Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. REGULATION OF RAILWAY CHARGES. THE clamor for lower charges for transportations by rail is quite universal west of the Mississippi River, and in fact they are demanded in the south and east, only with less vehemence and persistency. It is not a question of politics, but of business ; and the charges should be regulated on business principles, and not by political demagogism. The Democrats of this State, at their convention in Fresno last May, sought to coddle the anti-railroad sentiment and gain support through a proposition which they thought would catcli the clamorous for a change. The whole people want lower rates and expect to secure them, but all reasonable men desire to accomplish the end by the adoption of common sense and just methods. That convention adopted the following resolution as one of the planks of its platform : ' Resolved, that it is the sense of this convention that the next Legislature of this State submit to the people for adoption, a constitutional amendment providing for a maximum tariff and classification, and abolishing the board of railroad commissioners, and the Democratic party demands that all candidates for the assembly and Senate at the corning election be pledged to such action." As the Democratic party is the strenuous advocate of strict adherence to platform, which, to its members, is as sacred as the edict of an oecumenical council or an encyclical letter, it is to be presumed that the Democratic members of the Legislature will do what they can to carry out the views expressed in that resolution. The proposition, if carried into effect, will have an important bearing upon the interests of every class of- our people. The question of freights and fares, as has been said, is exciting public attention, and the best thou...