ANNUAL EXHIBITION—ADDEESSES. 
143 
leading business men of the communities interested in the 
management of the roads, and come to be a few immense cap¬ 
italists residing abroad. So, too, the theory upon whicdi the 
roads were originally constructed, is changing ; and the su¬ 
preme court of Wisconsin, and the supreme court of Iowa 
two most intelligent and upright courts, have recently decided 
that a railroad company is a mere 'private corporation, and that 
the legislature has no more power over its property or affairs 
than it has over those of a bank, a manufacturing company, 
or over a grist mill. They are public corporations when they 
want to take your land without your consent; they are private 
corporations as soon as they get your land, and, of course, 
entirely exempt from legislative control. The supreme court 
of Iowa, in a recent case, say: 
“ It is to be remembered also that railway corporations are not organized 
for the purpose o-f developing the material prosperity of the State,—this is 
a mere incident of the business they prosecute. But they are organized, 
SOLELY to make money for their stockholders, and the legislature have no 
more power over their property and rights than it has over the like property and 
rights of natural persons or other private corporaticnsl^ 
Thus, by one bold declaration, the entire theory of cor¬ 
porate rights and obligations is changed; and the railroads of 
that state are transformed from public highways into mere 
private property. The railroad company is under no more 
obligations to consult the interests of the public than you are 
to ask the public whether 3 ^ou shall raise wheat or corn upon 
your land ; and the legislature has no more right to control 
tariffs or regulate the management of a railroad^ than it has to 
fix the compensation yo\i shall pay your laborers, or the price 
for which you shall sell your wheat. In a single sentence, 
spoken by the supreme court, the state of Iowa has abdicated 
its sovereignty over the great highways of the state, and 
transformed them from trust property, held by the corpora¬ 
tions for public use, into absolute estate in individual and 
private right. This declaration is not less important and 
startling than the Dred Scott decision; and exhibits the 
dangerous tendencies I have been considering. 
