Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1905-10-30
JEREMIAH 5. BLACK THE new TAX LIST
ON The Duties OF CORPORATIONS
AS PUBLIC SERVANTS.
In Speech Delivered Twenty two
Years Ago, Judge Black Plainly and
Distinctly Marked the Line. The
The arrangement of Railroad Not
Private Enterprise.

VssNosS LusSs
The managers of the railroad literary
bureau and others who protest against
railroad regulation advance the same
arguments against which that eminent
lawyer, Jeremiah 5. Black, contended in
a speech delivered in 1888. Mr.. Black
dealt with "the duties OF corporations as
public servants" and we are told by one
authority "it IS doubtful if anv other
speech on a technical question y! l}w and
industrial economy ever produced effects
SO profound and iar-reaching."
Note the similarity between the argu-
menss Of the railroad literary bureau of
today, and the contention of the railroad
magnates of Mr.. Blacks time. Referring
to these railroad claims, Mr.. Black said: {:
"rhey assert that the management of
the railroads, being mere speculation
OF their own, these thoroughfares of
trade and travel must be run for their
interests. without regard to public right.
Ii they take advantage of their power to
oppress the labor and overtax the land
of the state; if they crush the industry
of one man or place to build up the
prosperity OF another; ii they plunder
the rich bv eXtortion, or deepen the dis
tress OF the poor by discriminating against
them, they justify themselves by show
ing that all this was in the way OF bust.
ness; that their interests required them
to do it; that if they had done otherwise
their fortunes would not have been 50
great as they are; tn it was the pru
dent, proper, and successful method OF
managing their own affairs. This is their
universal answer to all complaints.
Their protests against legislative inter
vention to protect the public always
takes this shape, with more or less dis.
tinctness Of outline"
May we not, referring to these same
claims, use the language employed by
jeremiah Black when in that same
speech he said: "In whatever language
they clothe their argument, it is the
same in substance as that with which
DeMetrius, the silversmith defended the
sanctity Of the temple for which he made
statues: 'Srs, ye know that by his craft
we have our wealth."
1t would be difficult to make better
answer to these claims than that given
by Mr.. Black himself, and it would be
well if every American citizen could read
Mr.. Blacks speech in full.
Mr.. Black laid down the doctrine that
"the management Of the railroads is not
matter of business to be conducted like
private enterprises, merely for the profit
of the directors or stockholders" He
cited an opinion rendered by the supreme
court of Pennsylvania, where it was de.
termined that railroad is a public high
way and in no sense private property,
and that "the corpol alton authorized to
operate it is servant of the state, as
much as an officer legally appointed to
do any other public duty; as strictly
confined by the laws and as liable to be
removed for transgressing them" and
he said that no judge "whose authority
is worth a straw" ever denied the doc
trine for which he contended, the
United States supreme court having
affirmed it in scores of cases.
Because OF the vast magnitude of the
affairs entrusted to the railroad mag
mates, and the terrible temptation to
which their cupidity is exposed, Mr..
Black said that it was necessary that
the people "hold them to their RESPONSE.
biities, and hold them hard" He
averre that a corporation entrusted to
do a public duty must perform it with
an eye single TO the public interest. and
that partiality or extorton should no
more be tolerated on the pa,t OF the rail.
road official than when practiced by any
other public servant.
"The people," said Mr.. Black, shave
rights OF property AS well as the corpora
tions and ours are-or ought TO be--as
sacred as theirs. Between the great do.
main which we have ceded to them and
that which still belongs to us, the line
is plainly and distinctly marked, and if
they cross it for purposes OF plunder they
should be driven back under the lash of
the law"
Mr.. Black showed that it is the duty
of the state to open thoroughiares OF
trade and travel through her territory;
that for that purpose che may take the
property of citizens and pay for the ,rk
out OF her own treasury; that she may
make that thoroughfare free to all
corners or reimburse the cost by levy ing
a special tax upon those who use it that
she may authorize the road to be built
by corpo' alton or an individual and
pay for it by permitting the builder o
collect tolls; that she may empower a
natural or artificial person to do this
wo.k. but that ",n all cases the proprie-
tary right remains in thu state, and is
held by her in trust for the use Of the
people,"