The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1907-04-06
JUSTICE MUST BE DONE.
People and the Railroad Magnates ~
the Bar.

Three or four months ago 1t was
said in these columns that Mr.. Harri-
man would o find ne would have
to come off his high perch and face
an outraged people This forecast has
in part come true, for we now md
this superior being "who belongs to
a higher sphere" saying: II have
made up my mind to give in future
more attention to the interest of the
public in these affairs" This may be
Just talk of Hartman to bridge over
the present tight place he is in, but 1t
will certainly be to his interests to
leave undone many things he says he
would like to do, for the people mean
business. The determination to no
longer be plundered by Hartman and
other railroad magnates is not a
feeting shadow that the people are
gazing after, nor will they be salts
fed with anything less than a full
measure of justice.
1t is not Mr.. Hartman the people
so much dislike, for he is but OF to-
day, and tomorrow will not be, but
the system that such as he have de-
veloped for building up great fortunes
at the expense of the great masses OF
the people who have been compelled
to pay exorbitant railroad charges.
The creation of fictitious debts that
have no vestige of foundation, either
legally or morally, which have been
made charges on the railroads, on
which the public are expected to pay
interest, will have to be ignored as
a basis for valuation and rates. The
experience of history shows that vast
possessions acquired, even under the
| guise of law, but really p~lundered
from an oppressed people have al
ways in the end been scaled down, or
! sequestered by the state for the
public welfare. 1t will be so again.
| The American people are just and
will a all necessary costs and In
terest to the corporations on the real
capital invested for the t~ranspOrta'
ton of persons and property, but
they do not propose to continue to be
robbed as the evidence shows the
people on the Hartman lines have
been and continue to enrich the graft
ers that have been exposed in the
PENNSYLVANIA railroad scandals and
the numerous other instances that
have only so far been mentioned.
| Those and like things will stop and
in the end restitution will be made
either to the ~plundered individuals or
to the public at large.
It is absurd for Mr.. Hartman and
his equally wicked partners to now
promise to be good and still retain
the swag. If the present law Will not
reach them. other Jaws will be en-
acted or ways will be devised to make
all things even. The people are no
able to do this at once and II they
had the opportunity it would not be
wisdom to create the disturbance IL
business that such a revolution woulc
entail. 1t will take, time and patience
and the highest wisdom for the PEG
ple to regain their own without losing
more than they would gain by intern
perate action. 1t will first entail &
practical housekeeping to get rid o.
the corrupt politicians that are IL
league with the p~lunderers. Many
a Republican leader will be made tt
bite the dust politically before full
Justice can be done and this is thf
work for the people Of states and con
gressional districts to at once pro
coed with by organizing to turn 'th1s
rascals out" AS long as. there is I
Republican machine controlling cor
gress and many state legislatures IL
league with the corporations, it is I'm
possible to expect justice and fal
dealing, for the political machine act
as a shield to protect those OF tn
Hartman stripe from being com
PEELED to make real reforms in thel
way of doing business, to say nothing
of such restitution as should be made