The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-12-17
RAILWAY LEGISL ALTON,
To the Editor of the Eagle.

To the Editor of the Eagle.
Affairs are accomplished through
patience; and the hasty mau faileth in his
undertakings | saw with mine eyes in a
desert, one who walked slowly and firmly
reach the goal even before one who rode a
barb steed of windlike swiftness.-Saadi
Rule XXXy.
AeSop gives us the same idea in his
fable of ''The Hare and The Tortoise. )"
Running through all history-secular,
profane and sacred; sli philosophy, all
moralizings-we find that mankind is
counselled to practice patience to accom-
plish ends-The American is noted here
in as the barb-steed and the hare. Though
we do much it is doubted if the sum of
our undertakings does not include a
lerger per cent of undertakings,
commenced; abandoned on account of
lack of patience. Illustrative of this
American proneness to quit aud engage
in something else when he is beset with
difficulties in any work he has on hand,
l give a statement made by a stock
feeder:
III leu lOI luSTe was no wei. CAUSING
great inconvenience. About ten feet under
the surface there was a strata of Quicksand,
which caused the sides to cave in.v After
several attempts TO get well digged by
American artists" in that line an old Ger
man came over to my feed lot, examined the
ground, made inquiry of all pertinent facts,
and offered to dig well, mo well, no pay"
provided he could have one year in which
do it. This old man and his son commenced
and abandoned two wells, and completed the
third before the year was up"
When we recall that between 1921 and
1926, railways for freight and passengers
were first opened for practical use; that
England, rich, and populous, whose
manufacturing products supplied the
New World as well as the old, watch
full of the interests OF interior as well as
foreign trade-was slow to interfere in
the management of railroads-we may
overlook our own hardness in some re-
spect. The mileage of railways in the
United Kingdom in 1854 was over 5000
miles; in 1878, $4,000 miles. In 1882
parliament passed law on passenger
tariffs; in 1912 another law was passed;
in 1851 another; in 1854 another, and yet
in 1873 a report was made that all en-
actments were of little practical utility,
and iC 1878 there was passed
AN ACT
''To regulate railways, appoint inspec-
tors commissioners and enforce the rea-
sonable facilities provisions of prior acts.
This was near the Granger legislation
in Illinois and other states. In 1880
further laws were enacted.
In Germany and Prussia from 1885 to
1880 traffic laws were evaded-and since
then the laws are not satisfactory to
shippers.
And yet attention is directed to the
fact that the law making powers of
these countries are not hedged in as we
are with limited constitution aD powers.
nor fettered by state lines. In all these
realms the same law operates on all,
while in the United States there is the
federal powers on one hand, having ex-
elusive jurisdiction, the several state
soverelgnties on the other, exercising
limited jurisdiction on the same sub
jects, and exclusive jurisdiction in
others. And in the matter Of commerce
the federal and state govern
ments each have certain distinct rights
in the adjustment of which the most
learned of our judges, both federal and
state, have been puzzled TO mark the
dividing line and give unto Caesar the !
things that are Caesars" and avoid con- /
flict of jurisdiction, and preserve har-
mony among the states, and between |
the states and the United States
The peculiar governmental autonomy !
of what may be called the American /
form of government, IA bold and original /
creation, without precedent in history, /
working out its own problems IS they !
arise from the increase of people, settle |
ments, aud commerce; the shifting con- /
ditons which each decade brings forth ; /
the jealousy of trade centers and ambi- /
ton of new city formations, has reJard- /!
ed the government of railways by the !
states and nation. The law OF yester- |
day does not meet The wants and condi- /
tons OF our people today, and an i'm /
mutable rule of action might soon grind 4
I community TO ashes which today 4
promises prosperity.
The interstate commerce act is legis- /
latIve infant still mewling and puking 4
in It's nurses arms 1t Is not perfect, no /
law is perfect, unless YOU accept the .
1Tishmau's idea, chat the reason he law /
of self defense Is so plain Is because law /
yers never made it. The interstate act I
as an experiment was launched on an
unknown sea, with unskilled captains,
TO sail 10 harboT, and avoid collision /
with the statecratts of various other 4
soyerei-ntles. / am firm believer IN .
the wisdom of the interstate act aud !
think It IS tie nucleus from the defects T.
of which we VIII yet evolve wise laws I
The present act has proved that 4
we reed an interstate act,
and the vlrUient GanuncialiouS OF rail- 4
way managers proves that The attempt (
10 enforce ii mas caused them bother +
The defects in IL, bv study. has proved
that 1t Is the fore-runnor Of an act which I
VIII control railroads. TIE fact that the 4
law does not seem 10 work justly does +
not prove Il should tie repealed, but only /
that It needs amendments. Tie rivalry +
Of cities Ia the west Is the great obstacle /
IN the way OF amendments.
The fourth section OF The act prohibit ,
lag greater ch1rge proporiionaHy for
short than fer long haul. uuder similar 1
conditions. is the section over and .
round winch has ragged the var of words, /
a towns have demanded recognition
and cities Struggled for supremacy. Tl1e /
anleudmsnt OF fHiS section may nleasur- I
ably solve the problem.
The Canadian railways, as well as