St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-08-01
LIVE AND LET LIVE.

Of Iowa, who was on the stand the other
day giving testimony in the railway
cases on trial at Des Moines, told the
story of an Iowa miller who was COM
PEELED to discontinue business and move
out of the state on account of the dis
elimination against him by the railroad
companies. When the poor fellow went
TO the office of the railroad company to
lay his grievance before them, and told
Them that he couldn't earn living
From his mill and pay the freight rates
they were charging him, he was re-
buffed with the curt reply that she
didn't have to live"
The incident serves to illustrate the
spirit which too frequently governs rail-
road management in this country and is
the real secret of the trouble which exists
between these corporations and the peo-
pie. The corporations are controlled
by the false idea that no one has to live
but themselves-an idea that generates
from that SeltishneSS whichis almost in
Variably the accompaniment of aggre-
gated capital. If the principle to live
and let live were more generally acted
upon, there would be less antagonism
between them and the public. 1t is the
disregard of this principle that has
probably driven the people of Iowa into
adopting the extreme legislation which
characterizes the government of rail-
ways in that state, and which the rail-
roads are now fighting so bitterly. The
enunciation and practice of the doctrine
which the railroad company proclaimed
to the Iowa miller is what has created
the universal revolt against railroad OPP
preston, and the possibilities are that
the people of the state will now occupy
the other extreme end of the PROPOSE
lion, and hold that the railroads have
no right to live. If it is to become a
question of extinction, the masses will
naturally take the view Of it that they
are the ones to live and the railroads
. are the ones to die.
But there is no necessity for the con-
test assuming this shape. This world
is big enough for everybody to live in
1t. More than that, everybody has a
right to live in it, and he who denies that
right or in any way obstructs the prin-
ciple upon which it is founded is an ell
envy to mankind. There was a place in
Iowa for the poor miller just as much as
there was for the railroad company who
denied his right to live. Both were en-
titled to equal opportunities and to equal
privileges. The railroad managers were
wrong when they said he didn't have to
live. lie did have to live, and it was the
duty of the state of Iowa to see that he
did live. The useful services of every
10 +l,o
est, is demanded by the state, and con-
sequently it becomes the duty of the
state to secure those services.
1t was equally essential that the rail-
road company should live, for Its serv-
ices could be utilized for the public
benefit. Hence it became the duty of
the state, in protecting The miller in his
right to live, to also protect the railroad
company in its right to live. If an indi-
yldual citizen should be seized with the
idea that a railroad company didn't
have to live, and should proceed to carry
that idea into effect by putting dyna-
mite under the company's property and
destroying it, the state would soon adj
Just hempen collar around that indi-
vidual's neck as a fit punishment for
the crime. Why, then, shouldn't the
rule work both ways? If the railroad
company were seized with the insane idea
that the individual citizen didn't have
the right to live, and proceed to carry
That idea into effect by destroying his
business and reducing the man to pov-
erty. why shouldn't the state be on
hand, as in the other case, to mete out
The extreme penalties Of the law?
If our railroad managers would only
adjust the railroad business of the coun-
try to the principle as above stated-of
earning living for themselves and at
the same time giving everybody else the
same chance-all this antagoDism would
be swept away. What the people of
this country want is to have the rail
road business done Oh the cooperative
plan-that is, to let the railroads have a
fair share OF the profits and to give the
public reasonable proportion. A rail
way company that cannot afford to oper-
ate its road on this Just principle has no
right to an existence.
Coming nearer home, we have forci-
BILE Illustration of the selfish tendency
of railroad management in the course
pursued by the union depot company
of this city in regard to those depot
sheds. Here are 100000 people de-
manding an accommodation which the
depot company contracted to furnish
and yet the public will is utterly disre-
garded by the union depot management.
and without the shadow of an excuse
The union depot management are yir-
tually saying to the 100000 people OF
this city, ''You don't have to live" II
is great mistake they are making. We
dc have to live: and what is more. We
are going to live. If anybody has tc
die, it is somebody else.
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