The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1899-10-05

But now that the railroads have mostly
passed into the hands of nonresident
syndicates, who care little for public
needs and wishes, or for aught except
profits, the officers are simply local
Overseers of the nonresident owners.
Consequently there is no control except
through public opinion formulated in
legislative enactment and executed by
your commissions created for that pur-
pose. The new doctrine that the judic-
iary is the supreme power in the state,
to set aside legislative enactments and
restrain executive action is promulgated
and pushed in the interests of the great
their lobbyists cannot defeat legislative
action, they may fall back upon the
small body of judges in whose selection
they can have hand. BY this attempt
to suppress the public will by judicial
oligarchy (Which is without warrant in
our constitutions will prove as futile,
as the attempt to suppress the popular
will by the executive power in England.
The result was that one king lost his
head, another his throne and for 200
years no sovereign has dared to veto an
act of parliament and no Judge has ever
imagined he had power to declare un-
constitutional an act of the legislative
body. The corporations which are urg-
ing the claims of judicial supremacy in
the government may bring the bench to
ruin, but they cannot destroy the in
herent sovereignty of the people, who
must speak their will through their leg
islative bodies and have that will exc
select. Those who cannot trust to the
wisdom and justice of the people have
no business in free country.
DETERMINING TAX VALUES.
Returning to the matter Of taxation.
there should be no difficulty on that
subject, for as the supreme court of the
United States held in Taylor VS.. Secor,
80 U. S. 575, the actual value of a rail-
road and its franchise is exactly that Of
the market value Of its bonds and
stocks. In that case Judge Miller said:
1T is therefore obvious that when you
have ascertained the current cash value
of the whole funded debt, and the cur
rent cash value of the whole number of
shares, you have, by the action of those
who above all others can best estimate
1t, ascertained the true value of the
road, all its property, it's capital stock
and it's franchises; for these are all
represented in the value of its bonded
debt and of the shares of lls capital
stock"
This Is a simple and unerring plan"
says Senator Ford in the North Ameri-
can Review, sanctioned by long usage
in many states and approved by the SUI
preme court of the United States"
There are some states which levy
a tax on gross earnings, which is per-
haps as fair as any that could be de-
vised. These commissions were created
precisely because the public were dis
satisfied with the conduct of the rail-
way, telegraph and express companies
and decided to regulate them otherwise
than by individual actions In the ordi-
nary courts, which few individuals had
the financial ability to sustain with such
powerful adversaries. 1t is a defect In
all these acts that no officer is appointed
to represent the state, for the amount of
an overcharge demanded by the COM
plainant is usually too small to justify
him to retain counsel While the relief,
II granted by you, being usually a re-.
duction Of rates or other general regu-
lation, is Of general benefit to the public
and Of great interest to the corporation
which last is therefore usually repre-
sented by numerous and able counsel.
Their cx parte statements and argu-
ments, the plaintiff being unrepresent-
ed puts you at disadvantage. AS
Judge Cooley said to your convention in
1892: "The peoples cause is lost by de-
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