The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1907-01-14
CONTINUED from Saturday,

What has been said with reference
TO railroads applies equally to an 9th
er forms ofcapitai corporate or other
wise. We invite 1t 10 come into our
State and 10 make It's home with US.
We can offer 1t advantages which
can be had scarcely anywhere else In
the Union. Some impression has
been made in certain quarters chief
~ by mischief makers, owing to the
agitation OF the last two or three
years Of the taxation question, that
there was to be raid on capital
Nothing could be further from the
truth. The men. who stand for Just
taxation stand for that because they
are Just men. and men are not hypo-
critics; they do not believe in Undue
ing capital to come into the State un-
der the pretense that 1t is to have
more than Its rights. and then after
It is planted here to go to the other
extreme. The men who have con.
spicuously stood out for the new tax
laws are more anxious to eliminate
any unjust features in them than are
the professional lobbyists. who make
their living by stirring up and keep.
ing up trouble between the State and
the corporations. -
AS to the legal right to compel rail-
roads to transport passengers for two
cents a mile: Our Constitution Is
very broad along these lines. In the
ninth section Of the eleventh article
railroads are declared to be public
highways, and shall be free to all
persons for the transportation Of their
persons and property thereon, under
such regulations as shall be prescri3-
ed by law; and the legislature shall.
from time to time, pass laws applica-
BILE to all railroad corporations in the
State, establishing reasonable maxi
mum rates of charges for the trans
portation of passengers and freight
and providing for the correction Of
abuses, the prevention of unjust dis.
examinations between through and To-
cal or way freight and passenger tar
IFS, and for the protection Of the just
rights of the public, and shall enforce
such laws by adequate penalties
Perhaps the most significant thing In
this constitutional provision is the
declaration that railroads are public
highways. This covers very wide
field. Bud legislation along these
lines must be reasonable, and the es-
Establishment of, rates which would be
SO low as to prevent the operation OF
the railroad except at loss, would
probably be declared void by the
corts, because it would be taking pri.
vate property without just compen.
sation-it would be confiscation. The
heart of the railroad problem is un.
Just discrimination. A railroad being
natural monopoly. and men COMPEL
ed to use It from the very nature OF
circumstances and conditions, If all
are charged more than the service Is
WORTH while allsare injured they are
yet ali alike, and none has an undue
advantage; but IL railroad hauls for
one producer of commodity at ma.
terially less rate than 1t hauls for his
competitor, one man is made pros.
porous and the other is broken up.
Or, II railroad furnishes cars to
one mine and refuses to furnish cars
to another mine, or furnishes more
cars to one mine than 1t furnishes to
another mine when 1t should furnish
the same number to each, 1t thereby
builds up one man and tears down the
other. All huch discrimination is OF
course intolerable.
The railroad commission should
also have the power to supervise the
operation and regulate the rates OF
express companies, sleeping car COM
panies, telegraph and telephone COM
panies, and other like common-car
rlers and public service.corporations.
The Board Of Public Works.
This body is composed of the Gov
ernor, the State Superintendent OF
Free Schools, the Auditor, the Treas
urer, and the Attorney General. with
the Secretary of State as the secre
tary. Since the latter is also an cleo
tive officer he should be made mem
Der of the board. This is very i'm
portant board, and its duties are
onerous, laborious, and varied. All
the members are busy men, and each
of them has as much as one man
ought to do in his own particular de
partment, yet his membership of the
board adds much to his work. These
State officers are nearly all over
worked men. The Legislature from
time to time puts extra duties or
the board in addition to those impos
cd NV narpannont 1awr In tho last