342 MANAGEMENT OF RAILROADS IN OPERATION. 



This subject is of special interest at this time in view of the judi 

 cial dicision lately rendered in Illinois, in which it is laid down as a 

 rule &quot;that directors of railroad companies were not absolute in 

 their powers; that they were but trustees to manage the estate of 

 stockholders, and could no more abuse their trust, or waste and 

 squander the property of the stockholder than could any trustee or 

 executor, or other person charged with a fiduciary duty.&quot; 



The lands are received by the State as a trust, and are confided to 

 the company to carry it into operation. The State, therefore, is re 

 sponsible to the people for the faithful application of the trust. 



The State provides, that while the lands are under its care, no 

 part of the same shall be depredated upon, and that they shall be 

 preserved intact for the purposes for which they were donated. It 

 would seem still more necessary that the duty so assumed should be 

 supplemented by a careful supervision of the same after the dis 

 posal of the grant, and until the final application of the proceeds 

 therefrom is made, adequate security should be required for such 

 faithful application. Indeed, in the spirit of the decision above re 

 ferred to, if there should appear a reasonable apprehension that the 

 lands donated had been diverted, wasted, or squandered, it may 

 well be considered if it be not the further duty of the State to re 

 quire such equitable adjustment thereof as a judicial investigation 

 should determine. 



CHAPTEK XXIII. 



MANAGEMENT OF RAILROADS IN OPERATION. 



MANAGEMENT or RAILROADS IN OPEEATION EAILKOADS AS MERCHANTS RINGS 

 AMERICAN GENIUS DISPLAYED IN STOCK WATERING UNSKILLFUL MANAGEMENT 

 EXCESSIVE CHARGES RAILROAD SIDE OF THE QUESTION BENEFITS CON 

 FERRED PUBLIC CHARACTER OF RAILWAYS ESTABLISHED NECESSITY OF CON 

 TROL AND CONSEQUENT RIGHT OF SUPERVISION INTERESTS OF CAPITAL RE 

 QUIRE CONTROL INSECURITY OF RAILROAD INVESTMENTS How CONTROL 

 MAY BE EXERCISED FAULTY LEGISLATION SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONSOHIO 

 COMMISSIONERS ON RAILROAD RATES. 



Two things have tended to confuse the ideas of farmers on 

 the railroad question, viz., a lack of knowledge of the modes 

 in which such vast business enterprises are conducted, and the 

 crude and often conflicting treatment of the subject by the 

 press. Politicians have found the agitation of this subject 

 profitable for their own purposes, and, between the intemper 

 ate denunciations of &quot; Grangers run wild,&quot; and the still more 

 unfair treatment of the farmers movement against monopolies, 

 by a few Eastern journals, hundreds of readers have been try 

 ing to find the medial line of truth. To all such we especially 



