Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-01-10
RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS.
THEIR FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT
TO THE GOVERNOR.
Review of the Work Accomplished
Schedules Of Rates Fixed
Powers of the Board-Etc.

y
fifth annual report of the State Board of
Railroad Commissioners and it has been
placed in the hands of the State Printer,
preparatory to being furnished to the Legis
lature. The report is signed only by Messrs.
Humphreys and Carpenter, and it is under
stood that Mr.. Foote desires TO make and
file q minority statement The regu-
larity of a minority report being made
is questioned by the report of Com
missioners Humphreys and Carpenter,
which states that the Commission is
independent within its sphere of power
and duty having no superior. There
is, therefore. no constitutional ground
upon which to park the guns of hostile
minority. 1t [the report is not to be made
the convenient vehicle of its assailants, but
should be printed and bound, in form and
substance. as it comes certified from this
office" The report then goes on to state
that the inevitable minority of this Com
mission never was or is upon any assump-
ton of incompatible good faith separate
institution" If there be contemplated by
law such record as a minority report, it
must go to the same subjects as the regular
report, and be made within the time and
in the mode prescribed by the Constitution.
Having thus commented on the action of
Commissioner Foote last year, the report
states that such a redundant afterpiece as
a report upon a report was one of those
inadvertent mistakes which should not be
made a precedent"
A few of the leading features of the re-
port may here be given, awaiting more
careful examination after it is received from
the State Printers hands;
ENLARGED POWERS.
The question of increasing the authority
of the Board is discussed and the follow
ing recommendation is made Thus upon
such considerations of law and fact as may
be predicated of all railway management,
the commissions of other States have been
invested with such visitorial and remedial
powers and duties as have brought them
into their most useful and friendly rela-
tons with railway companies. By autho-
riZed inspection and findings of fact. touch
ing the facilities and instrumentalities OF
transportation, and power to advise or
order repairs and betterments, they exer-
else a watchful and suggestive supervision,
conducive to the safety and convenience OF
all tOlltGIHGu- II Is lilllS iIldL CCI DpIdlS
self-government is subjected to such and
so much State control as carries with it the
official evidence and assurance Of reason
able regulations-suitable facilities and the
safest attainable and most accommodating
management. 1t is therefore recommended
that the inspection and finding of facts,
which would otherwise be an idle display
of unofficial intermeddiing, be required OF
this Commission and that its general
supervision OF railroad and other trans
pOrtation companies in this State beaccom-
panied by such appropriate powers and
sanctions as shall insure compliance with
its authorized orders and decisions"
PASSENGER SCHEDULE.
The Humphreys schedule Of passenger
fares, says the report, establishing maxi
NUNS Of four and six cents per mile, on
the roads owned and operated by the Cen
tral Pacific Railroad Company, is still in
force. Upon the common-sense theory OF
differential as opposed TO a uniform rate, it
is adjusted to the volume and vicissitudes
of passenger traffic on the roads to which
it applies. 1t does, by graduation of rates
to service, substantially what is done by
classificatiOns OF roads in Missouri. Ohio,
South Carolina and Wisconsin, in all OF
which, by legislative enactment, rates
range from three to four cents per mile
and in neither of which are there any such
constant factors of cost in construction and
operation as Mojave deserts or Nevada and
Tehachapi mountains. And in connection
with this statement attention is called TO
that of the Central Pacific Railroad Com
pany, verified and filed in this Office for the
year 1883, as follows:
Highest rate of fare per mile for any distance
Excluding one mile, prior TO August 10, 1853,
ten cents.
After August 10 1888, reduced (by order of the
Board of Railroad Commissioners to six cents
Lowest rate of fare per mile for any distance
Single fare) main line, one and sixty-slX and
tEothirds- hundredths cents.
Ferry single fare, one and fve-hundredths
cents
Ferry Communication, forty -hundredth cents.
Average rate of fare per mile mot including
season tickets received from local passengers on
roads operated by this company, two and sixty
tive-hundredths cents.
Average rate of fare per mile received from
local passengers on roads operated by this com
pany, not including ferry or season tickets,
three and forty-two-hundredths cents.
Average rate OF fare per mile received from
passengers to and from other roads, two and
twenty t-hundredths cents.
Average rate of fare per mile per season ticket
passengers, reckoning one round trip per day to
each ticket, none.
Average rate of fare per mile for all passen-
tiH w anu st NcLItS
Upon this exhibit of diversified and
average passenger rates reconsidered and
tested by the conditions of service, it is
now, as it was on the 10Th day Of August,
1888, the deliberate judgment Of this Com
mission that the maximums established
conform to the right rule Of decision, and
are Just and reasonable
Without the favor of assuring approval
or the fear Of forbidding opposition, by rea-
son of the law and the facts, the Commits
sion made and now adheres to its decision.
And rs railroad management, like sue
cesSive administrations of this Office, are
only relatively good or bad, it remains for
the present incumbentS Of this Commits
sion, in the fifth year of its existence, to
say in justice to all concerned, that no
where and by no agency, is better, cheaper
or more accommodating service rendered TO
the travelling public than by companies
owning or operating railroads in this State.
INLAND FREIGHTs.
The schedule of freight rates out from
tide water and terminal points to inland
stations is still in force on the Central Pa
cific system and as it has been the subject
of much discussion and some disparage-
ment, the estimates and explanations re-
lating to the method and measure of re-
auctions and the final orders referring
thereto, as reported at the beginning Of the
year. are inserted in the report All these
have been published from time to time in
the newspapers.
The question of reduction of inland rates
is discussed and the difficulties of the
problem pointed out % Il is more than
any other subject to all the varying condi-
tons and vicissitudes known to railroad
service, and involves the study and appi-
cation of such factors as distance and di-
rection of movement, volume, class and
general character Of the traffic. Reaching
out and away from fertile valleys by nav
igable rivers, over mountain grades and
curvatures, through tunnels and loops, to
diversified resources and unequal supplies,
ii demonstrates to an experimental GER
tainty the absolute absurdity of uniform
rates and makes the reason and justice of
ditfcrential charges so plain that a wayfar-
ing corporation, though q fool, could not
err therein.
In treating of the Central Pacific system