The Topeka state journal., 1898-02-11
JUDGE eRosscUP's m1111NEUM

Judge P. S. Grosscup, who recently
visited Topeka and addressed the State
Bar association meeting, believes that
the time is coming when a great nation
al tribunal, similar to that proposed by
Gov. Leedy for handling the railroad
question in Kansas, will take charge of
the railroads of the United States under
government sanction. Upon this ques-
tion Judge Grosscup said:
''The railroads in America had an
origin different from railroads in any
other country. Here, they began as pri-
vate enterprises, constructed out of pri-
vate capital; elsewhere they were start
ed as public works, built out of public
funds Here, in consequence, they were
looked upon by their owners as private
property, carrying all the rights of in
dividual ownership elsewhere they were
regarded from the start as government
tai highways and pOstrOads, and sub
ject, therefore, to governmental con-
troll.
1.-THE notion prevailing here was ne
cessarily incongruOus and impossible,
and as the system enlarged and deeply
affected every other interest of the
business world a change of view be-
came imperative. Step by step, the
courts interposed to develop the idea of
their quasi public character, and the
legislatures to cover them with regula-
tions looking to the public interest Each
of these advances was attended with
for governmental control; each was re-
sisted by a cry, from the shareholder,
against legalized confiscatiOn. Public
opinion has turned neither to the rad1-
cal nor to the shareholder; but, press
ing onward, has arrived now, in my
judgment, close to a peace, in the wis
dom and perpetuity of which the best
opinion of both shareholder and agitat-
or will concur.
The day will soon be here when a
great tribunal, possessing the necessary
powers of executive and judicial, will
take control of the whole subject of
transportation; seeing that the public
are subjected to no unreasonable exact
atiOns and private ownership to no un-
reasonable deprivation. Investments
viii be respected and proper returns
thereon secured; speculative values will
be disregarded and no rates allowed
that pay tribute to such an usurper.
The cost of transportation will be-
come so constant and uniform that the
merchant will receive his goods with
the assurance that this item of cost will
be to him just what it is to his COM
petitors, and the capitalist viii invest
his money with the security that nelth-
circumstances nor caprice will un-
reasonably affect the returns. A tri-
bunal thus constituted, will, believe,
receive the sanction of both railway
managers and public spirited c1t1zenS.
The problem has gone through all the
stages between ultra-radicalism and uI-
tra-COnSerVatism. Had the latter tr1-
umphed, the railways would nave re-
mained CapriciOuS, private trlDute-
gatherer; had the former triumphed, 1t
would long ago, in it's opportunities of
highest usefulness, have been destroy
ed.
Public unrest-at a wrong condition
an unrest seIf-mastered, is solving
the problem The cOmmOnSenSe of
America is, in this field, on the eve of
another conquest
This is only an example. Many 9TH
er problems more or less advanced, have
undergone, or are going through, the
same solution. In every instance the
best results depend upon the peoples
capacity for courage self-restrained."