Year: 1874

appointment.


TIE UESTERN RAILROAD TROUBLE.


The vexed question of the right Of a Lcgis-
lature to fix railway tolls, either by direct en-
actment or by Commissioners, is likely to reach
through the Wisconsin controversy an author
itative and final decision. The wisconsin
railway law. which the companies have re-
solved to resist, was passed in obedience to
the demands of the agricultural class, and
embodies almost all that the Grangers' party
has ever asked of the State in the nature of
legislative restriction. The three Commission
ers appointed under it are, one an ex-Agent
of the State Grange, another Secretary of the
State Agricultural Society, and the third
editor of newspaper. These Commissioners
baye prepared infexible schedules Of maxi
mum tolls for freight, making great reduc-
ton from the present charges, and apportion-
ing rates in all cases strictly according to dis
tance. The new tariff was TO go into opera
ton on the 1st of May, but the railroad COM
panies refuse to abide by it, and purpose con-
testing the constitutionaty of the law to the
last issue.


In the famous suit against the Winona and
st. Peter Railroad Company in Minnesota,
decided by the Supreme Court of the State on
appeal about year ago, the right of the Legis-
latnre to regulate tolls was affirmed. The Com
pany held that its charter left it at liberty to
establish its own rates, and this right could
not be abridged without an impairing OF the
validity of q contract The Court decided
however that the Legislature in granting the
right to take toll had not surrendered its
sovereign authority to fix some limit to that
toll. The question in Wisconsin is somewhat
different Several of the companies affected
by the law are understood to maintain that
their charters expressly authorize them to
"demand and receive such tolls and charges
"as they may from time to time think
reasonable" This is not unlikely to be
true; for the Western Legislatures in many
instances encouraged the building OF new
roads by granting charters OF extraordinary
liberality, and they afterwards discovered to
their sorrow That they had paid dear price
for The impetus thus given to their development
The rules laid down by the Dartmouth Col
lege decision would seem, therefore, to apply
to the Wisconsin cases, although they were
not admitted in Minnesota. The counsel tor
the companies raise the further objection that
the limitation Of rates is partial cOliiscatIOn
of earnings, and may even prevent the pay
ment of interest on the cOmpany's Obligations,
the result of which would %be a violation of
the contract between the railroad and its bond
holders.


1t is to be hoped that the important points
involved in this controversy may be carried
without unnecessary delay to the Supreme
Court Of the United States, so that one of the
most difficult problems of legislative inter-
ference with railroad tariffs may at least be
taken out of politics. But if tho highest trib
unal in the country should affirm the consti-
tutionalty of the disputed laws, we do not
believe the Farmers difficulty would be one
whit nearer a conclusion than it is to-day.
Attempts to regulate transportation charges by
acts of the Legislature have uniformly failed
wherever they have been tried They have
failed in England, where Parliament is al
most omnipotent, and they have been aban-
doned by all experienced and far-seeing
economists. In one way or another,
tho railroads always come out of the
contest victOrious-and in the United States
there are obvious reasons why their victory
must be prompt and easy. Even, however, if
the Court should sustain the law, and the roads
SOOulu SuDlulJ 10 III, lHc NOuIu gam
no benefit. Their market is not in Wisconsin;
it is in New-YOrk. The eastern termini of the
Wisconsin trunk roads are all practically at
tho sea-coast. The moment bushel of grain
crosses the Wisconsin border it is beyond the
reach of Wisconsin laws. How are State Com
missioners at Madison gong to determine the
price at which carload of wheat shall be
laid down in this city1 And if, by an act of
Congress, or by concurrent legislation of
the separate States, q maximum tariff of
freights could be established, strictly pro
rata, from the West to the sea-board,
the remoter districts would be absolutely shut
out of the market, and q road which happened
to be moro circuitous than another would
have to suspend business because tho law
would virtually compel it to charge more than
its competitor. The report of the Committee
on Transportation Routes, made recently to
tho House of Representatives by Mr.. Window,
disposed of the favorite fallacy that nothing
but statute is necessary to secure cheap
transportation and if the researches of the
Committee have no other effect than to con-
vince the United States of this truth, which
older countries discovered long ago, their
labors will certainly have been worth while.


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