The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1908-05-13

to cause him more plain. This gives
one of the reasons why railroads are,
as We might term it. constitutional
ly opposed" to all legislative attempts
to regulate.
There Is too much effort to regu-
late. 1t Is costing the country vast
sums Of money, and 1t is really mar
velOus how the railroads have been
able to stand it, and yet progress.
Compare this beautiful City of
Sumter, with Its system Of water
works, electric lights. sewerage, its
spacious streets and beautiful build
ings, with what, it was twenty years
ago, and you wohder at the advance
ment. due not alone to it's wide-a wake
and progressive citizens but. prob
ably to the fact that it's progress,
neither today nor In the past has been
fettered by all kinds of schemes to
regulate It's every act and interfere
with its merchants and manufactur-
ers in the lawful conduct Of their
business.
Imagine, IL you can, the contrast
between the present Sumter and
what 1t would have been had your
Municipal and State. not to mention
National. legislative bodies spent
days and weeks each year in the
discussion and passage Of laws aimed
at the regulation Of this city's affairs.
The development of the cotton
mill interests in this State has been
wonderful. and 1t may have been due,
and certainly was in a great measure.
to the efforts Of such, men as Eli
SON Smythe, John H. Montgomery,
John B. Cleveland and in more re-
cent years. to Lewis Parker, Foster
McKissick. Gus Smith and a dozen
others. but there Is a still greater
cause and that is that with a free
hand the cotton mill interests have
been allowed to conduct their busi-
ness apd instead Of passing innumer-
able laws, unwise and unnecessary,
and all tending to interfere with, If
not fetter. the managements and bur-
den the stockholders. they have been
encouraged, II not by acts favorable
to their progress, at least by no ac-
ton that would interfere with the
cpntrol by the owners of their own
property.
Strange to say the heads OF private
corporate interests. for example, the
cotton factories, do not hesitate to
tell you that railroads should be
regulated; yet. If you wish to know
their real opinion on the subject, ask
them what the result would be IL the
management Of cotton mills was plac-
ed in the hands. not Of practical man
ayers but OF. say lumber men. Can
the seriousness, OF such a proposition
fail to impress you? It is rather
amusing to see the display Of right
eous indignation evidenced by our
cotton mill friends when they discuss
the labor laws that have been agitat-
cd In Congress for some years past
1t depends entirely upon whose OK
10 gored as to most mems opinion Of
legislative regulation. As for me,
my position to all unnces-
sary legislative Interference with
the lawful conduct of ones af.airs,
whether they be quisi public or pri-
vate. is 80 great as to include not
alone the business I represent, but,
also that of even our cotton mill
friends.
Nothing Is more true than that
"the least governed are the best gov
erned." and I say 1t in all serious
ness that II I were given the privi-
lese of. In word, improving the rail-
road service Of this country so per
cent.\ II not a hundred. would wipe
out all, special acts aimed at the
regulation Of the railroads, and leave
them to work under the, common
law and such laws as apply to all
corporate interests. forbidding discri-
mination and combinations that might
interfere with the country's develop
ment.
No country on earth gets greater
returns from its railroads at so little
cost. but when we see the annual ef-
forts to regulate, 1t reminds one Of
the fable of the goose with the gold
en- egg.
This country Is going to have to
pay very dearly for so much regula-
ton. and we see the indications Of
1t more and more each day It is
costing many millions Of dollars. The
railroads conduct their business SOLE