The news & observer., 1897-02-27
THE LEASE DISCUSSION.

to it's validity. There were three fatal
objections to it:
i. The 90 year clause, amounting TO
a sale; q That it was not made domes-
tic corporation; 3. That the rental was
not sufficient to Justify making the lease
| / am not ayerse to making a compro-
mise provided these three things can be
agreed UPON. The rental is my most
serious objection.
Mr.. Grant said all the objections spok-
1 en- of by McCaskie were obyiated with
the exception of the interest. 1t is gem
lerally considered that 6 or per cent
investment is good. Money is seeking
| investment at 3 to 4 per cent. Two
years ago, a six per cent interest bill was
passed. Now we want more than 6 per
cent for the North Carolina Rail
road is that consistency? Under this
| lease. the State keeps all the better
nonnts. That will make the lease aggre-
| gate almost ten per cent A few years
ago Selma was a little town. Now, how
LIS it? They have invested $4,000 and
Won find there growth and development.
| Corporations are like humans. When
goaded. they win retaliate. l believe
| this is q fair compromise. l ann afraid
| if they are pushed further, they will
| build a short line, and this road will be
| thrown back deprecated ON the hands
of the State. As q local road, this road
could not be made to pay anything.
| Citizens of North Carolina have gone
into partnership with the State. 1t is
| the States duty to protect them. All
| good citizens ought to repud.ate amy
suggestion of injuring these private stock
| holders.
This is valuable now because it is a
| link. 1t is worth more to the Southern
than it can lbe Ito anybody else.
Railroad corporations are not philan-
| tihropists. They want to make money.
| If YOU crowd them up to 100000, they
will crowd the people and make them
pay that rent. (rhe people pay now over
| 5000, ,O00.-Ed1tor.) You might even make
| the rental higher, and then the road
would increase their rates on freight
and passengers ON the people
| Mr.. Anderson: A petition was hand
ed me this morning from my section re-
questing me to use all my influence a
gainst this bill. We are i'm honor bound
to carry out this contract with the South
em Railway,
| For Governor Russell, / entertain the
| highest respect for his opinions and adj
mire him as 81 man. He compared him
| to Tennyson's ode 10 Wellington. The
| Attorney General can now bring AN ac-
tion to annul the lease. Why should
| we go to all this trouble ito say that an
either officer shall bring this suit?
! The S. A LIS. offer cannot be relied
/ upon. 1t was not made in good faith
and would not be carried out The con-
tract with the Southern gives the State
| n rental of more than the legal rate of
| interest-was made by those having au-
| thority+my opinion has been that it was
made with undue secrecy and haste. 1t
| was not their business TO notify the peo-
| Pile. The State ought to carry out its
contracts in good faith He cited the
| action of Congress after THE Revolution
airy war in paying the debts due by the
| Colonies. can unfortunate aIlusion! That
policy by Hamilton set the precedent for
putting the Treasury in the hands of the
spectators, and Jefferson and Madison
expressed it.-Edibor)
Be not led astray by this false offer
of few per cent more. Let us steer our
course by the Old North Star Che meant
the Southern Railway We cannot get
better contract. If 90 years was too
long, we now propose to cut it down to
SO years A vote against this substitute
staIbs the honor of the State. | seek for
neither glory nor the grave, and | expect
to find neither.
Mr.. Sharpe, of Iredell: This is prob
ably one of the greatest questions we
Will ever be called upon to settle. The
honor of North Carolina will not be
dragged down by requiring a railroad
corporation to pay the real value OF the
rental of the North Carolina Railroad.
/ want TO recall some North Carolina
history: 20 years ago / sat at the other
end of this capital. The question was:
how shall we settle the public debts
| We had S8.000,000 of old before the war
debts. We had $9,000,000 of the debt
made by the legislature of 1868. We
also had 81 100000 of special tax
bonds Treasurer Jenkins said, Through
greed and mismanagement the people
have got little from those bonds" We
passed an act to settle and commute old
principal We repudiated rs per cent
and adj the interest OF the 1868 bonds.
We repudiated every dollar of the special
tax bonds. If that didn't ruin the credit,
i'm the name of common sense would it
impinge its honor to repeal this lease
that the people believe Us fraud. Zap
plause.)
i Ramsey: when did you find out it
was a fraud"
Mr.. Sharp: When this lease was perpe-
trated, it was denounced in all parts of the
State. Now Railroad lobbyists are to found
here to control the votes of Senators.
After hearing the arguments of such
Learned men as Russell and Avery, and
hearing the testimony of the investigating
committee / have come to the conclu-
sion that while it lis not a moral fraud
lit was legal fraud. They have been
derelict i'm their duty. They didn't seek
competition. If q trustee fails TO get
competition, he lis guilty OF fraud In
law. If done, without intention of doing
wrong, it is set aside.
Ar..-4L Ca.--a lsu.., ;l..anA 300