Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-04-28

iASDOdI Will Tic oCiiioi SSA'SOA
Rhode Island and the Junior senator from
Massachusetts. When the vote was taken
we discovered that upon the evening be-
fore the President had ordered these two
sturdy sailors to man the lifeboat and be-
fore he stepped into it he had scuttieh
the ship and made for the shore in the
company of these distinguished mariners.
Now we do not want any more COM
binations like this We want the insur-
gents to come to us, and we VIII plot
them to a safe dellverance. Let the SEN
Tor senator from Indiana not stop with
administering a circuitous blow beneath
the belt; that Is mere mutiny; that Is
mot rebellion; that is magnificent, but IL
is not war"
Declaring himself the advocate OF
the states and not Of the railroads.
Senator Rayner of Maryland Wednes,
day addressed himself to the general
aspects of the administration rallrodo
| bill while that measure was unuer eoii-
sideration for amendments.
1 Mr.. Rayner gave special cohsioera-
/ ton to the sections relating TO the IS
suance of stocks and bonds py RAN
road corporations. and to the hnanclai
organization of such corporations
which provisions he contended were no
part of the regulation of commerce.
But assuming that they do constitute
such q regulation, he claimed that in
so far as the state charters to railroads
we're concerned, the provisions were
still contrary to the constitution.
He asserted that Congress would
have as much right to lower the sal
aries Of the officers Of road or to de-
crease the wages of it's employees as IL
would have to regulate its issuance OF
stocks and bonds.
There u.s." he declared, mo decision
Of any of the federal tribunals that
ever has reached such a point of con-
struction of federal supervision There
is no text writer or commentanf that
have read who ever has advanced the
doctrine that a regulation of COM
merce carries with it the right TO regu-
late every act in connection with in
terstate corporations from the lncep-
.tion of their charter all through their
corporation and through every corpor-
alton act that they perform and unless
L. hear some ether ground advanced
FLOR this extreme construction l must
beg to offer my dissent therefrom."
on the SECOND proposition he con-
tended that a charter IS a contract be-
tween the state and the corporators,
and he argued that the bill contem-
plated the violation of the obligation
of such contract. In this connection
Mr. Rayner entered upon a somewhat
personal statement. He declared that
he was not in the Senate as the repre-
sentative of railroad and added:
Il have never accepted any en-
ploymont from them in my profession
although I have had many an oppor
tunity to do So and have never advo-
Gated their claims before any judicial
forum or legislative assemblage. My
hands are absolutely free. l am their
friend when they do what is right, and
their enemy when they do what is
wrong. They are the pride of the coun-
try as they are curse when they ter
ritorialize the land and aDportion ii
amcrg themselves as their subjugated
province and they are a menace to our
institutions when they invade the
halls of legislation and attack and
trample upon the immemorial rights of
the people.
Il do not know whether they are for
this hill or against it and / do not
care Having held no communication
with them or their agents or attor-
neyS, | am utterly ignorant of the po-
sition they occupy. l am here in de-
fence of the states and not of the rail-
roads"
Cuntending that it never has been
20 ot cd that icrIlt tn ora
corporate charters should be taken
from the states. Mr.. Rayner said:
1T is one of their reserved rights that
must be maintained inviolate and intact,
If we can do this. we can literally de-
stroy these charters. If this is Interstate
commerce. then everything in the vocab-
ulary is interstate commerce. / challenge
their constitutionality. | charge that by
violating contractual rights granted by
the states. they undermine the funda-
mental law of the land; that they prac-
tically overrule the maXimums of the
Dartmouth College case, now conceded to
be Incorporated into the law by every
text writer upon the subject
II claim that the fifth amendment to
the constitution is applicable to this bill.
even where the constitutions of the state
or their laws or the charters that they
have granted, are subject to alienation.
amendment or repeal. The Congress of
the United States cannot thus deprive
the states of their vested and inherent
tights. exercised for over 100 years. with
)ut being challenged or questioned and
never. Mr.. President, will | believe that
he supreme court in the ubiquity of its
power a power not possessed by any
,ther judicial tribunal in the world. will
ever sanction such a revolutionary doc
rne.'