Bisbee daily review., 1905-07-21
GOVERNMENT CONTROL
How Railroad and Industrial
 Corporations Differ.
THE WHOLE MATTER MADE CLEAR

Railways Exist Primarily For the
 BeneGt of the People, the Trusts
 For the stOekhOlders-one MOnOpo-
 IistIc. +he Other Engaged In Com
 petItive Business.
 The railroad magnates and their oil cials, attorneys and agents are trying to excite the trust magnates to join with them in their fight against gov ernment control, claiming that the trusts, also being corporations, will be subject to having the price at which they can sell their products regulated by law. as it Is now sought to control railroad rates It is well to keep strict ly in mind the difference between tue railroad monopoly and other monopo- lies. The railroads are granted by the state unusual public powers, such as the right of eminent domain, and ac- cordingly for the protection Of the peo- ple are subject to regulation by the state. The industrial corporations called trusts will also be controlled, but in another way. which is partly provided for in the sherman antitrust law, which punishes by fine and i'm prisoLment for combinations in re straint of trade
 We do not have to go outside of the ranks of railroad men themselves to find clear recognition of the principle which underlies the whole matter of state control of railroads. Thus the late William IT. Vanderbilt of the New York Central road and Mir. Jewett then president of the Erie road. ad- dressed a letter to the so called Hep burn legislative committee back in the late seventies. In which the following propositions are laid down as to be conceded:
 That it is the primary duty of the state to furnish highways. whether they be the road. the canal, the turnpike or the railroad. the state alone having the right of eminent domain.
 That for prudential and other reasons the state of New York preferred 10 en- gage the services and capital Of her cii- gems 10 do what was her duty to do, granting them certain powers under cer. tain limitations and restrictions.
 The state places such citizens in hef place to perform her duties and for this purpose clothes them with the imperial right of "eminent domain
 The ordinary corporation is organized for tks syeCfsl pecuniary Ffodt Of, its shareholders, 'the profit of the public be- ing secondary The railway exploration is organized primarily for the benefit of the people of tlIe state. and the pecuniary consideration is secondary.
 This statement. it seems to us. should leave nothing further to be said re garding the broad and radical differ ence or distinction existing between the ordinary corporation engaged in competitive business and the railroad which is monopolistic in the very na- ture of the case.
 And now as to the extension of pub lie control of railroads to include their charges to the public. If we admit the soundness of the above Vanderbilt and Jewett positions, as it w0UA seem must necessarily be done, then it fol | lows that government control Of rd,ei 1 is exactly as defensible and called fol l as any o.Ler government restrlct.C. Upou railroad corporations. for t-l railroad corporation, according to this ! Lue ui IS4S' 'u4ii5- 4a AIS "sS.-t Oi oAIS | state, ptrf JIIuing state or pubic 1 function. but the ssate or it's govern
 mcut is the agcIt of the people, sub | feet to the control of the people and 1 held responsible to the people in see ing that principles of justice and req soma likeness are applied and enforced l It follows evidently that the railroads ! as the agents of the state are subject ! to the same rule and are to be held ! thereto by the state itself.