The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1889-11-19
INTRODUCTION.

" at the Session of 1883.
INTRODUCTION.
Mr.. Chairman: The irrepressible
conflict between the rights of the peo-
Vle and the interests of the railro I'D
corporations does not seem likely to
tsrminate Immediately beg your
permission to put our case on your
record somewhat more distinctly than
heretofore.
Why do 1 give myself this trouble?
My great and good friend, the presi-
dent of the Reading Railroad Com
pany, expresses. the suspicion that |
am quietly acting in the interest of
some anonymous corporation. | wish
to contradict that as fatty as l u.
The charge that | am communist
enough to wish the destruction of all
corporate property is equally untrue.
/ think myself the most conservative
of citizens. l believe with my whole
heart in the rights of life, liberty and
property, and if anybody has struggled
more faithfully, through good report
and evil, to maintain them inviolate, [
do not know who he is. l respect the
State Constitution; perhaps | am preju-
diced in favor of natural justice and
equality. | am convinced that with
out the enforcement of the fundamen-
tai law, honest government cannot be
expected.
These considerations, together with
the request of many friends, should
be sufficient reason for doing all the
little | a to get appropriate legis-
1ation." At all events, it is unfair to
charge me with any motive of lucre or
malice.
1t is not proposed by those who
think as | do that any corporation
shall lose one atom of its property. A
lawful contract between a railroad
company and the State is inviolable,
and must not be touched by hostile
hands, however bad the bargain may
have been for the people. Mr.. Gowen,
and all others with similar contracts
In their hands, are entitled each to his
pound of flesh, and if it be $50 nomi.
mated in the bond" the Commonwealth
must bare her bosom to all their
knives and let them "cut nearest the
heart"
But we, the people, have rights of
property as well as the corporations,
and ours are-or at least they ought
10 be-as sacred as theirs. Between
the great domain which we have con
ceded to them, and that which still
belongs to US, the line is plainly and
distinctly marked, and if they cross it
for purposes of plumber they should
be driven back under the lash of the
law. 1t is not the intent of the
amended Constitution, nor the desire
of those who demand its enforcement,
to do them the slightest injury. We
emily ask for that impartial and just
protection which the State, as parens
PGtrte, owes to US not less than to
them.
THE COMPANIES NOT THE OWNERS OF THE
RAILROADS.
In the first place, it will, 1 think,
be admitted by all impartial persons
of average intelligence, that the com.
pGnieS are not the oaOners of the RAIL,
roads. The notion that they are, IS as
silly as 1T is perntctons. 1t is the duty
of every commercial, manufacturing
or agricultural State to open thorough
fares of trade and travel through her
territory. For that purpose she may
take the property of citizens, and pay
for the work out of her treasury.
When it is done, she may make it free
to all corners, or she may reimburse
the cost by levying a special tax upon
those who use it; or she may get the
road built and opened by a corporation
or an individual, and pay for it by
permitting the builder to collect tolls
or taxes from those who carry and
travel on it. Pennsylvania has tried
all these methods with her turnpikes,
canals and railroads. Some have
been made at her own cost and thrown
open; on others made by herself she
placed officers to collect a spec al tax
others have been built for her by con
tract, in which some natural or artiG
cial person agreed to do the work 70,
The privilege Of G~ppropraating the tare'
Which she authorized to be levied.
But in all these cases the proprietary
right remained in the State and wa
held by her in trust for the use of the
people.
RAILROAD AND CANAL CORPORATIONS ARl
PUBLIC SERVANTS.
Those who run the railroads anC
canals are always public agents. 1t i
impossible to look at them in AM
other light, or to conceive how a diff
ferent relation could exist; because {
railroad whieh IS not managed By publ
agents, cannot be a public highway
The character of these agents and tn,
mode of their appointment, even upol
the same work, have differed materi
ally. The Columbia railroad, and al