The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-08-15

DOdTQS Is Que process OF law ana uIdI'
But there are Federal judges who have
issue their injunctions Notwithstanding;
esteeming their own opinion of the value
of such property, superior to that of the
boards authorized by law. In North
Carolina the railroad companies are tax
ing the public rates high enoUgh to pay
four per cent net, above taxes and all
expenditures, upon $120,000,0 OO, but
when the Board appointed by Law for the
purpose assessed their property and fran
chise at $40, 100000 Gabout one third the
value) those corporations. which were
owned by non-residents, promptly secUr-
ed an injunction from a Federal Judge.
| do not know whether such fragrant
cases occur elsewhere, but the result in
that State has been universal indigna-
ton, except among the newspapers and
other agencies in corporation pay. Such
action gives an impetus to the growing
demand for the election of Federal
Judges by the people and for a term of
years instead Of the present unrepubli-
can life tenure under which they are
neither responsible to public opinion nor
anything else, and hold their will supe-
riOr to that Of the law. The Acts of a
State Legislature are apparently held in
sovereign contempt,
THE BIAS OF TRAINING"
In saying this ] wish to be understood
as casting no reflection upon my brethren
of, the Federal bench as a body. Among
them are some of the ableSt and purest
men and best lawyers in the Republic.
But unlimited power without responsible
ity such as is conferred by life tenure
with a certainty of no liability to- i'm
parchment by a busy Congress is too
great a temptation for most men-and
when as now, the Federal bench is large
ly recruited from those whose lives at
the bar have been spent as railroad at
tOrneys, and who know that they owe
their promotion to the influence of the
great corporations who have formerly
employed them, it is not strange that
some of these judges should yield to the
bias of their training
THE CARDINAL MISTAKE.
The cardinal mistake is in assuming
that railroads are chartered for a pri-
vate purpOse-the emOlument of their
managers. They are chartered for pub
lie purposes, the convenience and service
of the public, the profit of the managers
being only incidental to procure the SER
vice. When railroads were owned, by
the original subscribers to the capital
stock living along their lines, and the
counties and cities which were large
stockholders, public opinion exercised
through the annual election of the Off
GERS was sufficient public control. But
now that the railroads have mostly pass
ed into the hands of nonresident syndi-
Gates, 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 pub
Itch opinion formulated in legislative
enactment and executed by your com
missions created for that purpose. The
new doctrine that the judiciary is the
Supreme power in the State, to set aside
Legislative enactmentS and restrain exc
Cutive action is promulgated and pushed
in the interest: of the great mOneyed com
binations so that when their lobbyists
can not defeat Legislative action, they
may fall back upon the small body of
Judges in whose selection they can have
a hand. But this attempt to uppreSs
the popular will by a judicial oIigarchy
(which is without warrant in our Con-
stitutiOns) will prove as futile, as the
attempt to suppress the popular will by
the executive power in England. The
result lIGI6 "dS ludl III L1nS OoI HIS
head, another his throne and for two
hundred years no sovereign has dared to
veto an act of Parliament and no judge
has ever imagined he had power to de-
clare unconstitutional an act Of the leg
~islative body. The corporations which
are urging the claims of Judicial SUI
premacy in this government may bring
the bench to ruin, but they can not de-
strOy the inherent sovereignty of the
people, who must speak their will
through their legislative bodies and have
thai will executed by such agencies as
they shall select. Those who can not
trust to the wisdom and justice of the
people have no business in a free cOun-
try.
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,
% L. S. So, the actual value of a rail
rOad and its franchise is exactly that
of the market value of all its bonds
and stocks. In that case Justice Miller
said: 1t is therefore obvious that when
you have ascertained the current cash
value of the whole funded debt, and the
current cash value Of the entire number
of shares, you have, by the action of
those who above all others can best esti-
mate it, ascertained the true value of the
road, all its property, its capital stock
and it's franchises; for these are all rep
by the value of its bonded debt
and of the shares of its capital stock"
''This is a simple and unerring plan"
says Senator Ford in the North America,
Review, sanctioned by long usage IL
many States and approved by the Su-
preme Court of the United States"
There are some States which levy a tax
gross earnings, which is perhaps as
fair as any that could be devised. These
Commissions were created precisely be-
the public were dissatisfied with
the conduct of the railway, telegraph and