Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-02-28

4
his gin for a smaller sum. After
tedious delays, during the prog
/ ress of which, each day he is
sublecting himself to additional penalties,
and these penalties are accommodating mount
| ain-high upon him, his casa comes to trial
/ and the court determines and adjudges that
| he is mistaken and that one-twentieth is
| reasonable rate for ginning his nelghbor's
| cotton. What position is he left inl The
| penalties will more than eat up his plant
| He finds himself stripped and
| ROBBED or HIS PROPERTY
| simply because he wanted to exercise the
right of every free man, and one guaranteed
/ to him by the constitution OF his state-the
right to appeal to the courts for
| the protection of his property by
! due process OF law Or take
| the other view of il. Suppose he obeys the
order of the commission and changes his
| price from one-tenth to one-twentieth and
! thereupon appeals to the courts to deter
mine whether the one-tenth was unreason-
able or not, and after tedious delays
| Judgment is finally reached in the supreme
court determining that he is right and that
| one-tenth is a reasonable price But in the
meanwhile, he has been operating for one
| twentieth under the order of the commits
sion. What becomes of him in that EVENT.
He has been operating his property at
ruinous price to the detriment and sacrifice
| of his material interests, and
WHEN INDICATED
at last by the highest court in his state, the
damage is done and there is no means OF re-
| paration, for the state does not propose to
pay him in case the commission has decided
wrong.
Thus you see. fellow citizens, the situa-
ton with reference to this vast interest
| built up in our midst upon our
| invitation and upon guarantee
| of the same protection that our
own people should receive under the
law, an interest which in building
itself up has built US up also, adding hun
dreds of millions to our taxable values and
inestimable acquisitions to our private
property, advancing values, bringing civil
zation and prosperity in its train and en-
aiding US to enjoy at our homes the COM
forts derived from the markets Of the
whole world, is denied the privilege ac-
corded
THE HUSrBLEsT CITIZEN
of the state, for he can appeal to the courts
organized for his protection without let or
hindrance, without delays, without en-
barrassment, without pains, without PEN
alties. But this great interest, which is
not entitled to any more consideration than
that accorded the humbleSt citizen, is, at
least, entitled to the same consideration.
This bill was ingeniously framed to cut rail-
roads off from their constitutional right.
1t was designed to intimidate them from
appealing to the courts for protection. Its
obey the orders of the commission without
appeal. If this be that due process of law
guaranteed to US by the constitution for the
protection of property, we had best amend
the constitution and makei it more stringent,
for this is sacred right Away back in
the thirteenth century, our English an
cestors took arbitrary power
BY THE THROAT
which had been selling and denying JUS
tice, and wrung from royal authority this
declaration: 1--WE will sell to no man; we
will not deny or defer to any man either
justice or right And our people, in franz
ing the organic law of this state for our
government studiously observed this pre-
cept of human liberty which has been
handed down to US for many generations,
and declared "That no citizen of this state
shall be deprived of life, liberty, property,
privileges or immunities, or in any manner
DISTINGUISHED except by the due course of
the law of the land"
Shall this constitutional mandate, fellow
citizens, be observed, or shall it be diSre-
garded2 1t we trample it under foot with
reference to one-third of the taxable prop
erty of the state how soon may it be be-
fore we are again called upon to trample
it under foot with reference to other
rights equally as sacred, and which ought
to be equally as secure2 Can we afford,
even in
MOMENTS OF PASSION,
10 luG STGdb pEluClpl6 WHICH udS pre-
served our liberties so far and has stood as
a bulwark in our defense, giving to US when,
we labor the blessed assurance that we
shall enjoy the fruits of that labor without
fear of molestation upon the part either of
government or of individuals and that by
the exercise of frugalIty and economy and
judgment III our business affairs, we may
be enabled in the vigor of our manhood to
accumulate suficiency for our support
when old age comes upon US. Shall we
surrender this glorious right and privilege
merely for the sake of controlling railway
corporations which are perfectly controlla-
Bile without any such sacrificed
Are we afraid to trust our own
courts with the decision of ques-
tions affecting our railways, which
are our heaviest taxpayersl When our
constitution says that all persons shall have
the right to appeal to the courts
for protection of person and property it
means something substantial. 1t does not
mean that this right shall be granted as q
special favor, or limited by any condition.
It is an absolute right to be exercised by
the citizen at pleasure, and free from
punishment if it develops that he Is
mistaken in Judgment. Frequently we
appeal to our courts, believing that the law
and the facts are on our side and that we
are entitled to the relief demanded
only to find that there are
two sides to every case, and the
COurG NC lupTGSSeQ Will OUR
view. And yet there are no punishments
lurking near
TO DEvoUR Us
because we are proved to have been mis-
taken. How would citizen feel if ne
knew that he could secure justice in the
courts only by running the gauntlet of de-
struction in case he failedl Not destruction
merely at the hands of his adversary, but
at the hands of his state, whose duty
it was to protect himl This is
the burden we have cast upon
railway owners, and how does it comport
with that guarantee of the Federal consti-
tuition which forbids state from denying
to any citizen the equal protection of the
law2 Any person can sue railroad with
out danger if he fails, but, under this law,
a railway cannot venture to sue the state,
no matter how gross the oppression or un-
reasonable the eXaction, because If it fails
il means death to itself. And when sued |
by citizen it is not allowed to defend. |
Can we wonder then that capital is 1ntimi- |
dated and confidence destroyed Can we |
marvel that the outside world refuses to |
trust US any more, and IN answer to our |
assurances
POINTS WITH DERIsION
to these laws as true index Of our inten- |
tionl 1 ask you 10 ponder upon this and to |
give your verdict at the polls, and let that |
verdict be what it ought to be, coming |
from men who love justice and respect the |
guarantees of the constitution.