Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-07-26

/ rule of right. - If the railroads were
| private property and their operation the
private business Of the company, what is
! reasonable between different shippers
i~weuld be determined by ascertaining
what is profitable to the company, and
! Judge Clark S contention for the right of
| discrimination between shippers would
be undisputed But in the operation of
a ''public highway the state can per-
NIT no such dIstinctions-the tax ought
to be and must be ''equal and uni
form. -
Judge Clark says that commission
viii DO no good, because in reducing
rates they would encounter the principle
decided in the Florida case cited by him
Atlantic railroad vs.. the State-but
that principle would obstruct legislation
as well as the action of a commission.
His argument, therefore, is that any
regulation Of rates by the legislature di-
| Tectly or by a commission, is futile. This
is in accordance with the principle on
which his essay prOceeGs-that a private
person in the management of his private
| property shall have 1.-the legislative
bride off. -
have seen no report of the
Florida case, but I gather that it
is there held that the rates shall
not be reduced below what will
realize to the company q. fair interest
upon the Investment. Judge Clark says
the amount of the investment cannot
possibly be ascertained. It seems to me
that a commission with proper powers
might approximate the sum, but if it be
true that 1t cannot be ascertained, the
stock and debts would be taken as the
estimate. If the stock and debts are
honestly issued and the proceeds honestly
applied to the construction, equipment
and repair of the road, their aggregate
would represent the investment. But it
is manifest that if Judge Clark is right in
his statement that the amount Of the in
vestment cannot be asceTtained, and if
then in applying the principles of the
Florida case the courts are to take the
aggregate of the stock and debts whether
honestly issued and created or not,
as the estimate of the cost
of the road, each company
has it in its power TO fix Il minimum. be-
low which neither the legislature nor n
commission can reduce rates, and this
minimum will be- high in proportion as
the management of the com pany is dis
honest. If this is the situat ion the pub
lie, whose burdens are thus directly af-
fected, are as Immediately interested in
created by a railroad company as it is
in the state or county Indebtedness.
Warwick might here have manifested
the impartiaIity Of his courage by bravely
suggesting the prOprety Of some legisla-
ton. He would say justly that county
commissioner should be put in stripes
who aids in creating against the county
fictitious demand; but he OmIts to state
that purple is unbecoming to the railroad
official, who by like means increases the
public burdens.
Judge Clark cannot be ignorant of the
practice Of railroad companies in this
particular; he has been through a wreck
or two and knows that the only limit to
railroad Indebtedness in Texas is the
practicabilIty of floating the bonds. For
this reason it is obviously true that diyi-
dends upon stock are obsolete.
Judge Clark ought not to characterize
all who favor railroad legislation as
demagogues. If his views succeed the
demagogues would all be on his side.
Give to the railroads the power to tax
without other limit than that fixed by
themselves, the right to discriminate be-
tween shippers, to punish their enemies
and reward their friends, and the un-
scrupulous seeker of pu bile Office would
court the railroad inf uence and boast
and display his defiance of the people.
1t is not to the interest of the compa-
MES to destroy the country through
which their roads run, but it is their in
terest to tax it to the utmost capacity
short of destruction. Those who fix the
rates of taxation are not citizens of
Texas, and all important Texas roads are
small parts of large systems, and the
rates are fixed with view to the advan-
tage not of our roads but of the systems
The state has conferred upon them the
power to Cypress. Judge Clark believes
the power should be unbridled, except
''by the laws of trade, supplemented by
individual effort and cooperation. - l
believe that the power thus given by the
state should be carefully guarded, and
that the people should be protected from
its abuses, in obedience to the cOnstitu-
ton, by laws enforced by ''adequate
penalties. -
The people believe that both the rights
and duties of the railroad companies in
the operation of the state S highways can
be defined by law; that they ought to be,
and that the laws should be enforced by
"adequate penalties. -
The railroad companies have demon
strated to former legislatures the imprac-
ticabiiity of the bills proposed to regulate
freights. They have also demonstrated
that it is unsafe to the people to leave the
regulation of freights TO the companies
themselves. The situation evolves the
suggestion of a commission and the ne 7
cessIty OF the authority for its creationss,.
1t may be, as Judge Clark threatsns =
that capital viii cease TO flow intasthe /
state unless we promise to continue to !
disregard our constitution, and by oGr 4
vote upon the proposed amendment ii9es
pliedly promise that those operating OUT
future highways shall exercise the sOR4i
ereIgn right to tax unbridled. But an
the other hand it viii be rememb6zEd
that q time VIII inevitably come whefsi
we viii wish to obey the instincts Of a
free people and have potent voice in
public matters and that it is possible to
postpone the issue until ''the little finger
of monopoly is stronger than the Ioins of
the law. -
Judge CIark's utterances through |
your columns have had wide circula-
ton, and his deservedly distinguished |
ability and patriotism will give them |
great influence. have waited for some |
more experienced controversialist to re-
fute the dangerous doctrines announced |
by him. AS none has appeared l have /