The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1897-10-31
MATT MYNOR'S
RANGE OF VISION

Shore and Michigan Southern railroad.
Galloway is an enemy of the law. He
would if he could be supreme He cares
no more for the law than dog does
for a marriage license. If some poor
man in the country were to do as Cal
loway has done, the robber barons would
rise up as one man and declare him even
worse than an anarchist. Galloway is
not the only railroad president who is
an anarchist. President Calloways road
has been robbing the people of Ohio,
Indiana, Michigan and Illinois for a
great many years. In the last session
of the Michigan legislature a law was
passed reducing railroad fares in that
state to two cents a mile. The price
had always been three CENTS. The law
is to go into effect tomorrow. Galloway
says he wont obey the law. Going to
defy the power of the legislature. Co
ing to ride rough shod over the state
authority. Galloway does not care. He
Is railroad president. Believes that
the railroads should make the laws for
the people. If Galloway wont obey the
law, he is the same as any other crimi-
nay. If a person were to attempt to
ride on any of his trains without paying
for it, Galloway would regard him as a
thief. In the opinion of Governor Pin
gree, Galloway is worse than a thief.
Why should not the Lake Shore railroad
be forced to obey the laws the same as
that governing the individual? What
| right has a railroad corporation to be-
come criminal more than an individ-
| ual?
II some hungry devil steals a loaf Of
| bread, he is sent to the penitentiary.
If the legislature passes a law which
| the railroads don't like, the first thing
| they do is to violate it. The time is
| coming when men like Galloway may
| be doing a term for the benefit of the
state. The Lake Shore railroad has de-
| rived more money from the people and
| given the most insolent service of any
railroad in the world. It don't want
to pay for anything. j hope Governor
Pingree will enforce the law against
Galloway and his road, or take it's char
ter away as he threatens to do. Pin
gree is a law abiding citizen. He is an
honest man. Galloway is not a law
abiding citizen. Therefore he is not an
honest man.
has done which Is the right thing. 1t
passed a law limiting the price for
thousand mile tickets on railroads in
that slate at 500, reducing it from $780,
The law says the tickets shall be good
| until used. Heretofore the law has been
that unless used within a specified time,
| i.he unused portion was valueless. This
meant steal ON the part of the rail
roads in that state, which within the
last fifteen years has run up to millions
of dollars Money taken out of the
pockets of the people and no service rem
dered for it. The railroads complain
that the mileage books are trafficked in
by scalpers. There are hundreds of rail-
roads in this country today doing bust
ness direct with the sca1pers and giving
them all the encouragement possible. 1t
Is within the power of the railroads to
drive he ScalperS out of business. If
they do it?
Speaking of railroads at a distarce
am reminded that the railroads running
through the city of Birmingham are vio-
hating the law an hundred times every
ings sometimes for hours, to the detri-
ment of traffic and 10 the INJURY of the
public. I have seen vehicles forced to
wait as long as twenty-five and forty
minutes for trains to move away and
open the crossings. The guards at sfle
crossings are insolent. When asked to
have the crossings cleared they
reply to the drivers of the wagons, why
DON'T you gel balloon?" They curse
and abuse them in all kinds of fashion,
oftentimes going 50 far as to say thai
pedestrians and vehicles have no rights
in the thoroughfares aus against the rail-
roads. The thing for Birmingham to do
to get even with these oppressors of the
peoples nights is to make the roads de-
press their tracks through the city
limits. Then the public can have free ac-
cess to the streets. 1t is true it would
cost the railroads several hundred
thousand dollars 10 do this, but as long
as the people can't use THE street cross
ings. it would be but poetic justice that
!lhe roads be forced to sink their tracks
about fifteen feet in the ground. Then
the streets can be bridged over at little
expense TO the city. The railroads do
nQI own this country. If they did, it
would be the most absolute monarchy
that the sun ever shone upon. The peo-
pie have more rig'h than railroad cor
porations. Railroads are all right in
their place, but they should be made to
understand that the will of the people is
supreme. They are the servans of the
people, not THE masters.
No wonder the BARRIERS in Birmingham
are not as prosperous as they should be.