocation to dc
so. The roads haye been for years
dealing unfairly with the people. AL
the public asks is that the roads be
compelled to doa live and let live