Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-04-11

but that does not affect the commerce confined
to the several states, over which Congress has
no Jurisdiction. l cay to you, as citizen OF
Texas, that there should be bi passed by the
Legislature of Texas erecting an authority TO
stsud between the people of Texas and the shso-
lutism of railroads ss now organized into power
which suangl and defies competition. h'pe
to zee the LEGISLATURE pass such q law. Such o
law ought 10 be pissed. sucn law is in force
In Nev York, in Massachusetts,, In Mississippi,
in Georgia; two-thirds CT the states of
this country nave laSs creating rail-
road com nissions to stand between
the people and the railroads and see to 1t that
exoTbltant csarges are not exacted from tn m.
All these stats have nEyi-sb!e streams, which
are admitted to be the great regulators Of rail
road traffic because they give competition that
cannot be pooled-pooled out of exi, tence; bat
Texas has no river navigation. 1 It has been
found wise to institute railroad commissions
IN the states 1 have named, for still better
reasons Texas ought to have 8 railroad com
| mission to protect our people frHm railroad
combinations. would make no war upon the
railroads. Far from Il. We are lo1g way be
y nd the time for OK carts. We could lot raise
the animals that woul5 be necessary to trans
| port our produc 8. They Houlf eat them all up.
We are comp alled to have raiiroRds. wou'd
invite the investment of rairoa7 capital in this
conservatism, the Intelligent and the beat
judgment OF the men who build our cities, who
own our farms and who till our fields, who
create the commerce OF this country. hall be
| invoked to the settlement OF this great q es-
| ton The railroad agitation will continue, and
l tell you 1t ought to continue until there has
| teen taUlishe q tribunal which viii stand as
| an arbitr tor between the Poop Q and the com
| mon carriers. II takes two to make a contract
are pooled, and the lat OF the pool com is
| sioners as to what proportion OF ths products
OF the country they will take for moving the
balance is absolute. AS long as am a citizen
of Texas will never cease to cry aloud and
spare not whit there Is power in this state
above the power Of The government. No, my
fellow citizens, see that your representatives
represent you upon this question; not in an
unreasoninR onslaught upon railroads, but in
a Just and 1udicious ana a liberal law " hich
will protect t people, and will invite the in
vestmest of railroad capital In our state watch
cannot do without railroads.
The railroads of Texas should ponder
these utterances and avoid sntagonism
by not doing those things which ore in
violation Of the statutory and organic
laws Of the state. The people and roads
In Texas are closer together at this time
than they have been for years, and the
most ordinary gagacity would point out
the true policy. Neither roads nor peo-
pie have aught to gain from antagonisn,
and the roads ought to be able to see that
the same power which moved trains that
were INSTRUCTED by unlawful combina-
tions in 1885 will also destroy
unlawful combinations that prevent the
competition to secure which Texas has
given lIserally.
The pool will go, and It is wisdom in
the railroads to dissolve 1t without wait
ing for Texas Legislature to compel
them to do so.