Middletown transcript., 1891-05-14

TRANSPORTS fruit from any other sec-
tion Of the country. Should they
transport 1t for one-half Of what they
aid last year, to the people OF Della
ware would be saved $500, 900 and not
less than 100, 900 people are engaged
in Delaware in agricultural pursuits,
and in business operations in which
the dealings are exclusively with
agriculture. This, therefore, reveals
the fact that those people are on an
average paying $500 each per year
more than they should pay for freight
on one variety of fruit. alone. But
bring it down to the orchard and
farm. While I have no means at hand
of knowing how many peach orchards
there are in Delaware l think l am
within the limit when I place the
number at less than one thousand.
Therefore, the tax to the average
peach growers from the excessive tariff
Of $500 per annum. With that as an
encouragement and as a means for
fertilizing and cultivation, what might
not the Delaware fruit grower pro-
duce ?
On every quart of berries that is
grown in Delaware, there is an exces-
sive freight of upwards of one-half a
cent per quart. There are about 5000
quarts In carload of these berries.
Let one stand beside the railroad
track and count the carloads Of straw
berries that roll by, and realize that on
each carload the company has charged
$4,000 more than they should have
charged, $4,000 more than they do
charge on berries that come hundreds
of miles from further south, and con-
slider the amount of encouragement
and fertilizers which that excessive
charge could give to the grower with
which to develop his lands, I think a
spirit of rebellion against the iniqui-
tous mismanagement of railroads in
Delaware will at once take possession
Of that mans heart. Perhaps should
not say iniquitous I really do not
think that the managers Of the Penn.
sylvania railroad are bad fellows;
think they are like the average mortal;
they are after the almighty dollar. I
sometimes feel as though they were
stupid, and the management Of the
railroad systems of Delaware was a
great piece of stupidity. ] know that
great many intelligent men would
simply charge me with egotism if
they were not even more severe, for
making this statement. But cannot
understand why the Pennsylvania rail-
road management labors with energy
to throttle the energies Of the Della
ware producer. But that they do
throttle that energy is fact, and to
attempt to prove it would be simply to
attempt to prove an axiom.
A charter of new railroad system,
a competing system through the
State, would be of great advantage,
unquestionably. Could the Baltimore
& Ohio railroad get down there they
would undoubtedly cause the reduc-
tion of freight rates, just as the
freights were lower when the Old
Dominion operated those lower rail-
roads. and at the opposition Of the
Pennsylvania railroads. But as the
Old Dominion Company was swallow
ed by the Pennsylvania, so will be the
competing road in the course Of time,
or the competing road will swallow
the Pennsylvania Company.
Without radical changes in the laws
governing transportation, the time is
not far distant when the uncrowned
king of America will be the railroad
magnate. The one man who controls
the railroad trust. In the last twenty
years great railroad systems have ex-
panded from roads Of a few hundred
miles, to roads of thousands of miles.
Thirty years ago young and beardless
boy was peddling maps and tanning
leather in the mountains Of New York.
Poor, without backing, nothing but
his own energy and brain to guide and
protect him in the battles of life. To-
day, $4,000 miles of railroad are alb
sol1tely under his control. He is
still young man and in competition
with him are others running up to ten
and fifteen thousand miles. How has
he made it ? How has he gained con-
troll of all that railroad !? Simply by
comb ination with other companies
who have recognized his ability, and
feared his power. 1t is no idle dream
to assume that should he live for ten
years more, he may be that uncrowned
king. But the energy. of accumulat-
ed possessions dies not when their
creator dies and though the heirship
of this kingdom may not be through
the strain of blood, it is, nevertheless,
a dangerous heirship and when the
king dies, a king lives. Give to this
the power to levy his tariff
duties on every ounce of the produc.
tion of man, and sustain him in this
power with all the force of the State,
and he is absolutely king. Those
whom, by bis favors, he wishes to
build up, he can build up; and those
whom he wishes to pull down, he can
pull down, and the authority of the
autocrat ofRussia cannot be so auto
cratic.
I urge upon the members of the
Delaware Legislature to guard well
the liberty which. their constitution
gives them and should there be
new convention called, and a new
constitution made, trust that the
members of that constitutional con-
venti0n will see that the clause which
DR.. Hendy insisted on inserting in the
old constitution, retaining the ab-
solute control of corporations in the
hands of the peoples representatives,
shall be preser we'd in the new constitu-
tion.
In regard to chartering the terminal
railroad, think it would be blunder
should the Legislature fail to grant
some company the privilege of build
ing railway to Lewes or to any other
point in Delaware which they may
wish to reach. But they should, by
all means, make provision for taking
possession of the railroads and operat-
ing them by paid agents of the State,
should any charter company fail to
operate those roads, and to provide
against any injustice to the people by
which: do operate rail-
roads.
To Delaware, by the peculiar provi-
sions of her constitution relative to
chartering corporations, is given the
power to easily test the efficacy of
State management of railroads. Her