The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1889-10-17

Finder this heading The Sentinel
invites the people to discuss public
! questions OF present interest. ssHeIe
! Shall the press the peoples rights
maintain, unaWed by influence and
unbribed by ya.in."l
The "Riehm nd & Danville' One More.
We ARE truly and honestly glad
! that MIR. Wilson has reappeared in
j the Forum, and we beg to assure
! him that this expression of our plea
sure is perfectly sincere, and not
conventional platitude of the sAss1E-
| TY "happy to meet you" style. He
writes cleverly, kindly, soberly He
is evidently improving, 1 like him,
and really l feel like greeting him
Familiarity with an honest Chow are
you Cholly my deah fellah, how dye
do?' We have not the slightest OBJ
! lection to the spirit of his defensive
effort, and there is but one para
| graph in his article which l read with
regret. The paragraph-rather SEN
tence-to which l refer is as follows,
viz:-"We in the limited space which
the editor has allotted us for a use
less discussion that will tend to the
benefit of no one propose to do it,
This sentence is a liberal transla-
ton of the Latin heading of Mr..
Wilson's article "CM Bono" We
reply to his ''Cui Bono by saying
For the benefit of the people," 'Sa-
lus populi supreme est lex''-the
safety or welfare of the people is the
supreme law. We have no fOndness
for controversy of any sort, especial
ly for one that sis useless and tends
to benefit no one."
We have not intended to even
mildly insinuate Mr. Wilson's ina
bility to cope with us in this discus
sion. While we think his defense of
the BrOokstown road crossing an
utter failure, We do not think the
failure chargeable to any weakness
in himself. The weakness lies in the
cause he undertook to defend.
Whenever a corporation or indi-
vidual SO obstructs highway that
travel upon it is stopped, turned out
of the way or rendered less conven-
lent, there is transgression of law,
for which the offender ought to be
held responsible, and would be, had
it not become a veXed question in
this country whether or not the
common people of the backwoods
have any rights which a corporation
is bound to respect ?''
Whenever a corporation encrOaches
upon the liberty or a citizen land to
travel upon an unobstructed high
way is certainly one of his liberties)
such corporation is certainly not
exercising it's legal rights and priv
ileges.''
The legislature itself has no power
to grant privileges that conflict with
the good Of the people, for call gov
eminent of right originates from the
people, is founded upon their will
only, and is instituted solely for their
good, or for the good of the. whole"
'sThe sole and only legitimate end
of government is to protect the citi-
zen in the enjoyment of life, liberty
and prosperity; and when the gov
eminent assumes other functions. it
is usurpation and oppression.
"Any act of the legislature disab-
ling itself from the exercise of powers
intrusted to it for the public good is
void, being in effect a covenant to
desert its paramount duty to the
pvblic." This is law as decided by
the Supreme Court of the United
) States
Even if the legislature, in the char
ter, had granted the right to OBJ
struct the Brookstown road. and
! other roads where the crossings are
, nuisances, specifically, helegislation
would be void
AS to the charges made by the cor
respondent Of the Wilmington Mes
senger, we have only to say to Mr..
Wilson that we have submitted his
report to the people just as he made
, it. Whether or not he ssdrew upon
his imagination for facts" l cannot
!, of course, say. His reliability as a
: reporter can, l suppose, be ascertain
, ed by referring to the Messenger, for
) which he reports.
> l take it for granted that the re-
porter is faithful in his service as 1 do
that Mr.. Wilson is faithful in the ser.
I vice which he renders the Richmond
& Danville.
accept the statement, not as my
friend Mr.. Wilson says, because ii
'suits my purpose, but because ii
{ is the mature of the BEAST to dc
: just such q thing as the reporter
charges. Possibly the railway Off
Gals are innocent, but as lawyers
:, say, it is pOtentia remOtissima
In a case like this we adopt the
, rule of construction declared by JUS
tice Swayne, of the United States Su
. preme Court as follows, viz:-'Tht
!. rule of construction in this class o
cases, is that it shall be construed
most strongly against the corpora
ton. Every reasonable doubt is to
be resolved adversely. Nothing is to
be taken as conceded, but what is
given in unmistakable terms by al
= implication equally clear. Silence is
negative, and doubt is fatal to The
claim. This doctrine is vital to thu
public welfare. 1t is automatic to the
Jurisprudence of this court
: We are entirely agreed as to thu
e dangers that threaten us in Congress
: and in the Supreme Court.
;, A member Of Congress says of it
{ as reported in the Detroit Free Pres.
: 81 say now, and say it boldly, thai
the Congress of the United States il
nothing more or less than huge
gambling institution, where every
man is working for his own interest.
and the interests of his handful O
constituents, regardless of the gener
a al welfare"
The q. S. Senate is especially dan
!, gerous to the liberties of the peopl
= for the reason that it is little NOR
| than "conclave of corpo ration
: agents and railroad attorneys" MI
! Stanford is in the u. S. Senate as TIL