The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1898-05-04
COvERNM'T OWNERSHIP
roads or the Railroads Own the
Government.
AN IMPORTANT ADDRESS.

AN IMPORTANT ADDRESS.
While the minds of the people are
upon the railway problem and the pow
ers and advantages OF a state railway
commission, it will be profitable to con-
slider the power vested in such bodies,
and how far the supreme court of the
United States has decided the people
may go to adjust these questions. We
make the following excerpts from a very
able address by Hon. Walter Clark, su-
preme judge of North Carolina, who has
treated the question fully:
THE right of the people to regulate
the charges of common carriers, even
in times when the public granted no
franchise, and conferred no right of en-
inent domain, is far older than the
common law, older even than the civil
law, and recognized by both as a
necessary and unquestioned rule.
Twenty-one years ago, in 1876, the srl-
preme court Of the United States was
first called upon, pointedly, to review
and e-affirm the recognized law Of the
ages, that the sovereign possessed the
right to regulate the charges for serv-
Ices rendered in public employment,
or for the use of property affected with
public interest. The particular in
stance was the constitutionality of an
act Of the general assembly of Illinois
1otiv {hn oho~ of
for the storage of grain. 1t was con-
tended that, unlike railroads and tele-
graph companies, the public had con-
ferred no franchise by an act of in
inent domain to take private property
for their use, and hence the right to
regulate warehouse rates was not to
be placed on the same footing as the
charges Of common carriers. The un-
derlying principle, however, was held to
be broad enough to embrace the public
right to fix and control the charges of
grain warehouses. Though the pressure
of immense interests was brought to
bear to swerve the court from the we'll
beaten track, by the aid of the ablest
and most skillful members of the bar,
it firmly held to the principles which
have always been law among Anglo
Saxon people. The court laid down the
following principle, to which, with one
slight deviation, it has ever since ad-
hered:
Il. Under the powers inherent in
every sovereignty, a government may
regulate the conduct of it's citizens to-
wards each other, and when necessary
for the public good, the manner in
which each shall use his own property.
ut has been customary in the exer-
else Of these powers in England,
from time immemorial, and in this
country from the first colonization, to
regulate ferries, common carriers, hack
men, bakers, millers, wharfingers, auc-
tioneers, inn-keepers and many other
matters of like nature, and in so doing
to fix maximum charge to be made
for services rendered, accommodations
furnished and articles sold
"The fourteenth amendment to the
United States Constitution does not in
any wise amend the law In this partic-
ular.
when the owner of property de-
votes it to use in which the public has
an interest, he, in effect, grants to the
public an interest in such use, and must,
to the extent of that interest, submit to
be controlled by the public.
THE Limitation by legislative enact
ment of the rate of charges for services
rendered in an employment OF a public
nature, or for the use of property in
which the public has an interest, estab-
fishes no new principle in the law, but
only gives new effect to an old one.
The opinion was rendered by
Chief Justice Waite, and is a
very able and elaborate one. Only two
judges out Of the nine upon that court
Omitted States supreme court) dissent
ed from any part of the opinion. It is
doubtful If more important decision
has been delivered by that court in re-
cent years than this negative which it
then and there put upon this at
tempt, by the great moneyed combina-
tions OF the country, to reverse the i'm
memorial law that the public has the
right to regulate charges in all matters
affected with public use The court
pointed out that the very learned and
just Lord Chief Justice Sir Matthew
Hale, centuries ago, declared that the
sovereign could regulate the conduct