The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1898-04-07
An Able Paper by
Mr.. W. C. Douglass,
fCon,inued from l-t page.

ben.et thereof, II they a'e "o''"'
of consideration .
. To show that the prosecution
49,, s,srted for "buncombe.
II is very unfortunate that these
e.ses could not have gone 10 the cu-
nrsme Court of our State, so that we
might have had the powers OF the
Railroad Com missioners d. II 1ed IN
this respect, for under the railing
aforesaid, we are still in the power
OF the railroads. Tney are beyond
the reach Of the people, the Railroad
Comm ission and the courts.
The impression seems to have pre- |
vailed that il the railroads were guii
" OF n violation OF law IN issuing
free passes 1t was conclusive OF that
case for refusing TO ans YER In favor
of the defendants, but we have shown
above. as we contend, that the de-
fsndants in al OF the prosecutions
were guilty, aud that q verdict OF
ou,lty IN both forms of the cases
would have been entirely consistent,
and while we have these matters I'M
der consideration, we want TO say
that the foil penalty OF the law
ongbt 10 have bp"u visited on the
Ra lro,d Com pal i,s 10 the free
pass cases, for the following rea-
sons:
They bavo the ablest attorneys IN
the land. who have dissect'd the
Railroad Commission Act section by
section. phrase by phrase and word
by word. They have examined 1t
from every legal standpoint. They
know of the id, nifty OF section OF
the Interstate Commerce Act, and
section 4 OF the Railroad Commission
Act, and il there is anything on this
earth that they have kept up with 1t
is the secessions Of the Interstate
Commerce Commission. They are
vitality affected by each one of these
decisions, IN which it has been sutil-
GENTLY held that it was unlawful to
transport certain persons free and
charge others for n Ike service, in
short that the free pass business has
been declared illegal by such con
stitutional lawyers as Judge Cooley
and Mr., Morrison. Certainly they
violated the law and took the risk
They doubtless thought the risk very
slight, as 1t is q notoriopS fact tha
they had loaded the Railroad Com
mission, the State Off ,ers, member!
Of Congress. members OF the legjsla
ture, county officers, many OF th'
manufacturers, merchants, lawyer
and other prominent men OF thu
State, (and they say "some OF thu
Judges and Solicitors) with their FREE
,.s.es, and the balance were sup
posed to be lot of hobos and hay
seeders who didn't know free pas
from a patch on their breeches, bu
much to their surprise, the "explo
sion came from without and the.
ought to be made pay the "indemni
ty.' There has been cOnsiderabl
talk about "nobody knowing OF tn
law the ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of tn
law the State officers and X. X
Commission had declared it lawful an
such other silly nonsense and this Il
the face of sections of said &C
which allows free transportation onl
to certain persons, (see section 70 K
X. Com. act. A moonshiner froI
Moore county would with as niue
propriety say to the Judge. of tn
Federal. Court, "Why nearly every
body makes it, the county officer
buy it from US, the lawyers, tn
merchants &c., all load up with i
Just as they do with free passes, br
it is such a common thing and s
universally INDUCED in, the count
hup NJ
illegally really Judge you ougf
not to punish me-" Then the Jude
would say depart l never kne
you.' A fine plea indeed. lgnorant
of law pleaded by railroads! A pie
that they have violated the law :
long and so persitently that the
ought to 20 scott free, when the
are finally caught. They have fare
much better than others who ha'
violated the statutes of the Stat
They have not issued these FRI
passes for fun. No doubt they ha'
profited by them sufficiently to
able to indmenify this State again
loss on account of the prosecution
Every body Knows what they iss1
them for, and that upon the who
they pay better than do the tickle
sold for full price.
There is only one remedy. If u
people want to control the nigh
corporations let them send more
the next legislature who will pa
proper laws to this end. If the pc
pie want to be controlled by the CO
porations let them continue to so
the future as they have in the past
Very respectfully.
w. e. DOUGLASS.
April End, '9S.