Bridge party

“ In this matter, as in others, the State must defend her own just rights, so as to get by compulsion what a free egotism has declined to give—efficiency and good taste. It is possible that England has not suffered a great deal more than the Continent; for even in France, despite the excellent administration [Pg 44] of the Ponts et Chaussées, crimes against noble bridges have been committed, as when the second ancient bridge at Cahors was lost in a storm of local party politics. ”

“ Congress cannot invade the rights of a State, nor can a State impede the exercise of the just powers of the Federal government. The conclusion I draw is, that a bridge constructed by the authority of a State, if it does not interfere with the free navigation of the stream, is a lawful structure, and can neither be taken nor destroyed by Congress or by the State, except as other private property may be thus taken, that is, for public purposes upon making just compensation. ”

“ A consciousness seems to have pervaded Congress that it was disregarding its pledge to the company, when it directed the alterations which proved so expensive, before the contingency mentioned had happened; and that it might turn out that the bridge completed as designed would not substantially and materially obstruct the free navigation of the river ”

“ A bridge, in place of the ferry over Charles river, is deemed by the legislature to be a matter of public utility; and they are disposed to grant a liberal charter to such persons as are willing to undertake so hazardous an enterprise. The college are ready to part with their ferry for an annuity, equal to their then income; and Thomas Russell and his associates, are willing to make the first experiment in this country, of throwing a bridge, 1500 feet in length, over navigable waters, for the tolls to be granted to them, for the period of forty years. ”

“ The power of one legislature to bind themselves and their posterity, and all future legislatures, from authorizing a bridge absolutely required for public use, might well be denied by the courts of New York; and as a construction of their own constitution, we would have no right to sit in error upon their judgment. But assuming a power for one legislature to restrain the power of future legislatures, those who assert that it has been exercised should prove their assertion beyond a doubt. ”

“ We cannot help feeling delighted that an act of Parliament will at last put this unhappy old bridge out of its misery, instead of sanctioning the further infliction of the painful operations to which it has been subjected. The poor old bridge is no longer to be maimed and mutilated, but it is to be made away with once and for ever. ”

“ But, if the legislature had directly contracted with the bridge proprietors, that for ninety-nine years no other bridge within these limits should be authorized or built, would such law be valid to bind future legislatures as a contract? The power to make roads and build bridges is a governmental power. It is always a part of the sovereign or legislative power, and the duty to provide them is correlative. In New Jersey, now, as in 1790, all legislative power is in the Senate and Assembly, elected periodically by the people. ”

“ Opposition to all new bridges has been deemed reasonable. But why is any enlargement of the grant reasonable? What you give to the ferry, you take from the public; and the public cannot spare it, without inconvenience. In a word, is it reasonable, or right, to traverse the regions of conjecture in this matter? To make laws which shall assign boundaries to this franchise, when the plaintiffs can show no manner of title to what they set up?
They urge that Warren bridge is a clear interference, because it takes away their tolls. So is West Boston and Canal bridges, for the same reason ”

“ If the lesson of the Bridge, which I have thus sought to enforce, shall revive the confidence of the people in their own power, and induce them to use it practically for the election to office of good men, clothed, as were the engineers, with sufficient authority, and held, as they were, to corresponding responsibility for results, then, indeed, will its completion be a public blessing, worthy of the new era of industrial development in which it is our fortunate lot to live. ”

“ It is no use my reminding you that no railroad goes to the old home place. It isn't there any more, even in outward seeming. Cummins's woods, where you had your robbers' cave, is all cleared off and cut up into building lots. The cool and echoing covered bridge, plastered with notices of dead and forgotten Strawberry Festivals and Public Vendues, has long ago been torn down to be replaced by a smart, red iron bridge. The Volunteer Firemen's Engine-house, whose brick wall used to flutter with the gay rags of circus-bills, is gone as if it never were at all. ”

“ From the use of the word 'assent' to the erection of a bridge over a navigable river, or the declaring of one already erected a lawful structure, the transition has been easy and natural to the assumption of an affirmative power in Congress to authorize, independently of the action of the States, the construction of such bridges, and to control them. ”

“ Are we to be told, that these dangers are imaginary? That all these interests may be safely confided to the equity and justice of the legislature? That a just and paternal regard for the rights of property, and the obligations of good faith, will always afford a reasonable protection against oppression or injustice? I answer all such fine sentiments, by holding up the charter of Charles River bridge ”

“ As usual, however, in such cases, unprincipled adventurers are not wanting, who, taking advantage of a great demand, do not hesitate to fit up cheap shops, to buy poor material, and to flood the market with a class of bridges made with a single object in view, viz., to sell, relying upon the ignorance—or something worse—of public officials for custom. Not a year passes in which some of these wretched traps do not tumble down, and cause a greater or less loss of life, and [Pg 16] at the same time, with uninformed people, throw discredit on the whole modern system of bridge-building. ”

“ And because they cannot put their finger on the precise spot in the river, where private right ends and public right begins, they have no right at all; because the common law does not, unhappily, furnish a pair of compasses to measure the exact local extent of this franchise, it has no extent at all; because it does not cover the whole river, it is confined to the width of the bridge. Does the law, or do learned judges, deal with nuisances on land in this way? How near to a dwelling-house may one establish a noisome or unwholesome manufactory? ”

“ People are passing to and fro on the bridge, the clock strikes in the town hall, and the dead body drifts slowly down the red stream far into the shadows of the coming night—under the bridge, across which the crowd is hurrying, bent on pleasure and business, past the tall warehouses where rich merchants are counting their gains, under the shadow of the big steamers with their tall masts and smoky funnels. ”

“ Thence, if it is late afternoon, one may walk back to City Hall Park and encounter and experience the convergent stream of clerks and workers making for the bridge, mark it grow denser and denser, until at last they come near choking even the broad approaches of the giant duct, until the congested multitudes jostle and fight for a way. They arrive marching afoot by every street in endless procession; crammed trolley-cars disgorge them; the Subway pours them out.... ”

“ This evil affects particularly highway bridges. The ordinary county commissioner or selectman considers himself amply competent to contract for a bridge of wood or iron, though he may never have given a single day of thought to the matter before his appointment to office. The result is, that we see all over the country a great number of highway bridges which have been sold by dishonest builders to ignorant officials, and which are on the eve of falling, and await only an extra large crowd of people, a company of soldiers, a procession, or something of the sort, to break down. ”

“ Now, we know that it is at least as difficult to govern a city as to build a bridge, and yet, as citizens, we have deliberately allowed the ignorance of the community to be organized for its government, and we then complain that it is a failure. Until we imitate the example of the Ring, and organize the intelligence of the community for its government, our complaint is childish and unreasonable. But we77 shall be told that there is no analogy between building a bridge and governing a city. Let us examine this objection. A city is made up of infinite interests. ”

“ The doctrine of a paramount power in Congress over bridges crossing navigable streams-either to authorize their construction, or regulate them, that is, control them when constructed-derives no support from its power to protect the free navigation of such streams. If a bridge, for example, built under the law of a State, should cross a navigable stream, at so high a point, and in such a way, as in no manner to obstruct its free navigation, Congress could not interfere with the structure. ”

“ Battles upon bridges—even iron bridges—are bad things. A quarrel between two parties—even if they represent Capital and Labour—cannot be regarded as satisfactorily settled by the destruction of both—unless they are thieves, or Kilkenny cats. It is much easier to get into a gulf—even the gulf of Bankruptcy—than out of it. To parties expiring at the bottom of a gulf, into which they have hurled each other, it is small consolation to see more peaceful persons—though they be foreigners—making better use of the bridge which might have carried them both safely over. ”

“ It will hardly be contended, that every grant of the government is injurious to the interests of the people; or that every grant of a franchise, must necessarily be so. The erection of a bridge may be of the highest utility to the people. It may essentially promote the public convenience, and aid the public interests, and protect the public property. And if no persons can be found willing to undertake such a work, unless they receive in return the exclusive privilege of erecting it, and taking toll ”

“ The citizens of Cedar Rapids, and others interested in the city, at once circulated petitions for funds and also authorized the mayor of Cedar Rapids to call an election and vote on the question of issuing bonds to aid in the construction of said bridge. This petition was signed by S. C. Bever, one of the early bankers, and by more than fifty citizens wanting a bridge located at what is now First avenue, asking that the city vote bonds to the extent of $6,000, promising that the citizens would guarantee the balance for the erection of a bridge. ”

“ No surrender of any right is asked, or required. The clause extending the term, purports, in its face, to be a mere donation or bounty of the legislature, founded on motives of public liberality and policy. It is granted expressly as an encouragement to enterprise, and as a compensation for the supposed diminution of tolls, which West Boston bridge would occasion to Charles River bridge; and in no manner suggests any sacrifice or surrender of right whatsoever, to be made by the plaintiffs. ”

“ One of the counsel in the defence, with emphasis, declared, that the legislature can no more repeal a charter, than it can lead a citizen to the block. The legislature cannot bring a citizen to the block; may it open his arteries? It cannot cut off his head; may it bleed him to death? Suppose, the legislature had authorized the construction of an impassable wall, which encircled the ends of the bridge, so as to prevent passengers from crossing on it. The wall may be as distant from the abutments of the bridge as the Warrenbridge. Would this be an infringement of the plaintiffs' franchise? ”

“ On the river the white wooden bridge has been pulled down, and a huge, red, brick structure, like a ponderous railway bridge, hideous, grotesque, and shutting out all the sylvan view up stream, has been erected in its stead, altogether unfitted for the slender rural traffic which alone passes there, and costing a heavy price, levied by taxation from a rural, and far from rich, community. ”

“ They had a right granted for what they asked, namely, to erect a bridge in the place where the ferry was then kept, and to take toll of such as passed over. This is all the franchise provided for in the act; there is not a word about any other rights and exclusive privileges. Nothing restraining the power to make new bridges; no covenant, that there shall be no diminution of travel, or diversion of it; no line of travel guarantied-nothing said of the travel between the two towns; not a word about making compensation, if any of their property should be taken for public use. ”

“ You are asking to interfere with the rights of the state to make railroads, and modern improvements, which supersede those of past times by their superiority! You prevent the progress of improvements, essential to the prosperity of the community! It would then appear, that the existence of the provision of the constitution of the United States, which this court is now called upon to apply, has been the whole cause of the injury done to the plaintiffs, by the passage of the law authorizing the Warren bridge. ”

“ The city Corporation, which had so strenuously opposed the erection of a bridge at Westminster as unnecessary, set to work, as soon as that became an accomplished fact, to improve their own communications across the river. First, as we have seen, they cleared away the houses and other obstructions on old London Bridge, and next they started to build themselves a new bridge at Blackfriars. ”

“ Neither the grant of the ferry, whatever it was, nor the plaintiffs' charter, contained anything exclusive of the public right to open a new avenue in the neighborhood of Charles River bridge; for in a public grant, nothing passes by implication. The right thus said to be parted with, is one which is essential to the security and well-being of society ”