Year: 1875

4 anu the JuQge OF one circuit OF our own state,


and also of three Judges of Federal juris-
/ diction, including a distinguished member
1 OF the United States Supreme Court. In accord


ance with these judicial results, and especially in
pursuance of writs of injunction issued from the
/ Supreme Court of Wisconsin, the law has been in


practical force throughout the State since the first


day OF October last. except as to the carriage of
passengers and freight from points within the
State to points without it, and from points with
| out the State to points within it, involy-


ing the, question of Interstate commerce.


alton at the final adjudication of the
| controversy by the Supreme Court of the United


States: Rates for freight and passengers pass
| by the law; and all roads in " Glass G." sub
| Jeect only to the provision that they shall not


charge higher rates for freight than they were re-
| ceivlng under their own tariffs June 1, 1S7
Hence it may be seen that the amount of busnes
! actually affected by the law is hight compare
| The power of the State over the franchises of
| corporations as thus far judicially determined,
| is absolute. most firmly believe that the reser-
vatlon of this power to this unlimited extent was
clearly and wisely intended by the makers of the
| fundamental law Doubtless the trainers of that
| instrument foresaw and appreciated the benefits
| that might ensue from the prosecution of public
enterprises by means of organized and ag
| gregated capital. But they also foresaw and
| appreciated the possible dangers that might
| arise from the creation, within the State. of
power more formidable than the State itself.
| However plausible the argument in behalf of the
| contrary view, we can never intelligently con-



| OF the subjects. We do not deny the sacred and
binding character of contract or the duty of the
State to protect the just pretensions of claims
founded upon vested rights. But because
| of the sacred character of contracts,
! and because of the just pretensions of claims
| founded upon vested rights, our Constitution
| has denied to the representatives of year the
authority to make charter contracts incapable of
| modification or repeal. In representative gov
ernment the people only are the perpetual foun-
tain of justice and power, and in such cases they
only can rightfuly determine, from time to time,
| the extent of their obligations to others, or of
| others to themselves.


| Nor is this doctrine peculiar to our own State
or country In Great Britain the charters of
corporations are held to be subordinate to the
will of Parliament, and, a matter of fact, the


railway laws of England are subject to continuous


modification by the legislative power. In this
country al the present time nearly onethird o
the States claim and safely assert similar prerog-
ative, almost entirely without question or dis
pute.


PROTECTION OF FOREIGN CAPITAL.
1t is alleged that this reservation of power in
our Constitution will endanger the investment
of foreign capital and restrain the progress of
public improvements in Wisconsin, | indulge
in no forebodings of this kind. The power to
destroy includes an equal power to encourage
and protect. Moreover, the power of the State


to destroy, by ways more direct than those of
public supervision, has never been seriously de-
MED. No railroad company exists which may not


be annihiated by Legislative enactment permitted
by provisions of Constitution other than
those under discussion. Under all circumstances
possible investments of capital in Wisconsin and
all other States are more or less dependent upon
the moral obligations of the people and the good
faith of the law-making power.


l have said that the power to destroy includes
the power to encourage and protect. AS to the
full purport of this declaration need but remind
you of the peculiar relations of capital to modern
| railway enterprise and it's management. Noone
can deny that in many instances capital is de-
priyed of its rightful compensation. No one will
dispute that public confidence in investments of
this kind by those not Immediately concerned in
the management is now, and long has been, seri-
lv m jrpd We he tn Ind
that any capitalist would object to such
measure of public supervision and con-
troll as would insure him an equitable
dividend upon his investment; and equally slow
70 conclude that railway stock habitually sold in
the market for bare fraction Of its nominal value
can be seriously deprecated by power of legis


lation capable of enhancing its value. Candor


compels me to say, more plainly, that believe
no real occasion exists for the present deprecia-
ton in the capital stock of many of our principal
railways except the absence of that judicious SUI
pervision of railway management which our Con-
stitution wisely permits.


THE RAILROADS AND THE AGRICULTURAL CLASSES.


Pending the litigation between the State and
the railways, distinguished counsel for the cor


porations arraigned the agricultural classes of
the Northwest ON the charge of forming combina-
tions, of resisting a just administration of the
laws, of fostering the spirit of communism, and
instigating a new distribution of land by taking
from those who have to give to those who have
not and this disparaging discourse has been
widely circulated in the annual report of one of
the companies represented. cannot permit
this aspersion upon the mass of our people to


pass without contradiction and rebuke. The
agricultural classes of the orthwest are not con-
spirators. They are not agrarians. They are
not the enemies of public order or the
public faith. Their lives of peaceful industry
are stained by no offensive record Of reputation,
bankruptcy, ignorance or crime. They earn an
honest living, as all men should. They pay
their honest debts as promptly as most men do.
They are obedient to law, and in peace or i'll
war are prompt to defend their Government and
it's laws from open or secret assault. They
have assented to no encroachment upon vested
rtrh%1 hn pIplafd tod hxrf fhnfr
own Constitution in themselves. They have de-
fed the mandates of no statute by ingenious,
specious and protracted appeals to courts of last
resort. They have never thronged the doors of
our legislative halls to clamor for an increase of
special privileges and an enlargement of their
property rights. They have employed no profess
sonal lobbyists to iniest your presence or to cor
rupt the fountain of law. They have con-
structed no mountains of county or municipal
avoided no burden of taxation demanded by
equity or law. They have resorted to no political
or legislative legerdemain to forestall or subvert
fortunes from property that fails to pay interest
upon itself. They have encouraged no appor-
tionment of lands to the landless, except as
tions of the common domain, or mortgaged
the homes of their wives and children, that
they might enhance the hard-earned wages of
their daily labor and contribute to the general
welfare of the State. They have encouraged no
colossal associations of moneyed power, or organ
lied concentration of influence, within or without
the forms of law not indulged in by all intelligent
men for the promotion of their own and the com
mon good. But if in any of these things they
have indeed offended, they will look elsewhere for
warning and for judgment than to those whose
elouuence is too often the purchased product
the transgressions they condemn.


The agricultural classes are not, and cannot be,
the enemies of honestly-managed railroads. On
the contrary, their natural relation TO all non.
orablc undertakings of this kind is that of
patrons. allies and friends. This relation they
will endeavor to maintain. In demanding the
upright management OF railways by law they
aspire exercise of public influence not Just1-


fed by their numbers their intelligence, the dig
nifty of their calling and the vast interests they
have at stake. Limited In their mutual inter-
course by the stern necessities of their occupa-
tion and moved by ambition but that of pro-
noting the general welfare, they are not likely to
conspire against the general principles OF pub
lie Justice, or consciously to subvert the progress
of enterprises which contribute so largely to the
prosperity OF all.


duplicating the good faith of our State toward
invested capital have truly impaired the credit
of our corporations, and their ability to com
plete extend their lines, they alone are re-


sponsible who should have been prompt to de-


fend the interests they represent by vindicating
the honor of our people But facts that are in
controvertible prove that capital itself has failed
to share largely in the alarm thus Jealous and
wantonly engendered. The year has been
noted for financial conservatism. In all things
and everywhere prices have grayitated to a lower
level. Business and business men have not es-
capped the reverses of labor and laborlng men


have been limited. All the avenues OF trade Deat
abundant evidence of the reaction that inevitably
succeeds an era of careless governments sPecu-
lative thrift and luxurious expenditure. halfway
enterprise within and without the state mas shared
the common fortune.


The whole number OF miles OF rallroad con-
structed in the United States during the year
1872 was 7O65. The number of miles constructed
in 1874 was g. 606. or about one-half the mum ber
constructed in 1872 The number of miles con