Page:The Working and Management of an English Railway.djvu/263

 number of cases submitted to their judgment, and although their decisions have not at all times escaped severe criticism, it cannot be denied that they have dealt fairly and equitably, on the whole, with the questions which have been brought before them.

During the last few years a demand has arisen from certain quarters for fresh legislation in a spirit apparently hostile to railway companies, although mistakenly supposed to be in the interest of the general public. The promoters of this agitation have assumed that the rates and charges of the companies were too high, and that the commerce of the country would benefit if the State were empowered to fix the rates, instead of leaving the companies to do so within the limits of their toll powers. The companies have strenuously opposed this demand, on the perfectly logical ground that Parliament, having sanctioned the existing railways, with power to take certain tolls for their use, upon the faith of which the capital for their construction had been subscribed, had no just claim to deprive the shareholders of a portion of their profits, unless it was prepared to compensate them for their loss. It is also argued, and is easily susceptible of proof, that the railway companies, so far from having unfairly taxed the trade of the country, as is asserted by their assailants, have been its best friends, and have done everything in their power to foster and encourage it; treating the public fairly and liberally, and keeping well within their powers as regards tolls. They would, indeed, have been suicidal in acting otherwise, for their course is shaped by men of business, who are well aware that the prosperity of trade means the prosperity of the railway companies, and that, in short, the welfare of each is dependent upon the other.