Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-03-24

railway at this timer
Answer-sI do not know.''
| Question 7-"What amount Of money
would it take to reconstruct the depots Of
said railway at this timer"
Answer-"I do not knows
Question S-s'What amount of money
would it take to reconstruct the transporta-
ton (equlpment) of said railroad at this
timel''
Answer-"I do not know
Question 9-''What amount Of money
would it require to replace all the physical
property belonging to said railroad June 30,
1881"
Answered. do not know
These answers were solemnly sworn to
by Charles Dillingham;, the receiver of the
Houston and Texas Central railway and by
h Han, its auditor, on the 29th of Deem
Der 1891, and the officers of nearly every
road in Texas have lately made, under oath,
answers. This shows concert-who was
their Attorney Think of i'll Not an
auditor or president of a Texas railroad
knows how much money it would require
to rebuild his road and replace its physical
properties. And yet each and every one of
these men should know the length of
his line, the price of moving earth, building
bridges, the price OF iron rails, the wages
he pays labor, the size of the depots, and
the price of lumber and brick at every sta
ton and if they have sense enough to
keep books, the books should reveal it.
This stupendous ignorance, shown in these
answers, is revealed by the answers of al
most every company, in the same identical
language. Texas wanted the facts..5nd the
roads having at hand the meansN of caIcnlat-
ing, ascertainiDg, and disclosing, refused to
give them: Nows marx you-these esti-
mates are me IIsdsures of the true values
of the road on which they should be per-
mitted to levy tolls on the people to pay in
terest with cost of operating. Our COM
mission law is the only one In America
which demands this information, and we
set aside $500 to pay for getting 1t. We
expected delay, and no full relief can come
to the people until this knowledge is OBJ
tanned. When it comes, seven millions
wear will not cover the saving to the people
in freight rates fixed by an honest COM
mission.
GEORGIA has SAVED IT
with an appointive commission, and Texas
can do the same if patience can only have
her perfect way. The demand for Official
knoWledgs as 10 how much money would be
needed to rebuild their roads is made in no
commission law except that of Texas. 1t IS
a distinguishing feature of the law, which
will prove to patient agriculture the babe
in the manger while idolatry is upon the
throne.
Pause for an instant and reflect how
monstrous is the claim made by the owners
Of these roads. They claim that we should
give them freight rates high enough to earn
interest on all their bonds. There are
S400 900, 900 of liabilities represented in the
main by bonds; these constitute their
debts, and a toll rate to pay interest on
them is just as much a tax on the people as
if that tax was collected by the official tax
collector. Do you not see why agriculture
cannot flourish, and what a great amount
of money is carried by oppressive freight
rates every year to Wall street.
HONEST RAILWAY CHARGES.
At the bar OF equal justice railroad
should nave no more rights when in debt
than free born white man. If you have
given notes which you cannot pay and haul
freight for a living the law does not come
to your relief and compel the people to pay
you higher rates for hauling in order to
pay your debts. If you have built house
which rented for $50 month when brick
cost SIS a thousend, the law will not compel
your tenant to pay the old rent
when hard times come and houses are built
cheaper by your neighbor. The railway
has no higher rights. But suppose you
have borrowed money to build that house
and given your note for twice as much as
you have borrowed, what should we think
of the law that would compel a tenant to
per cent of water in that notea All the
money and newspapers in Texas cannot
confuse these ideas in the minds of the peo-
PIE ard deliver them again, bound hand and
foot, Just on the eve OF full relief. If you
cannot pay your debts, or live at the old
rent, your debtors sue you and sell your
to some one else, who will pay
less for it, and can roost on lower rent. The
bondholder of the railway must do the
same. To this complexion it must come or
else a seething gulf of financial ruin is be-
fore US, into which we must soon plunge, or
escape it only through the gate of reVolu-
ton.
EXPERTS WILL 60 TO WORK.
The commission, unable to obtain infor-
nation, has announced that'it will now en-
ploy skilled experts to value the roads and
lind out the cost of reconstructing them.
When that knowledge comes full relief will
follow, and our commerce, taking the short
est road TO the ocean, the great highway of
the world, and freed from the shackles of
financial tyrrany, will bless this land with
a prosperity we have never known.
Is THE LAW oPPREsSIvEl
"But,' says Judge Clark, 1.-THE law is OPP
pressive." Ali Indeed! Did you not tell
the people at Weatherford on the 27th of
February that this commission law
was unconstitutional and would not
stand one hour of judicial scrutiny
IN the supreme court OF IeXaSE
Why permit}the roads to be oppressed if
the law is not constitutional? He says
the roads obey the law, which he tells you
IS no law, because he advised them to do
so. Perhaps this is true, but when the
New York wners of 5000 miles of Texas
road submit to an unconstitutional law
which will deprive them of millions of
money simply because this Waco attorney
advises them to do so the days of miracles
nave returned. Now let me
APPEAL TO YOUR REASON
md explain feature of the law so much |
of by Judge Clark. The law |
requires full notice to be given to the roads |
hat they may De heard when freight rates |
ire established. If they are dissatisfied |
hey cannot appeal to the courts in d. |
rect action to test the reasonableness of the |
'ates. Pending this appeal the roads must |
obey the rates as fixed by our sworn COM
which rates must be deemed |
until that direct suit brought |
ly the roads shall determine otherwise: |
md until then any effort to collect higher |
,ates shall be deemed extortiop, for which |
he shipper may recover penalty. This |
S the evil complained Of Just pause one |
minute and reflect upon the operation of |
he different rule. If the roads may plum
Ter at will while their suit with the state |
s pending, what protection is there for the
,itlzen2 Sustained by boundless wealth, |
he roads would litigate forever, if during
he tendency of suits there was no fixed /
'ule to govern their exactions. The clti-
en htigates at fearful advantage with /
Dad. and a few merchants are bold enough |
o provoke the resentment of the invisible
! =.