The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1886-04-15

Let us not forget the warnings of NJ.
tory The laborers who brought the kim
from Versailles to Paris never dreamed I.
harming him-they were only hunorr
and wanted his help. When the opssn s
was told they wanted bread, so little ala
she dream of danger, that she flippantls
answered, why don't they eat cakeSa
Yet in a few days her Swiss guard was
murdered, and her kings head was carried
through Paris on pike staff. That law,
less violence has history, and it shouId
instruct the laborer. First came ANARCHY
and then the fallacies of communists
dreams vanished before a man on horse.
back: for society, defending itself against
force purchased an army, and established
visible despot who protected it.
Utopian IDEAS about property exploded
in the furnace of revolution, and Napoleon
led the very men who cried Liberty
Equality! Fraternity" and had them
butchered from Moscow to the sands of
Egypt. Law must measure right, until it
is changed by peaceful methods, even if
law is wrong, or there is no safety for
man, or property. Europe sustains So
cial order and property rights on three
millions of bayonets in times of peace,
and typifies sovereignty with her kings
The true American obeys no ruler except
the written constitution and the
published laws, and our fields
in the south and west are owned and
worked by uncrowned sovereigns, who, in.
times of trouble, can, if they will, keep
both towns and transportation lines in
order.
REMEDIES FOR STRIKES AT FACTORIES sUG-
GEsTED.
But you tell me, and we agree, that re-
forms are needed, that they come slow,
that labor demands present remedy,
aud that seeing the powers of the gov
eminent used to enrich favored classes, it
distrusts all government remedies. So it
was once in France, but that people found
at last legal remedy. They created the
COUNSEL DIES prudhommes," or council of
proud men, commissioned by the state
through local authorities for manufacture
ing centres. 1t consists of two members,
one appointed by the state from the class
of capitalists, the other nominated by
wage workers. 1t sits daily as an equity
court of appeals from all disputes. When
a workman feels aggrieved he lodges a
complaint, and with no lawyers to help
the matter is examined. Eaca states his
own case, and the decision is nearly al
ways acquie G ID in. If it is not, the power
of the state enforces it. Labor, being
represented is content, and oppression by
either employer or employed is averted
by tribunal which protects each. This
remedy for strikes, oppression and terror
ism, is simple. and has accomplished
good in France for nearly a century
through all her changes in government.
Some such tribunal under state laws for
manufacturing centres iii manufacturing
states must be created, founded in Justice,
without the compulsory feature, and
when it is established, predict that skill
ed labor will be content
But new safeguards must also be pro-
vided to stop the centralizing force of
corporate power, and the only remedy is
to meet it with the resistant power of a
peoples government.
CONTROL OF RAILWAYS.
Railway corporations must be controll-
ed. They at least, being quasi public, are
proper objects of incorporation and of
state control. From the days of Lord
Holt until now, it has been the law, both
in England and America. that whenever
private property is affected with public
interest, it ceases, so far as that interest
is concerned, to be private property, and
becomes liable to be regulated with ref
erence to that public use to which the
owner has dedicated it. The capacity of
railways is boundless, and the very great
ness OF their possible benefits suggests
the necessity for guarding against mis-
direction of their forces. Congress should
take charge of the question of interstate
transportation under wise and Just regula-
tlons, and in connection with state com
missions govern and control it, Bis
marck ten years ago said that Germany
must own the railroads or they would own
the state but we are here yct hardly pre-
pared to make choice between the abso-
lu'e CONTAMINATION OF power, and the des-
Potism OF unrestrained monopolies
we IN Texas can secure protection by
control that will not Cypress these rail
way enterprises. Already our statute
books have many laws pretending to regu-
late and control, but the very laws de-
manded by your state constitution, and
necessary to enforce its provisions are
not there. | announce that the railway
companies of Texas, though representing
wealth, are absolutely in.
dependent of all laws to pun
lsh them for injuries inflicted
on person or property. The statement
may astonish you. Let me illustrate and
prove it: ''iiN
Inc statute allows railway company
70 charge fifty cents hundred miles for
hundred pounds of freight. Its CHARGES
on lumber and long hauls are always he.
low that rate. A thousand feet of green
lumber would weigh perhaps four tbous-
ana pounds. Now, the railways would he
allowed to charge for it's Transportation
twenty dollars for one hundred miles
but at that rate few could build bouses
lhelr charges on lumber and long hanls
u merchandise are far below that. Now
et Judgments for personal injuries for
afge amounts be rendered against
'omPany here in your courts, and what
would you do if you owned the railroad
mo thought the judgments oppressiveq
lou would readjust the rates of freight
this town, and in few months nav a.
by increased burthens ON tho
'eople. And that is just what railways
thus, my friends, we have nower
mong us which defies all punishment
rom the jury box, for verdicts arc xat;s