216 



CONGRESS. (INTER-STATE COMMERCE.) 



would not find it long difficult to complete its 

 Pacific road when it can compete with our 

 transcontinental lines hampered by these pro- 

 visions as to rates and schedules, and the stock- 

 holders in those now existing competing with 

 ours for east and west freight would soon re- 

 joice in long-waited-for dividends. Nor can I 

 understand why the framer of this bill has ex- 

 empted water-freights from its provisions. The 

 committee bill has done the same. My col- 

 league says it is because the difficulties of in- 

 cluding water-freight were insuperable, but it 

 seems to me the difficulties of excepting it are 

 greater. Interstate commerce moves on the 

 water equally as on the rail. Why hamper the 

 one class and leave the other free ? And this 

 in a bill professedly intended to prevent dis- 

 criminations ! " 



Mr. Barksdale, of Mississippi, said: "Per- 

 fection is not claimed for either of these bills, 

 but either is a long step in the right direction. 

 It must be remembered that no product of 

 human hands or of human brain is perfect. 

 None but Infinite Power and Wisdom can look 

 upon his work and say, It is finished. 



" It has been said that there are irreconcilable 

 differences between the corporations and the 

 enormous capital they represent on the one 

 hand and the American public on the other 

 the latter, for self-protection, claiming their 

 right of control by legitimate legislation with- 

 in constitutional limits ; the former denying 

 and defying such control. In the House of 

 Representatives, on the 16th of December, 

 1869, the late President James A. Garfield, 

 then a member of this body, submitted a re- 

 port containing this striking language : 



I am persuaded that the next great question to be 

 confronted will be that of corporations and their rela- 

 tion to the interests of the people and to national life. 

 The fear is now entertained by many of our best men 

 that the national and State Legislatures of the Union, 

 in creating these vast corporations, have evoked a 

 spirit which may escape and defy their control, and 

 which may wield a ppwer greater than legislatures 

 themselves. The rapidity with which railroad corpo- 

 rations have consolidated during the past year is not 

 the least manifestation of this power. 



" In the light of present surroundings, these 

 words, uttered fifteen years ago, read like 

 prophecy. If there is an ' irrepressible con- 

 flict' between these tremendous forces I 

 trust there is not whatever else shall fail, let 

 the Constitution be enforced, let the rights of 

 the people be maintained." 



Mr. Boyle, of Pennsylvania, discussed the 

 proposed legislation with reference to its ap- 

 plication to particular railroads: "Assuming 

 that these bills go beyond the common law in 

 the matter of the wrongs prohibited, as must 

 be maintained by those who advocate them, 

 and as they certainly do in some other particu- 

 lars, what will be their effect? Their avowed 

 purpose is to establish equality between ship- 

 pers. I presume it is not intended to establish 

 inequalities between railroad companies, and 

 to impose burdens upon some from which oth- 



ers, under similar circumstances, will be re- 

 lieved. Let us see what will be their effect in 

 this respect. 



"The committee's bill provides 'that all 

 charges by any person or persons engaged 

 alone or associated with others in the trans- 

 portation of property by railroad from one 

 State or Territory to or through one or more 

 other States or Territories of the United 

 States, or to or from any foreign country, shall 

 be reasonable.' These words, as descriptive of 

 the persons within the purview of the bill, are 

 referred to in every other part of it, and are 

 substantially the same as those used in the sub- 

 stitute. 



" Take four of the great trunk lines, which 

 are largely engaged in carrying what is called 

 interstate commerce. First, the New York 

 Central road. Its terminal points are Buffalo 

 on the lake and the city of New York. It is 

 entirely within the State of New York. Of 

 course to any business originating at or be- 

 tween these terminal points, and not going be- 

 yond them, the provisions of these bills will be 

 inapplicable. But, more than this, they will 

 not in any degree affect any of the immense 

 traffic from Chicago or any of the lake ports 

 to Buffalo, and from there to New York by 

 the Central road, for the reason that this bill 

 does not deal with interstate commerce carried 

 by water, and, so far as this railroad carriage 

 is concerned, it begins and ends within the 

 State of New York, and does not go out of it. 

 As to this enormous lake traffic, as to all the 

 traffic originating at Buffalo and other points 

 along the line and going east ; as to all traffic 

 originating at New York and along the line 

 and going west to Buffalo, and thence by the 

 lakes to Toledo, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, 

 or to any other point in the great West, the 

 New York Central Company will be independ- 

 ent of this legislation. It may charge rates 

 reasonable or unreasonable. It may grant re- 

 bates, drawbacks, or resort to any other device 

 to give to one shipper preference over another. 

 It may discriminate between shippers and be- 

 tween localities in any manner and to any ex- 

 tent it may deem proper so far as this legisla- 

 tion is concerned, and snap its fingers in the 

 faces of your commissions and your courts. 



" Now consider the Erie Railway. Its ter- 

 minal points are Dunkirk and Buffalo on the 

 lake and New York at tide- water. It is en- 

 gaged in precisely the same kind of trade as 

 the Central, and is practically a parallel road. 

 But, unfortunately, it crosses a small corner of 

 Pennsylvania. In the language of the bill, it 

 passes from one State through one other State, 

 and by reason of that fact is made subject to 

 all the provisions, pains, and penalties of this 

 measure. What the New York Central may 

 do legally, the Erie may not do without a 

 breach of the law. What a Central director 

 or a Central agent may do with impunity, 

 would make an Erie director or agent a crimi- 

 nal, and subject him to a fine of unlimited 



