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RAILWAY COMMISSION.

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OLQBE PRINT, TORONTO.

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TO HIS EXCELLENCY

THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL

■•■ i:\ ■.■-•.'/' • ../- -■ OP THE '.' ■'

DOM I N ION OF CANADA

IN COUNCIL: ^ 'v:: ^., ■■'■'- '■■'

: The Petition of the Credit Valley Railway Company.

Humbly Sheweth : ■ , • .

Under the authority of the several Acts of the Parliament of the
late Province of Canada, the City of Toronto appropriated large sums of
money and incurred a -ery heavy debt for the construction of an Espla-
nade along the southern frontier of the said City.

The Esplanade was built to afford facilities for the several lines of
Railway then entering and thereafter to enter the said City, and a belt
or strip of land one hundred feet wide was reserved along the said fron-
tier from Berkeley street to Brock street for the use of such Railways.

The said Esplanade affords, in fact, the only practicable approach
for Railway lines to the commercial centre of the City and to the har-
bour, and all the lines now entering the City converge upon it and have
their stations, station grounds, and freight warehouses either upon it or
adjacent thereto.

60963

The said City has largely aided several of the said lines of Railway. ■
It aided the Grand Trunk Railway Company by taking Stock in the Com-
pany to the amount of four hundred thousand dollars. It aided the
Northern Railway Company by taking Stock in the Company to the
amount of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and by way of bonus
one hundred thousand dollars. To the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway
Company it gave the sum of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
To the Toronto and Nipissing Railway Company it gave the sum of one
hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and to the Credit Valley Railway
Company it gave the sum of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

The Northern Railway Company have appropriated a very large tract
of land along the shore of the Bay, lying between Brock street and
Bathurst street, embracing an area of about forty acres. They have
enclosed the same with a fence and so covered the same with buildings,
tracks, and sidings, as practically to prevent new lines of railway from
approaching the said Esplanade from the west. In addition they have
appropriated for their main track a strip of land one hundred feet wide
from Bathurst street to the western boundary of the City, and although,
from the growth of the City, the establishment of factories, and the loca-
tion of public institutions, the said strip of land furnishes the only way
of approach for railway lines from the west to the said City, they claim
the absolute ownership of the said strip not occupied by the mere track
of the Grand Trunk Railway, and either forbid new companies from
encroaching on the same or dictate such terms of use, as cannot possibly
be complied with. The Notthern Railway Company acquired whatever
rights they possess in the said lands upon the express understanding
that they should pay the said City the value thereof — such value to be
settled by arbitration — but although the value thereof was so settled the
said Company have refused to abide by the Award, and they not only
wholly repudiate the same, but they repudiate any liability to pay the

said City anything for the said land. The Northern Railway Company
have therefore never paid anything for the said lands, and have not in
fact yet acquired a legal title thereto, the fee being still in the Crown.

Your petitioners feel that their interests, as well as the interest:^ of
the said City of Toronto, and the interests of all those Municipalities
which have contributed so largely towards the construction of the Credit
Valley Railway, and in fact the interests of the whole public are being
seriously prejudiced by the rights claimed by the said Company, and
that in obstructing other Railway Companies and interfering with their
free ingress to the City they are assailing not only the commercial pros-
perity of the City but the rights of all the said Municipalities to a serious
degree ; and they also feel that the public interest demands that an
enquiry should be immediately instituted by the Government into all the
facts and circumstances connected with the case, and that steps should
be taken to adjust and settle the rights of all parties in the premises
upon a just and equitable basis.

Your petitioners also respectfully submit that the rights of railway
companies with respect to crossings, traffic arrangements, &c., are, under
the existing law, not only insufficiently defined, but the machinery for
ascertaining and defining such rights is too complicated, expensive, and
dilatory. The divided jurisdiction created by the British North America
Act with respect to Provincial and Dominion lines has also led to
confusion, and requires remedial legislation.

Your petitioners also respectfully submit that the enormous develop-
ment of railway enterprise during late years and the construction in
every part of the country of new lines of railway have made this subject
one of paramount interest to the public, and justify, if they do not
demand, on the part of the Government a complete and immediate
consideration of these matters, with a view of establishing a new speedy,
inexpensive, and comprehensive method of dealing with them.

Your petitioners also respectfully submit that it is against the
interests of the public that new Railway Companies which have been so
largely subsidized, both from Provincial and Municipal funds, should be
harrassed, obstructed, and delayed by the older Companies.

' That all Railway Companies have been given extraordinary powers
for the benefit, and not for the injury, of the public, and that it is in
the interests of the public that the nature and extent of those powers
should be clearly defined, and that the older companies should be com-
pelled to so exercise them as to facilitate and assist the operations of
other companies to the greatest possible extent.

Your petitioners submit that a permanent commission should be
appointed, either conjointly with the several Provincial Governments of
the Dominion or otherwise, as may be deemed expedient, for the pur-
pose of taking evidence upon all matters relating to disputes between
Railway Companies, having not only the powers now vested in the Rail-
way Committee of the Privy Council and of Arbitrators appointed under
the Railway Act, but also further and more extended powers including
adjustment of traffic arrangements, with power to adjust and settle the
same finally and without appeal, and also with power to enforce their
decisions by such summary process as may be deemed best under the
circumstances of each particular case.

Your Petitioners therefore pray Your Excellency :

That all the circumstances hereinbefore detailed may be taken into
consideration by Your Excellency in Council with the view of such
remedial legislation and redress as to Your Excellency and Your Excel-
lency's Privy Council shall seem just in the premises.

For the Credit Valley Railway Company,

G. LAIDLAW,

President.

The following Municipalities have also granted bonuses to the said
Credit Valley Railway : —

The County of Oxford to the extent of $200,000.

The County of Wellington to the extent of $135,000.

The County of Waterloo to the extent of $110,000.

The County of Peel to the extent of $75,000.

The County of Halton to the extent of $70,000.

The City of Toronto to the extent of $350,000.

The Town of Milton to the extent of $30,000.

The Town of Brampton to the extent of $20,000.

The Town of Ii^gersoU to the extent of $10,000.

The Village of Streetsville to the extent of $20,000.

The Town of IngersoU by exchange of Debentures $50,000

The Village of Elora by exchange of Debentures $15,000.

The Village of Fergus by exchange of Debentures $15,009.

The Province of Ontario has also granted aid to the said Credit
Valley Railway at $3,000 per mile=$575,ooo.

THE ESPLANADE DIFFICULTY,

(From The Mail, Tuesday, January 28th, 1879.)

A petition was presented to the City Council last night on behalf of the Credit
"Valley Railway, on a subject which is of great importance not only to this city but
to every municipality in the country interested in railroad enterprises. The facts
in brief are as follows : The City of Toronto spent an enormous sum in constructing
the Esplanade, in order to afford the various completed and projected railroads of
that day, as well as the roads of the future, entrance into the city and a convenient
approach to the harbour. In 1852 the Northern Railway took possession of a strip
of land 100 feet in width, running from Bathurst Street to the western boundary of
the city, on which they laid down a track. They also " squatted " on a tract of forty
acres of land lying between Brock and Ikthurst Streets, and covered it with sidings
and buildings. The Company has never to this day paid a dollar for these lands,
which were pa.'^sed over by the Canadian Government to the City of Toronto, and
are now the bona fide property of the latter. Toronto has aided the Credit Valley
Road to tlie extent of $350,000 conditionally on its building an independent line
from Bathurst Street westward ; and the projectors of the road have in good faith
located their line accordingly. But, and here comes the difficulty, the Northern
Railway now forbids the Credit Valley from using any portion of the 100 feet of
land which the former appropriated in 1852, and also eflFectually bars it out of the
city by refusing it the right of way through the forty-acre lot which the Northern
holds by right of seizure only. In other words, the Northern Railway, having
appropriated without payment, or even the formality of purchase, certain lands
which command the entrance to the Esplanade, has now the boldness to prohibit
other roads, possessing equal rights and privileges, from making use of those lands
while seeking to comply with their agreement with the city. If the position thus
taken by the Northern is tolerated, then the Credit Valley will be shut out of
Toronto and its usefulness as a great public highway destroyed ; and the Northern
will practically be the arbiter of the destiny of all future roads running into or out
of the western end of the city. Not only will Toronto be injured, but the interests
of the other municipalities who have given assistance to the Credit Valley along its
line, will be grievously prejudiced.

This Esplanade property has been a heart-burning for years past, and a practi-
cable solution of the difficulty can only be secured by a thorough investigation of the

matter, and an equitable adjustment of the riglits of all concerned. Some years ago
the question was referred to arbitration, but the Nortiiern Railway absolutely
refused to pay the price set by the arbitrators upon the lands it has appropriated,
and on which it now presumes to exercise the rights of ownership. The time has
come for a final and complete settlement of the matter, and we trust the Dominion
Government will do its best to bring that about without delay.

A RAILWAY COMMISSION.

[From The Globe, Toronto, Wt-dncsday, January 29tli, 1879.''

At the last meeting of the City Council a petition was jjresented asking that
the influence of the Council be used toward socurinp the appointment of a Dominion
Railway Commission, which shall exercise over railways a great part of the juris-
diction which is now vested in I'arliament and the Law Courts. This subject is
one that possesses a vital interest for every inhabitant of the Dominion, and an
especial interest for the citizens of Toronto for tliose reasons : — No place in the
Dominion has done so much for railroads, has spent money more lavishly, or has
taxed itself more cheerfully, than Toronto on their behalf. It is true that all the
millions of railroad expenditure was made with a view to ulterior benefit, and that
so far the expectations of our citizens have not been disapi)ointed. But that is no
reason why interested parties should be allowed to step in, as they are endeavouring
to do, and divert all future benefit from the city's liberality into their own pockets.

The incident which has set this movement going is one of which we have
already given some particulars. The Northern Railway and the Grand Trunk enter
this city on a piece of public land for which they liave never paid, and per]iai)8
never will pay, a cent. Between the two lines is a piece of land which it is, on good
authoiity, stated was intended by the Government, which owned it before Confedera-
tion, to be reserved as a means of access to the city for a line serving the country
through which the Credit Valley Railway now runs. This piece of land between
the two lines was totally unoccupied until it became certain that the Credit Valley
road would be constructed. Then the Northern Railway suddenly jumped down,
across it, a station which it hpd previously been agreed between the engineers
of the Northern, Grand Trunk, and then hi nubibiis Credit Valley, should be built
alongside. These facts we gave to the public a few weeks ago. A day or two after
the publication of the facts the Northern and Grand Trunk Companies together

entered upon this land, and laid down new tracks, completely covering it, and, of
course, blocking the way of the Credit "Valley into the city. No doubt this move-
ment was made because, having no title, the Northern Company could not have
ejected the Credit Valley had the latter obtained access before the land was occupied.
It is immaterial whether the Northern Company are actuated in this proceeding by
a desire to prevent the Credit Valley from having access to the Esplanade, or
whether they merely wish to do a good stroke of business by compelling the new
company to run over their lines, or whether they wish to levy a larger sum by way
of co'Jipensation than properly appointed arbitrators would award — if they awarded
anything in the peculiar circumstances of the case. On either supposition the
Northern Railway is acting in direct opposition to the interests of Toronto. This
city spent $800,000 at a time when that sum represented, in proportion to the wealth
of the city, sixfold the burden it would now be, in filling in the part of the foreshore
now known as the Esplanade. That great work was undertaken expressly with the
object of providing a convenient place where all the railroads entering the city
might centre, and also with the object of preventing the through lines of traffic
from being diverted to the northward of the city, and thus building up some other
municipality. On the surface it appears that the action of the Northern and Grand
Trunk Railways is undertaken for the express purpose of keeping out the Credit
Val'tiy line, so that the existing lines may enjoy the sole benefit of the city's munifi-
cence, to the exclusion of all would-be interlopers, present or future.

The question arises. Are the citizens of Toronto going to put up with this
act of spoliation, which resembles a highway robbery more than anything else 1
Are the fruits of wisdom, foresight, and liberality of the past generation to be
monopolized by these chartered sinners and are the culprits to go unwhipt of
justice 1 And what are the citizens of Toronto going to do about it 1 They might,
as residuary legatees of the old Government and owners of the land on which the
Northern and Grand Trunk roads enter the city, bring an action of ejectment against
those companies, and as such an action would probably lie, the offenders might by
that means be brought to terms. But this course would involve law costs to a
frightful amount, and beside, the railroad companies might contrive to fritter away
time so that two or three years would elapse before a verdict could be arrived at.
In the meantime there is the Credit Valley Railroad waiting at the city limits for
permission to enter and earn the last bonus, which was given by Toronto on the
express condition that an independent line should be built from Bathurst Street.
Clearly here is a case in which the absolute indispensability of a new tribunal to
take cognizance of railroad matters is exemplified — a tribunal which would be
governed by common sense and equity rather than legal forms, and one which, giving

its -whole attention to railway matters, and being therefore intimately acquainted
therewith, would never, having once taken up a case, lay it down unsettled.

All the Anglo-Saxon world finds itself in pretty much the same predicament
just now as regards the lack of power to regulate railroad corporations. When
railroad building was entered upon, the chief point considered was how to get the
road? built most quickly. All questions of future diflSculties were left for the
future to solve. As a consequence, Great Britain and her Colonies and the United
States find themselves confronted with a task of enormous magnitude, and one the
difficulties of which increase as time goes on.

In the United States the question how to control railroads was complicated
for a long time by the existence of the clause in the Constitution which forbids the
impairment of the sanctity of contracts. Railroads contended that their charters
were in the nature of contracts, and that, therefore, legislation interfering with
their charters was invalid. Presuming too much upon this contention, the Granger
war of 1872 was the result, and the end of the agitation consequent thereon was a
decision that the railroads were subject to law wliether their charters were inter-
fered with or not. In Massachusetts, Illinois and Wisconsin there are now Boards
of Railroad Commissioners, with nearly the same duties as those which we should
like to see conferred upon a similar Board in the Dominion. In Britain, previous
to 1873, all the legislative control exercised over railroads was vested in the Railway
Committee of the Board of Trade. In that year, difficulties which had been long
arising respecting unjust discriminations in freight rates and other things reached a
crisis, and the result was the appointment of a Board of Railway Commissioners,
with power to supervise the actual workings of the road, and to sit as a Court of
Arbitration in all disputes between companies. So far the working of this Com-
mission has given great satisfaction to the public. The very fact that such a Board
exists prevents the railway companies from abusing their power in the arbitrary
manner in which they formerly did abuse it. Disputes have been settled speedily
and cheaply, and have become less common.

In Canada we already possess some checks upon railroads, but they are neither
strong enough nor elastic enough to suit our exact requirements. We have the
Railway Committee of the Privy Council, the arbitrators who assess the value of
property taken, and the general supervision of tolls exercised by the Governor-
General in Council. The Railway Committee consists of an indefinite number,
usually three or four, of the Cabinet Ministers. It exercises general control over
all disputes between railway companies, and in the past has done with efficiency
the work that came before it. But it may fairly be questioned whether work of

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this nature properly comes within the province of Cabinet Ministers, who may or
may not possess the requisite qualifications, but who certainly are not selected as
Cabinet Ministers on account 5f their knowledge of railway matters. It is evident
that a choice from so limited a number of gentlemen as Cabinet Ministers is not
likely to give us always as good a Railway Commission as the exigencies of the case
require, and there is also the additional difficulty that a Committee so composed is
liable to sudden decease with a mass of unsettled business before it that a new
Committee must take up de novo. Ihen, the present regulation of the rates of tolls
by the Governor-in-Council is unsatisfactory, and, as a matter of notoriety, does not
prevent glaring cases of discrimination between different places.

We agree with the prayer of the petition which thi City Council has before it^
that there is urgent call for rendering the public control oi railroads more efficient
Happily there is in our case no question of the power of Parliament to exercise
this control. The only point to be decided upon is the expediency of the pioposed
new steps. Nor does it by any means follow that the creation of a Railway Com-
mission would be an act of hostility toward the roads. On the contrary, we believe
that railway shareholders and stockholders would hail such a Commission as the
means of extricating their property from the operation of a system under which they
are now kept in chronic litigation. The first interest of every litigant who has
justice on his side is to procure a summary and common-sense decision. That this
will be secured by the appointment of a Commission, whose sole business it shall
be to attend to such matters, ought to be so plain that every one whose interest it
is for railroad dividends to be cut into as little as possible by law costs ought to
have no difficulty in seeing it. Such a Commission as that which is suggested
would combine the powers of the present Railway Committee and the Arbitration
Courts, and would also have the general supervision of the rates of tolls now
possessed by the Governor-in-Council. But instead of only possessing power to
assent or refuse assent to a scale of tolls, as now vested in the Governor-in-Council,
the Commission should have liberty to make scales of tolls and to impose them on
the companies ; and especially the power to decide what shall be the scale of through
rates where goods and passengers travel on more than one line. These are among
the powers exercised by the English Railway Commission. At first the feeling of
subjection caused to the English companies by the exercise of these powers was
exceedingly distasteful, but now tJiat the novelty of restraint has worn off, it is
beginning to be seen that the companies themselves are better off for the curtailment
of their liberty. In addition to deciding upon freight rates, the Commission would
settle all disputes concerning crossings, whether a new road shall cross over or under

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or on the level of the old road ; would compel an old road to re-arrange its tracks
where the public good could be served therebj- ; would arrange for the joint use of
stations or joint use of tracks for short distances ; would settle compensations to be
paid for all these privileges, and would do it quickly, instead of the slow, cumbrous,
and expensive manner in which the present Courts of Arbitration work ; would
compel; those companies which now refuse to do it to carry cordwood, railroad ties,
and telegraph poles ; and would decide a multitude of other minor points, which,
cannot now be settled without a resort to law.

The ultimate success of such a Commission would depend mainly upon the
character and ability of the members composing it. The principal commodity
required is common sense, and a disregard of formality and precedent. To that may
be added as much of business experience, legal erudition, and knowledge of railroad
matters as can be obtained. Every member should be of stainless personal character,
should be selected for considerations entirely outside of politics, and should hold
office by a tenure which would secure him from fear of political animosity, or from
any other fear except the dread of dispossession for malfeasance in office. The Com-
mission should be chosen in full view of the necessary circumstance that it will be
a court of last resort. Its decisions would not be subject to review by any court in
the land, and therefore all the more reason that the equity of them should be beyond
dispute.

There is nothing to be gained by any further closing of the eyes to the fact
that sooner or later a check must be provided upon the railroads. We see no other
way in which this may be done so easily and equitably as by the appointment of a
Commission to hold the balance equally between the railroads and the public. If
the railways object to this jus! and necessary supervision, the sooner the public are
made acquainted with the fact the better. As we have said, we do not believe that
the vast body of owners of railroads will object. But it may be possible that the
present generation of railroad officials, who have become used to the exercise of an
almost irresponsible despotism, will demur to submitting to anybody. If so, the
sooner railroad shareholders know of it the better. Should railroad officials endea-
vour to postpone or prevent the execution of this desirable reform, we are satisfied
that it will be the worse for them and for the railroad interest in the end. At
j>resent the public sympathy is daily becoming more and more alienated from them.
If things go on in the old way for another twenty years, we can easily imagine that it
will be necessary to subject railroad companies to much harsher measures than any
which public opinion is now prepared for. There are some far-sighted men who
believe that the evils of the present system of railroad management are so deeply

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Seated iis to be curable only by one method — the abolition of railroad companies and
the purchase of their undertakings by Government. It is not our purpose here to
discuss this phase of the question. We have said sufficient to show the desirability
of the appointment of a Railroad Commission, a'^ J we have some hope that railway
magnates, who cannot as a class be considered otherwise than shrewd, will see their
way clearly to at least offering no factious opposition to the reform.

THE ESPLANADE DIFFICULTY.

[From The Globe, Toronto, Saturday, February Ist, 1879.]

Mr. Cumberland, in his characteristic letter concerning the access to the Espla-
nade difficulty printed yesterday, succeeds admirably in throwing no light whatever
on the points which the citizens of Toronto are vitally concerned to know. The
public are comparatively indifferent as to the extent to which the General Manager
and Board of Directors of the Northern Railway have succeeded in keeping them-
selves in official ignorance of the wish of the Credit Valley Company to enter upon
the public land now in the possession of Mr. Cumberland's Company. What they
really want to know is, why the Northern Company, which, according to Mr. Cum-
berland, had not the faintest idea as to what route the Credit Valley would take,
should suddenly, and in direct contravention of an agreement signed by one of the
Company's own officials, have plumped down a station across the route of the new
road, and have proceeded to cover it with new tracks for which, in these days of
depression and lessened travel, there cannot have arisen all at once such a very urgent
demand. These performances would go to indicate that Mr. Cumberland, the indi-
vidual, was all the time wide awake to circumstances of which Mr. Cumberland, the
Manager, now professes entire and most amusing ignorance. It is quite clear that
there is ample room on the 100 feet reservation for two tracks for the Northern, two
for the Grand Trunk, and one for the Credit Valley ; and after the latter line was
accommodated there would still be enough of land left for a sixth line. Under these
circumstances, what is Mr. Cumberland going to do when at length the
knowledge that the Credit Valley line wants access to this land is brought
home to the official intellect 1 Is he again going majestically to order the Credit
Valley to other land ? Is he going to point out an alternative route which it would
bankrupt Croesus to construct 1 and is he for ever to keep off competitors from land
which does not belong to him ? It may easily be that Mr. Cumberland has " no
misgivings about the title " to this laud. Neither have we. It is indisputably pixblic

land, and the fact that the Northern Company have never paid a cent for it is on
record in the proceedings of the Court of Chancery. Mr. Cumberland seems to
think the fencing in of this piece of land, the laying down of a railway track therein,
and the payment of taxes which could not he avoided, enough of payment to satisfy
the most unreasonable objector. On the strength of these achievements the General
Manager, personifying the Corporation, poses as a public benefactor, instead of, as
would be more appropriate, an interloper. Admitting, as he does, the fact that there
are " 100 feet right of way from Queen-street to Bathurst-street " — a most important
admission to be made by one who has blocked up all access to that right of way —
what consummate assurance must Mr. Cumberland possess when he orders off a possi-
ble competitor to a route which the General Manager describes as being partly within
this right of way, but which actually appears to be entirely without it. Why should
the Credit Valley Company be compelled to go even partly outside this right of way 1
If there is a right of way, as Mr. Cumberland, unfortunately for his case, calls it,
then his Parkdale Station is an obstruction and a nuisance. Mr. Cumberland — in
his capacity of General Manager, of course — seems to us to resemble a strong man
armed, who has squatted in a poor man's cottage, and then patronizingly informs the
rightful owner that he may sit with one foot inside the door of his own house as long
as offence is not given to the High Mightiness within. Of course it was horribly
'* low " for the Credit Valley people to have been thankless even for small mercies ;
but it seems to us that the Jupiter Tonans of the Northern Railway might as justifi-
ably have ordered the Credit Valley road to enter the city via Yorkville, as to have
indicated for it a road which is only partly within the right of way to which the new
Company have a title that — barring the important point of possession — is exactly as
good as that of the Northern itself.

As to the proposed Railway Commission, the absolute necessity of such a body is
now more than ever apparent. It is quite clear that if such a matter as this in dis-
pute about the access to the Esplanade were left to the ordinary course of law, a
prolonged series of law suits would ensue, which could only end in the ejectment of
the intruding railways from the public land, their re-admission on plainly specified
terms, and the further reduction of the interest paid to those English bondholders
about whose dividends Mr. Cumberland is so anxious. The need of the commission
being so plain, the country will breathe more freely now it has ascertained from his
own pen that the scheme meets, "conditionally," with the General Manager's
" heartiest approval." Before the new tribunal Mr. Cumberland can orate as majesti-
cally and epigrammatically as he likes about " unjust invasion of rights"— squatter's
rights, he should have said ; about " false appeals to public prejudices," which consist
in enlightening the public when their rights are being invaded ; and " usurption," cou-

sisting of a simple desire to benefit from what was intended to be used as a common
right. But if he thinks that a Railway Commission such as the one we want could be
humbugged by a piece of special pleading like his letter, ;ve fancy that he would soon
see cause to alter his opinion about the desirability of Railway Commissions in
general.

A RAILWAY COMMISSION.

[Prom The Mail, Toronto, Friday, February 14th.]

The suggestion made in these columns some time ago that the Dominion Govern-
ment should establish a permanent railway commission for the settlement of difficulties
such as that existing between the Northern and Credit Valley Roads, has been
received by the press of the Province with a.most universal commendation. For years
past there has been growing up a feeling that the managers of our great lines of rail-
way possess too much power, and use it often-times arbitrarily. In the United States,
the Granger movement was a protest against railroad tariff anomalies and raili'oad
combinations generally. In this country we have taken no active steps to tight for
the rights of the people and against railroad tyranny, chiefly because, in the absence of
combined effort on the popular side, the railroad giants have been invincibly strong.
There is no doubt, however, that the construction of new lines of road competing with
the older lines which has signalized the history of Canada for the past ten years, is to
a great extent an emphatic protest against, and a determined attempt on the part of
the nation to escape from, the domination of the railroad magnates who control those
older lines. English capitalists and their representatives here are in the habit of
upbraiding the people for encouraging these new undertakings to the prejudice of the
old ones ; but they overlook the fact that the people would not tax themselves so freely
without urgent cause, and that cause is mainly the intolerable arrogance that charac-
terizes the management of the older roads. The magnate regards his road as English
property, in the management of which the Canadian people have no business to inter-
fere ; forgetting that the Canadian people have enormous proprietary rights in every
one of the old lines — rights morally as sacred and as much to be respected as those
of the British bondholder. It is this disregard of Canadian claims that is the source
of the hostility that exists between our people and the magnates, and that has of late
years sent almost every municipality, -in- the .Dpjninioi^ to subsidising competitive
schemes. What Canadian, or for. iliai I'l^Wst^er .what* jijorial: haait,! 'for example, can

•V; .'••. ::.:':- .-.. ; .. .... .*'*

Understf.nd wliy an ^i.morican shipper in Chiaigo should have his wheat carried through
Canad i to the seaboard for less than the Canadian rfhipper at St. Mary's or St. Thomas
is compelled to pay t The magnate says he can't be bothered with local freight ; in
other words. Canadian interests are subordinate lo foreign interests, and the roau is
run not as a Canadian institution for the benefit of the Canadian people, but princi-
pally and prini.\rily as an instrument for the accommodation or profit of outsiders.

The existence of this feeling of hostility is much to be deplored. It works
mutual prejudice and benefits nobody ; but how to remove it is a problem yet to be
solved. There can be no doubt, however, that the establishment of a tribunal such
OS the railway commission, standing impartially between the people and the corpora-
tions, and arbitrating on the difficulties that are ever cropping up, would tend to that
end. It would protect popular rights, while at the same time protecting the railroad
corporations from the injury their managers inflict on them by constantly bringing
them into collision with the people. In short, a tribunal of this kind would be a
source of security and strength to all concerned ; it would be to the mutual advan-
tage of the railway and its Canadian customer. In England a somewhat similar
institution has been in existence for years, and there tlie railroads would bo the first
to acknowledge its great practical utility. It does away to a great extent with costly
lawsuits, and deals out a ready and equitable justice. Such scandals as the Esplanade
difficulty — in which a powerful corporation is actually using a piece of public
property, which it has appropriated from the taxpayers of the City of Toronto, as a
weapon for crushing out a younger and weaker rival to which those taxpayers have
given a large subsidy — are impossible ther i. The powerful are prevented from injuring
the weak, and the weak have not to combine in a spirit of angry defiance against the
strong. Mutual confidence is engendered with beneficial results to all parties. We
trust the Dominion Government, when they have disposed of the important measures
with which they were specially charged by the electorate in September, will turn
their attention to this important subject. It is not a political one ; every man is
interested in it, and we are sure Reformers eqaully with Conservatives would unite
in the work. The time has come for the people to stand up for themselves and insiit
on just treatment from the powerful railroad corporations ; and since the latter can-
not be persuaded to move even half way in that direction, we can only look to the
supreme power of the State for the assistance it owes its subjects in all mattera
affecting their present welfare and future prosperity.