New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-03-16
GOV 1EEDY AND THE SUPREME COURT.

There appears to be a disposition in certain
quarters to crlticise the recent utterances on
the railroad question Of that frank and out
spoken statesman, Governor Leedy OF Kansas.
That these criticisms emanate from sources
tainted with the malign influence Of the money
power goes without saying. The trail of the
serpent,is over them all Governor Leedy does
not approve the judgment of the United States
Supreme Court in the Nebraska maximum
freight-rate case. As, indeed, why should he?
Why should anybody, in fact. who holds to the
principle that when the railroads traversing n
State are owned by non-residents 1t IS the priv
ege and the duty of the citizens of that State
TO regulate their charges by law, so that trans
portation shall be furnished citizens at or be-
low the cost of operation, and no money be per-
mtted to 20 out Of the State to enrich for
eign capitalists? The citizens Of Kansas and
Nebraska did not build the railroads in those
States and do not own them. They would not
be guilty OF such thing as building railroads
or owning stock in them. They are plain, hon
est farmers, engaged in tilling the soil and
raising crops for the sustenance Of their fell
low-men And II they can afford to devote
their time and talents to raising crops for their
felow-men it Is only fair that their fellow
men SHOULD pTONlue TIE HiedHS lOT udullIlS (1e
crops TO market without meanly taking advan-
tage Of their monopoly Of transportation by
charging a profit the cost Of the service
This being the case. the right Of the farmer to
Use the railroads for hauling his crops, paying
whatever he thinks he can afford for the
vice. regardless of the pretensions Of the rail-
road owners. Is maintained by all the leading
statesmen Of Kansas and Nebraska.
1t was not strange, then, that Governor
Leedy who Is ore Of the most advanced think
ers and fluent statesmen of the period, should
he indignant at the decision Of the Supreme
Court recognizing the right OF the railroad
owners to q voice in the regulation OF rates for
the use Of their property. Nor was 1t strange
that he should give free expression to his indlg-
nation West Of the Missouri River the nor
nal mental state of high officials is that Of in
tense Indignation and their most important
function that Of giving 1t free and, II we may
be allowed the expression, unbridled utterance.
1t Is objected in some quarters that Governor
Leedy, in the interview recently given to the
press over his signature, speaks of the mis-
guided persons VINO uphold the Court decision
as "cluckcrs and lickspttles'' who have never
read the Constitution. But how else, pray,
could he speak OF them without sacrificing the
breezy freedom Of speech which has done so
much to mark the craftsmanship of Kansas
farmers the world over? Possibly when he
asks, concerning n constitutional provision
which be quotes. How In the name Of God can
this apply to corporations"' It may shock DE-
vout persons Of reverent temper But It must
be remembered that nowhere on earth are lead
ing statesmen on such familiar terms with the
Deity as in Kansas. and 1t is a requirement
of the popular taste that this familiarity should
appear IN their public uterances
Governor Leedy's language all through the
Interview Is unquestonably strong. as It Is un-
conventional. He has lost confidence in the
Supreme Court. Nor is this strange Most OF
the leading statesmen in Kansas have had the
same experience Indeed what else could they
do when the Supreme Court differed with them
on great political questions upon which they
had fully made up their own minds and de-
clnred their conclusions with eloquence and
fury upon hundred stumps? They must
necessarily lose confidence In a tribunal with
whose decisions they do not agree. When Gov
ernor Ieedy speaks Of the dishonesty and ne