The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1890-01-14
FIGHTING A RAILROAD LOBBY
Gov. Buckner, of Kentucky, After the
" Lobbyists with a Sharp
y Message.


LOUISVILLE, KY, Dec, 3l.-Gov.
| Buckner yesterday sent to the Legls-
lature, at its opening session, a mes
sage which has created a genuine sen
sation. In it he says the report of a
Joint committee of investigation Of the
last Legislature shows that a large
and influential railroad lobby was
maintained at Frankfort, "~embracing
chief officers of railroad corporations,
both from Kentucky and Tennessee,
and attorneys and other officers of rail
road companies, ;" and that the object
of this lobby was to procure the repeal
of an act establishing the Railroad
Commission. To attain this object it
brought from all parts of the State,
"the paid local attorneys and agents
of railroad corporations for the pur-
pose of influencing individual Nom
bers of the General Assembly with
reference to railroad legislation, and
organized an editorial bureau and
"employed agents to go over the State
and obtain interviews favoring the
Legislation it asked, and had the inter
views published in many papers"
The Senate and House of Representa-
tives were then flooded with copies Of
the papers containing the editorials
and interviews. What purported to
be interviews were in some cases pure
ly fictitious. The Governor says
further that the lobby has made a
thoroughly organized and extraordi-
narily powerful effort to dominate the
Legislature and dictate the railroad
legislation enacted by it; that undue
and illegal means were used to procure
the enactment of such Legislation, and
that the statute against lobbying has
been fagrantly violated.
"The fact that such illegal methods
were resorted to by railroads to avoid
proper supervision of the act is a con-
vincing reason" says Gov. Buckner,
"that the people through their legisla-
tive body should not only demand the
continuance of this supervision, but,
should largely extend the powers of
the commission; should carefully de:
fine what shall constitute extortion
and discrimination; should afix ade.
quate penalties for such officers;
should make every violation of its
charter by a corporation a public
offence punishable by indictment,
and in cases of an aggravated char
acter, should provide for the forfeiture
of a charter whose powers have been
exceeded by the corporation"
AS an instance of railroad lawless-
ess the Louisville Bridge Company
pennsylvania Company, lesseel he
points out, has without a a valid char
ter undertaken to punish the, mer-
chants Of Louisville who patrenize
the Kentucky and Indiana Bridge
Company. He recommend that a
charter with proper safeguards be
given the right to dispossess the
Louisville Bridge Company and oper-
ate upon the street now held by
them. He directs attention to "Trust
combinations as contrary to public
policy" and asks that they be sup
pressed.
How strikingly does the above
picture, in many particulars, resemble
one that has become familiar to those
North Carolinians who are acquainted
with railroad methods in the Hobbies
of our own Legislature. And what a
disgrace to our civilization and to our
$50 called) American craftsmanship!
So bold, so defiant of law and of
decency, did the hirelings of the rail
roads become that the legislature of
Kentucky appointed a committee to
investigate their corrupt methods, and
it is upon the report of this committee
that Governor Buckner bases his
scathing committee. Not only in
Kentucky, but throughout this whole
country, should all honest men hang
their heads with shame. But dis.
graceful and humiliating as are the
facts thus exposed, they are not value
less, if they shall serve to put the
people of Kentucky and other States
onstheir guard and Gov. Bucker de-.
serves and will receive the hearty
thanks of all honest men for his bold
and manly course in exposing them.
Oh, that we had more Governor
Buckners in this country Men who
could not be bribed, intimidated or
coerced by corporate and money
power.
For a dozen years the people of
North Carolina have asked for agrail-
road commission. Gov. Vance, Gov.
Jarvis, Gov. Scales and Gov. Fowle,
all urged it, in their messages to leg
islatures, but all in vain. The railroad
power in the lobby has defeated every
effort. At our last session men occu-
pied seats who could never have been
elected in their counties if their con.
stituents had ever suspected their
treachery. Sixty thousand voters,
white voters and taxpayers, those