Year: 1874

were. to say the least, surprises. Mcssrs. Mat
sell and Voorhis will be accepted by the ma
jority of thoughtful citizens as an insult.


TIE WESTERN RAILROAD DECISION


We have now before us the full text of the
decision of the United States Circuit Court in
Wisconsin, denying the application OF certain
bondholders of the Chicago and North Western
road for an injunction to restrain the Railroad
Commissioners from impairing the value OF
their property. The Commissioners having
fixed schedule under the so-called Potter
law, reducing the rate of fare on the North
Western and st. Paul roads from four cents
mile to three, the companies complained that
by this subtraction of % per cent from
heir earnings they would be prevented
from paying the interest on their bonds,
and they asked the Court to forbid the
enforcement of the schedule on the ground
that it would be equivalent to taking
private property without compensation.
The Judges prepared no opinion on the case,
it being well understood on all sides that the
question should be carried as speedily as pos
sble to the Supreme Court of the United
States; and Notwithstanding the angry temper
WHICH Has OtCdSlOlldlIJ pitNdlitu uuiiHS 'hO
progress of the controversy these proceedings
seem to have been conducted in a spirit of
Cancellation and justice. The Court holds that
Z" the charters of the railroad corporations un-
"der the Constitution of Wisconsin may be
"altered or repealed by The Legislature at any
time after their passage In legal effect,
therefore, there was incorporated, in all the
"numerOus grants under which the North
"Westem Railway Company now claims It's
"rights OF franchise and property in this State,
" the foregoing condition contained in the Con-
"stitution. Ii became a part, by operation of
claw, of every contract or mortgage made by
" the company, or by any of its numerous pre-
"decessors under which it claims. The share
" and bondhoders took their stock or their Sc
"curites subject to this paramount condition,
"and of which they in law had notice. If the
corporation by making contract or deed OF
trust on its property could clOthe its creditors
"with an absolute Interchangeable right, 1T would
enable the corporation by its own act to
"abrogate one of the provisions of the funda
"mental law of the State" The Court con-
cludes therefore that as to the rates for the
transit of persons and property exclusively
"yithin the limits of this State, the Leg





" of the charter of the NOrth-Western Railway
Company, and the fact that such alteration
"might affect the value of its property or
franchises cannot touch the question of
"power in the Legislature" But the law also
"includes within its terms property and per-
90 SONS transported on railroads from other
States into Wisconsin and from Wisconsin
into other States - and this of course is the
only part Of the law that can really affect the
market price of grain, and the only part the
Grangers will find worth fighting for. With
regard to this the case is not by any means
clear. The point was not fully argued by
counsel, and the Court prOnounces no decision,
intimating a strong doubt however, whether
the provision in question does not usurp the
power of regulating commerce between the
States which the Federal Constitution COM
mits exclusively to Congress. At our latest
adyices 1t had not been determined whether
arguments should be heard on this issue or
the whole case sent at once to the Supreme
Court


1t will be seen therefore that the victory
over which the Changers have been firing can
non, though a signal, was not complete one.
In the first place, the decision applies only to
local traffic-that Is, to traffic wholly within
the State,-and the great bulk of the grain
transportation business is not affected by it.
In the second place, the decision is based upon
clause of the Constitution of Wisconsin
which expressly reserves to the Legislature
the right TO alter or repeal charters, and it can
not be accepted as precedent except in
States where a similar provision of the Con-
stitutiOn is in torce,-as ii is IN New York
The discussion therefore whether an interfer-
ence with charter privileges is an impairing of
the validity of contract, in the absence of
any reserved right either in the charter itself
or in the organic law, still remains open. In
most of the Western States this is really the
important issue.


1t would be useless to speculate upon the
consequences of a decision which is not final.
There is a fair prospect that the arguments
may be heard at the October term OF the Su-
preme Court, and meanwhile it is understood
that there will be no vexatiOus prosecutions
for penalties. But it is impossible to contem-
plate without uneasiness the opening scenes
of this conflict between two blindly embittered
parties who ought to be close friends and
allies If the Potter law is to stand,
the railroads of course are at the mercy
of an angry and excited adversary, and ruin
stares them in the face. No capitalist will
trust his money in an enterprise whose profits