Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-01-29

/ less IN harmony with sections and 10 of
that act, as compiled IN Paschal's Digest
i Arts. 4Se5-4S99] as follows:
1 'tSection l. All railroad companies
which have been heretofore incorporated,
or which shall hereafter be Incorporated or
| relieved from the performance of any act
! required of them, or which shall accept
of any donation or loan from this state 4,
or which shall accept of the subscription
! of any county OF this state, shall have all
1 the powers aud privileges and be subject
to all the duties, liabilities ind provisions
contaiued in this act
''sec. - Ii shall be lawful for the
legislature at any time to prescribe the
rates to be charged for the transportation
! Of persons and property upon any such
road, should they be deemed too high;
and NAV exercise the same power every
ten wears: Provided, That no reduction
shall be made unless the net profits of the
company for the previous ten years (the
| expenditures Of the company being bona
J fide and not with view 10 defeat the
operation Of this section) shall amount to
sum equal To y per cent. per annum
upon its capital stock, and then so as not
To reduce the future probable profits be-
low the said - per cent. per annnm.
All the railroads of Texas have been
! constructed since the passage of that act,
! and I think it viii be conceded that not
one OF them Is earning y per centum
per annum upon its capital stock.
The first section of the act makes it ap-
ply to all railroad companies which be-
fore that time were Incorporated, or Faf
ter that time shall be incorporated, - or
''relieved Of the performance of any act
required Of them. - or which shall ac-
I %-cf Il
state or which shall accept of the sub
! scription Of any county of this state.
! All such shall have all the powers and
| privileges, and be subject to all the du-
ties, liabilities and provisions contained
IN the act. But in the fifteenth section
! the assumption and declaration of
| power TO prescribe the rates to be
/ charged, is coupled with the con-
dition that no reduction in rates shall be
made unless the net profits of the COM
! pany for the previous ten years {medn-
! ing, of course, the ten years previous TO
! the proposed reduction) shall amount to
sum equal TO y per centum upon its
capital stock, and then the reduction of
rates shall be such as not to reduce the
profits below y per centum per aunum.
Now if the state mas permitted this
statute TO remain unrepealed, and the
stockholders of these railroad companies,
with this statute as a part of the contract,
have invested their money, can it be
maintained that the state can, without
literally complying with the terms of the
contract, dismiss the rates TO be charged
by railroads, either for passengers or on
freights?
1t may be conceded that the act of
1858, so far as inconsistent with the pro-
visions of the constitution Of 1876, was
repealed by the adoption Of the latter,
and yet not affect rights which had pre-
ViOusly become vested under or guaran-
teed by it, or which were expressly re-
served by its terms. But its repeal could
not impair or disturb rights if any were
vested or guaranteed under its provisions.
But to save all questions that might sug-
gest themselves in highly technical tri-
bunal, and as if TO preclude doubt or
controversy, the trainers Of your consti-
tuition, tenderly conscientious of deDriY-
ing any person of liberty or property,
bOttomed on either vested or guaranteed
rights, wisely provided against the dives
titure of such rights as might have at
tached, or were guaranteed under any
grant or statute of the state. The pro-
visions relating particularly to the sub
ject are as follows:
ARTICLE NJ.
Sec. g. The right to authorize and
regulate freights, tolls, wharfage, or
fares levied and collected, or proposed to
be levied and collected by individuals,
companies or corporations, for the use of
highways, landings, wharves, bridges
and ferries devoted 10 public use, has
never been and shall never be relin-
pushed or abandoned by the state, but
and depend upon legislative authority.
Sec. Z. Nothing i'll this article shall
be construed TO divest or affect rights
guaranteed by an existing grant or
statute of this state, or Of the republic of
Texas
We believe, and think it can be main
tanned by authority, that the railroad
companies which were clearly under the
influence of the act of February I 1853,
and accepted the same by any of the
means prescribed therein, then and
thereby completed contract with the
state, as to all parts of the act, as
inyiolable as would have been amend
ments TO their charters, accepted
by the unanimous act of their stocK-
holders III the most solemn manner. The
act itself was public statute, adopted
before the state had fairly inaugurated
It's IdIlfOau enterprises. Inc repeal OF
its seventeenth section, by the act Of
January %, 1860, was evidently done in
the interests of the railroads of the
state. The state could have had no pos
sible motive in eXpunging that section
from the statute books except in so far
rs its repeal would encourage the build
ing of railways. The provisions Of that
section gave the state q mere privilege,
which it could exercise or not,
at its discretion, and independent
of the railroads, that is to say, the state
could, by its own voltiou, purchase any
railroad which might be built within its
borders, uuder the seventeenth section
OF the act of 1858, by paying for it acord-
ing TO the letter of the statute. 1t is not
difficult to preceiye that this right of the
state, existing in full force, might deter
capital from embarking III railroad enter
priscs in Texas. Before its repeal no
railroad companies could have resisted
the right of the state to purchase, accord
ing To the terms of that section, and no
doubt, the lawmakers at that time
perceiving the injurious influence of that
section in preventing capital from en-
barking in railroad building, repealed it
in the interest of the state. The repeal
itself shows that the act OF 1853 was
recognized, both by the state and