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extract from an American paper of a meeting which was 
held in America to check the growing evil of railway 
monopoly. Judge Black, in addressing the meeting, said : 
“Tt is alleged that the railroad corporations, being put into 
possession of the public highways of the country, are bound 
in law and justice to run their roads in the interest of the 
public to whom the highways belong ; that they are public 
servants and trustees, but that they have violated their 
trust most grossly and shamefully.” “Is it true, or is it 
not true? If it is false, then the railroad men are in the 
interesting position of much injured and ill-used individuals, 
for they are being foully slandered by every man who talks 
about them at all, and they are the subjects of continuous 
libel in the newspaper press of the whole country. If it is 
false, this league ought to dissolve at once, and you, gentle- 
men, ought to hide your heads in shame for having engaged 
in a movement against the honest, disinterested, and up- 
right citizens who run your railroads for you. But, if it is 
true, you are engaged in one of the noblest works that 
human hands ever undertook to accomplish ; and if you 
succeed, you will earn and receive the gratitude of a 
redeemed and regenerated people.” Further on Judge 
Black said: “The General (Garfield) described the im- 
‘mense power which these railroad people wield, referred 
to the large endowments which had been bestowed on 
them, and their solid combination, and warned his hearers 
‘that the time was coming when a conflict would occur be- 
tween them and the Government, in which the Government 
would be overthrown if the railways were not throttled 
before.” “We must allow them to start with all to which 
they are entitled—a liberal compensation for their ser- 
vices, the cost of keeping their roads in repair, and a 
fair profit on the capital invested.” This started a 
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