Mr. MORRILL. Mr. President, I was not aware that this bill had been reported from the ComCommerce to the Senate. I believe there is another bill of a similar character which has been before the committee, and which originated in the Senate. At this moment I am not sure that I quite understand the distinction between the 2 bills. I think they are nearly similar, but I am not quite certain. It was my purpose on a former occasion to address the Senate upon this subject; but I find myself here at the present moment without any eXpectution of this bill being presented to the Senate today, and I am not in a condition to make any extended remarks. The bill is of a character which I think should challenge the attention of the Senate. It was passed in the other House, if I am permitted to allude to so much of the proceedings of that House as] aiher from the debates, without much Consideration. either at this or at the former session of Congress; and if I could brin myself to the conviction that it was not a bilI fraught with the most dangcmus consequences, I should be content to give a silentvote upon it. But sir, it is a bill of most marked impression. It is a bill which strikes down deep to the very foundations of the Government. It is a bill that will be remarkable for all time in the legislation of this country if it pass. It is a bill that at once arrests the attention of whoever reads it as one which runs the line between the powers of this government which are known, delegated, and expressed and those which are doubtful, lati tudinarian, and never to be entered upor. except with caution. The spe proposes, sir, in a word, to take by the power of the General Government the irection of the internal railway system of the U.S. This is the propOsition. I know it may be said that it only proposes to regulate it. To regulate is to control; to control is to direct; and under whatever branch you seek to exercise this authority, whether by the commercial power or by the power to reulate the postal service, or by that to raise an support armies and navies, it is the same thin; it is substantially to assert the power by the General Government to reach out its and and lay its strong arm on the great American railway system. Thutis what it is, and Istand here to invite the attention of the Senate to so extraordinary a proposition as that. I ask Senators what is the exigency which justifies or demands it, and I ask Senators to point me to that provision of the Constitution which justifies it and authorizes it in clear, explicit, and intelligible phrase, not by doubtful interpretation. 1st. sir, as to the exigeiicy which justifies it or demands it; has anybody told you of any? What is the American railway system? Is it the creation of the Government of the U.S. in any respect whatever? Not a bit of it. It has grown up spontaneously out of the one and the industry of the people exercising t ieir functions in their primary and in their municipal capacities, the Government of the U.S. all the while standing afar off, doing nothing and proposing nothing. I heard it said on a ormer occasion that the exigency grew out of the fact that one of the States of this Union had usurped authority, usurped power, and created an unjust monop oly, and that this measure was necessary to remed that. Why, sir, is the Senate of the U.S. the place for the correction of such rievancesl Are not the courts of the U.S. open? If the State of NewJersey, to which reference is made, and whose legislation is here arraigned, has been guilty of granting an unconstitutional monopoly, is this the place, is this the forum, to correct it? By no means. The courts are open, and any party aggrieved, any interest offended, has a remedy in the courts; and that should be a sufficient answer to that part of the argument. It is said, moreover, that it exists as a griev ance, it is a monopoly, and that the action of NewJersey is in restraint of the commerce of the country, of the free intercourse of the people of the country. Now, Mr. President, a ittle brief history, a little reference to events, putt! to ilight all argument of that kind at once. Vhat is the fact? Go back to 1880, and you find the whole intercourse between the cities of NewYork and Philadelphia, by travel, carried on in ordinary stagecoaches. gerhaps as often as once a day itwas practicable to pass between those cities in that way. The transportation of the country was carried on in ordinary lumber or baggage wagons. That was so only as far back as 1832; nay, later, in 1838 you find that state of things eXisting. Today you may pass and reusebetween those 2 cities 20 times each ay, and trains for transportation of all kinds pass nearly as often. how, remember the charge is that the legislation, the action of New erse y is in restraint of trade, travel, intercourse, transportation. Well, sir, NewJersey, by her own policy and by the efforts of her own citizens, has done all to which I have alluded. They have given this increased facility; they have done it all alone; the General Government nothing, ” it was not properthat she should do anything. A single act of this kind is sufficient, I submit, to put to flight this argument that thelegislation of cw Jersey is in restraint of travel, trade, intercourse, is a restriction upon the commerce of the country. But, Mr. President, I care to do no more than to advert to these facts, because the touch but very little i on the case any way. object to this bill on the ground of its comprehension and scope. What it may do for NewJersey, or what it may not do, is of very little concern with mo. I now but few of the people of NewJersey; I know nothing of the circumstances of this case other than Thrive heard them detailed upon this floor. My objection lies to the bill because it is so broad and comprehensive, because while it is said that it is aimed at a monopoly in NewJersey, it is broad enough to cover the whole American railway system. In the last 30 ears this American system has grown from tesmallest beginnings to be the grandest system of intercom mniiication the world has ever seen. Today not less than 30,000 miles of railway communication exist in the several States, the product of the energy, the industry, and the capital of these States.