Year: 1875

from orr own, If we are convinced they
are honest and not based on prejudice
1t is, then, the manifest duty of every
citizen to examine with care all ques-
tions presented, to weigh the arguments
offered on both sides with candor and to
support heartily, and with no halfway
measures, the side which, upon due con-
sideration, he shall deem most beneficial
to the public welfare. If men were al
ways thus disposed many of the errors oil
popular government would be avoided;
| but it is too often the case that hasty i'm
pulse takes the place and usurps the func-
tions Of calm, deliberate judgment. In
many instances, no doubt, the first i'm
/ pulse is correct, and this is especially
the case where the question arising is one
! in which the welfare of the masses is al
stake endangered by the selfish designs
Of the few. Well guarded, the popular
impulse in general labors for the popular
/ veal with great measure Of success i'll
advised, it is too apt to transcend the
! bounds of discretion, and in righting one
wrong be guilty of another. Then, when
it is perhaps too late to remedy the error
of impulse, calm reflection points out the
course which should have been followed
in the first instance, and which there is
danger OF following 10 the opposite cx-
treme.


This has notably been the case in late
years with reference 10 the railroad inter-
ests of the country. Stretching from the
! Western frontier almost to The Pacific,
was vast expanse Of territory but little
known, but presumed to be much of q
character with that of the older States.-
! When, therefore, the project of. rail-
road through this unsettled country first
took shape, and asked government aid in
the form of land subsidies, it met with
universal favor from one end Of the I'm
ion to the other. 1t was thought that the
men who could inaugurate and carry to
successful completion scheme of such
gigantic character were worthy Of almost
any reward generous government could
bestow. There was no opposition to sub
sides thcn-all, and especially the people
of the Pacific States, were enthusiastic in
favor of liberal aid to an enterprise which
would bring nearer together the widely
separated sections Of our country. We
rushed to one extreme. Millions of acres
of the public domain were granted to the
trans s-continental railways and it did not
end there-railway schemes sprang up
all over the country, and came to the
National Legislature with petitions for
aid, and backed, as they were, by mon
led influences which were brought to bear
upon yenal Congressman, soon swept
away vast tracts of fertile territory which
actual settlers alone. Not until the mis-
chief was done did the nation open its
eyes to the magnitude of the evil it had
fostered, and more healthy public sen
timent declared against further subsidies
| to corporations, of any character what
ever.


From one extreme we rushed to anoth-
or. Railroads, instead of being looked
upon in the light of great public benefits
aids in developing the country-were
regarded rather as public enemies, to be
kept under the control of stringent laws
and their charges and profits reduced to
the lowest possible figure. In this and
in several of the Western States, the
transportation question entered largely
into the political canvass, which was con-
Quoted with great bitterness. Those who
believed in a just policy, one which would
deal fairly with all parties in interest did
not come up to the standard the public
demanded. Each political party found
it necessary to have strong anti railroad
plank in its platform, but these profess
ions were not accepted, and new organi-
cations, designed to afford relief from all
railroad evils, entered the field of politics
and at once commanded a strong popular
support. In the multitude of measures
brought forth to meet the exigences
deemed to have arisen, those which pro-
posed the most radical changes met with
the greatest favor, but the question has
proven difficult one to deal with, and
the champions Of railway reform find
themselves as far from their object as
ever.


Another phase of popular feeling on
this question is now being exhibited -
The acts Of impulse, which proved such
fertile field for domagoguery are found to
be detrimental to the very interests it
was hoped they would serve, and some
recent proceedings in the anti-rairoad
strongholds give promise Of an era in
which it is to be hoped that better judg-
ment may prevail. 1t is patent that as
these great transportation agencies are the
means through which we must look for
further development of the country, so it
is not sound policy to engender bad feel
ings between them and the people they
serve. Enlightened legislation will rec
ognizc that fact by the passage of laws in
which the just rights of all parties in in
terest will be treated with due regard
That the next Legislature of this State will
approach this Question with better un-
derstanding of its merits, we do not
question.