In the charter of the Northern Pacific railroad company: "For the purpose of aiding in the construction of said railroad and telegraph line to the Pacific coast, and to secure _the safe and speedy transportation of the mails, troops, munitions of war, and public stores_." In all other cases the above quoted statement of cause is inserted in the charters, as though the right or authority to make these grants was so doubtful that it became necessary in every case to state the reason for the grant. If the present necessities of the government demand such special legislation, then the same reasons existed from the organization of our government; and if congress possesses the power under the constitution to make these grants, and to assume the absolute control of public or private roads through the states, then from the adoption of that constitution congress could have taken the absolute control of all the public roads in all the states of the Union. Before railroads were constructed, all overland transportation of mails, troops, munitions of war, &c., was over the public highways--highways that were and still are under the exclusive control of the states in which they lie. Over these public roads and such private ways as maybe selected, government has a right to transport the mails, troops, and public property, and no state has the right to prohibit or restrict this right. Still, no power is given by the constitution, nor is there any implied, under which congress can, under the plea of rendering more safe and speedy the transportation of mails, troops, &c., grant exclusive charters and privileges to private corporations. In the nature of things, as our government is organized, the right to charter and control all corporations organized for pecuniary profit remains with the states. This power has never been delegated to the general government, nor prohibited to the states, or people. There can be no doubt upon this point, when we remember that the general government is limited to the delegated powers; and that it is supreme only in those matters which are delegated to and vested in it by the constitution. This position is fully sustained by the adjudication of the supreme court of the United States. In Marshall, on the federal constitution, page 164, we find the following: "This government is acknowledged by all to be one of enumerated powers. The principle that it can exercise only the powers granted to it, would seem too apparent to have required to be enforced by all those arguments which its enlightened friends, while it was depending before the people, found it necessary to urge. That principal is now universally admitted." Again, on page 301, the author says: "In our complex system presenting the rare and difficult scheme of one general government whose action extends over the whole, but which possesses only certain enumerated powers and of numerous state governments, which retain and exercise all powers not delegated to the union, contests respecting power must arise. Were it otherwise, the measures taken by the respective governments to execute their acknowledged powers would often be of the same description, and might sometimes interfere. This, however, does not prove that the one is exercising, or has the right to exercise, the power of the other."