Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 5.djvu/676

664 FBDBBAL BBPOBTBB. �to be unjust and unreasonable, can apply to the commission- ers for redress. If redress is denied them there, they can apply to the legislature for relief. Believing the law under which the commissioners are appointed to be within the con- stitutional power of the legislature, the redress must corne either from the commissioners or the general assembly ; it is not in the power of this court to give relief. As remarked by Mr. Justice Swayne, in Gilman v. Philadelphia, 3 Wall. 713 : "Many abuses may arise in the legislation of the stateri which are wholly beyond the reach of the government of the nation. The safeguard and remedy are to be found in the vii-tue and intelligence of the people. They can make and unmake constitutions and laws, and from that tribunal there is no appeal. If a state exercise unwisely the power here in question, the evil consequences will fall chiefly on her own citizens. They have more at stake than the citizens of any other state." �It has been the policy of Georgia, at least since January 1, 1863, to grant no charter which should not be subject to revision or repeal by the general assembly. Whether wise or unwise, this policy has been einbodied in the constitution of 1877. It was clearly the purpose of the people, in the adoption of that revision of the organic law, to keep the charges of the railroad companies of the state within legisla- tive control. They were not satisfied with the rules of the common law on this subject. The act of October 14, 1879, is but the practical expression of the will of the people of the state as embodied in their organic law. It is the exercise of a right which they have been careful to reserve, and subject to which the defendant company were allowed to exist as a corporation. �My conclusion is that the act of the legislature of Georgia, approved October 14, 1879, entitled "An act to provide for the regulation of railroad freight and passenger tariffs in this state," etc., etc., is not in violation of either the constitution of the United States or of the state of Georgia; that under the constitution of Georgia power and authority is conferred on the legislature to pass laws to regulate freight and pas- ����