Daily Los Angeles herald., 1883-09-28


"Rates," "ehargcs" and ''rates Of
charges for the transportation of pas
" sengers and freights,r nre specified In
| the section of the Constitution creating
the Commission as subiect-matters Of its
Jurisdiction, and because "rates Of fares
and freights established by said Commits
sion shall be deemed conclusiyely Just
and reasonable IL is none the less, but
all the more, a duty to make them So
II such an obligation were susceptible OF
delegation, to refer 1t to
SELFISH AND vISDfGrIyE AaIrAToRs,
Would be TO abandon even the pretencc
AMI vainglorious endeayor to make IL
the sport of crazy partisan controver-
sy, instigated by and for themselves
they ignore and deride every essential
principle of railroad service and requla-
ton, and oil known rnles of official pro-
cedure and decision. They subordinate
the primary question OF reasonable com
pensation, in its necessary rela ion TO
the given service, TO the absurd demand
for an indiscriminate aud scalping re-
duction in gross. With pragmhtic con-
ceit, ignoring conditions and cost Of
service, they demand n uniform rate of
passenger fares at three cents per mile.
as the Internationally right one, but
propose That rates ranging below it, by
an eyasive subterfuge. shall be fixed ut
what they are.
Their sovereign remedy for discrimi-
mating rates of fares and freights, is a
uniform reduction in the same ratio,
4. 4 iaakf. 81
cisely what they were, and hence what
the agitating patriots most desire, a con
tinuing cause Of complaint.
II Is thus that controversies intended
to be eternal are forever renewed. Cry
ing evils are not only dry-nursed but
made worse by aggrayating remedies, or
suicidal measures of relief. For exam.
pie, the demagogues and their dupes
would subject grain shipments to the
exploded and impossible theory of equal
mileage. They construe the constitution
al prohibition OF greater charge for q
short than longer haul to mean equal
rate per mile, which at given and as
certainable distance from the centers Of
trade, would equal the value Of the
freight, and leave the more distant pro-
Queer no other market than his mouth.
SO also in constituting the clause of the
Constitution wherein it is expressly pro-
vided that railroad corporation may
"for the purpose OF competing with any
"other common carrier lower its rates
"for the transportation of passengers or
"froight from one point to another" it
is assumed that no service is ever rem
derel for less than cost, and hence that
such competitive rates should be estab-
lished and enforced between all other
points, TO the heads of the rivers and
the tops of the mountains.
II this sapient reasoning only took The
clause in question out of the Constitution,
the Commission, like that Of Alabama, or
Georgia, might permit and encourage
competition whore it exists. without at
| tempting to send il on fools errnnd,
where it is impossible. II does more.
1t not oily makes the Constitution n
snare and delusion to carrier and
shipper, but it handicnps natural ad-
vantages with artificial distractions and
gains loss to all concerned. 1t makes
the minimum rate between two points,
river-girt and water.logged, the rate for
n round trip, up and down, to all points
and back again, in short a penalty on
the competing carrier, and a restraint
upon all competition whatever.
Further notice of this intruding non
sense would seem to be superfluous. To
bo dismissed and damned, il needs but
to be stated and understood. For its
oilicious and faithles advocates, the
people have substituted
a CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSION,
With well defined official trust, to be
administered by their chosen agents as
prescribed by the Constitution and laws.
And | take this to be the time and place
to say that the real bene6ciaries of this
trust are the bipartisan people who are
industriously minding their own bust
ness. In their name aud interest, and
in pursuance of the laws made by and
for themselves, | shall continue to offend
and defy the demagogues, who never
know how nor where reductions ought to
be made. Having ascertained for what
class of traffic or in what department of
service railroad companies are receiving
more than reasonable compensation, aud
how much more, it is then in order, by
safe, practical and legal methods, to
make reductions. This can be done
only by reference to the class and vol
ume, direction and distance of trade
and travel. Where rates from interior
points to tide water are found to touch
the level of water competition, no re-
duction should be made. Where on the
contrary rates from tide water to the
! interior and between now competitive
points are found 10 be exorbitant, they
should and will be reduced And so as
to every class of freight and passenger
traffic, commencing with the highest,
and subject only to differing conditions
affecting the cost of service, the highest
and lowest should be adjusted to each
other aud to the limit Of reasonable COM
pensation.
ln accordance with the purposes, prin-
ciples and processes which have BEEN inn
perfectly outlined, the much-abused
| Commission have made what very
large number of newspapers, until lately
hostile, have admitted to be Every ma
terial reductions" of passenger fares
We are confident that in practice and
upon fuller information, these reductions
| will be found to have been made where
| most required, as remedies for extortions
and determinations, and in the manner
prescribed by law. Maximums based on
the differing conditions aud cost of ser.
vice, are reduced from ten cents to four
and six cents per mile, over all the Cen
trail and Southern Pacific Railroad sys-
TENS in the State. For the reasons gov
| erning their adoption and without repu-
dating the principle upon which
they rest, rates ranging below them are
continued as they are. This alleged
| dereliction of official duty is in response
to multiplying and increasing protests
against discriminating and exorbitant
local rates, and to complaints and proofs
of record which have come down to us
from our immediate predecessors, show
ing the preponderance of places and per-
sons demanding and benefited by the
reduction. 1t has also the unequivocal
| official sanction of Commissioners Stone.
man, Doyle and Smith in their thorough
| ly business-like and able report to the
Legislature of 1877, p. "a, where they
| say;-''The rates OF fare demanded of
what are called through passengers,
"have not been so much the subject of
complaint rs local fares. This is prob.
ANY bNlilS " NlC lutl tilib VI
Through points are few in number, and
''the rates between them generally af.
Elected by the possibility of competition
"With local rates it ia otherwise, and the
complaint against them is not without
Foundation.
A schedule of reduced fares based
upon principle and authority so con-
vincing and conclusive,
poDED NO GOOD TO AN INsINCERE AGI.
TATIoN
intended 10 delay and prevent its prep.
aration and adoption. 1t seriously
jeopardized low.browed conspiracy
that could exist only by buster, false
pretense and nun.action. To deny that
it had been prepared and adopted by the
"recreant Commissioners, while easy
enough for their lying traducers, would
be believed by none but fools. By
| comparison OF the old with the new rates