Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1899-09-14
NARTERIEs OF REPUBLIC.
JUSTICE cLARKs ADDRESS TO
RAILWAY COMMISSIONERS.
Clear Right Of tho Public to Control
acknowledgements Volume of Their
Traflc and Consequent Powor-7Pernlcl-
Gus Interference In Politics

The following Is q digest OF Vho
speech OF Justice Walter Clark oil the
North Carolina Supreme Court deliY'
cred recently by invitation oefore INC
national convention OF railroad com
missloners at Denver, colorado'
From the golden mile stone IN tne
Roman Forum radiated those maen''
Scent roads which to this day tell now
Rome built for the ages Along them
pourcd the tide OF the Republics ana
the Empires commerce; over them
tramped tho legions, and Us the Coo
Terminus successfully removed further
and further the limits OF her domains
these magnificent viuducts carried 10
the remotest verges the arts the liter
ture, the laws, the civilization that
VIVA Roman. Indeed her roads made
possible the vast extent Of her domln-
nom and bound together for so many
oenturies so many countries in that
Roman Pence VIII ch created and main
eained the civilization without the
learning which humanity would not
occupy the advanced stage that IT does
today.
Suppose for moment that those
Roman roads, the arteries OF the en-
pire, had been owned by private com
panies OF milllonNires; that not u
wheel could roll nor man move along
them, nor even the legions except on
terms dictated by the corporations
would not those corporations have
had the empire by the throatP Would
they not have appointed consuls anu
pro.consuls, every senator, every gen
eral and every Judge? They would
have been the government
A greater than Rome is before YOU
In these United States the 100, 900 miles
Of iron way IRE no less the life arteries
Of the Republic. Along them pours a
tide of travel OF freight, OF wealth far
beyond what tie Roman ways, even
those nearest the capital, ever wit"
messed. Indeed, though our railway
system dates back only seventy years,
over any one OF our many great
through lines, the volume of freight
and travel exceeds that OF the entire
world century ago. 1t is needless to
cav that the control of this immense
powor must be in the government, that
is in the people, for with us the gov
eminent is still in theory at least, the
people.
Railroads can only be constructed
by reason Of having rights Of way con
demned for them as public use, and
being public use, they are nccessar-
lily subject TO public regulation In
deed, the fact that you sit here, that
we have an Inter-Sta Commission
and that thirty-four states or more
have their Railroad Commiss' ons, is
conclusive that the sovereign, of
whom the Supreme Court Of the Union
and of every state, is merely an agency
the sovereign people-have decided
once for all that these iron horses
shall be bitted and bidled, The sun
will not, cannot go back q single de-
gree on the dial at Ahaz MIR. ingalls,,
President of two great systems, in his
address to you last year, frankly said:
Regulation by the people las come
TO stay and railroad manager who
does not recognize that fact is back
number"
The masses Of our fellow citizens are
intelligent and just. They have no
hostility to railroads as such, but only
TO their abuses They recognize the
Immense value OF railroads, their in.
.dispensible assistance in the develop
ment of this country. by individual,
city, country, state and national sub
.ocriptions they have aided the con-
struction Of the railroad system Of
this country. They have seen indi-
vidual stockholders "frozen out" they
have seen city, country and state hold
ings displaced that great manipulators
may become the owners Of these prop.
ertiea They have seen the more than
$500, 900, 900 of national aid given in
lands and bonds disappear "like the
ibaseless fabric Of a vision" and leave
scarce wracls behind. These things
they have endured and would even
forgive II the present management Of
these systems were fair and just
II was Frenchman who malicious
ay defined lawyer as gentleman
who rescues yonr property from the
enemy and appropriates it himself" 1t
will be small advantage to the public
Il the railroads develop the country
merely to own its profits themselves,
for the value of land depends upon the
amount Of profits taken out Of its pro-
duce for transportation. ....
The returns to the Interstate Com.
merce Commission for the year ending
80 of June, 1899, are not yet in but
taking the returns for 80 of June, 1898,