Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-06-28
THE COMMISSION.
The Objections that are Raised to the
Enactment OF Commission Law.
One of the Reforms Sweeping the Country.
Shall We Reject it Now and accept 1t
Two or Three Years Later
Del Rio Record.

The voter at the polls should act from
the same high sense of honor and dut.
that controls the juryman in the jur.
box. He should first understand tn
issue fully, and then make up his minC
thereon clearly, calmly and oonscien
tiously. To decide upon great polio!
of state, and vote thereon without un'
Outstanding it, is even less sxcusablt
than to decide upon an Issue in cour
without hearing the evidence or consid.
ering the instructions of the Judge.
In this article shall endeavor to out.
| line what q commission is, what deticien.
cies in our system of state regulation Of
railroads it is designed to supply, anG
what benefits to the people and to the
railroads themselves are expected to &C.
crue from its adoption.
Before proceeding to this, however
let me say by way of introduction that
| the railroad commission idea is one of
those great legislative reforms, like the
common school system or the Australian
ballot reform, which the experience OF
states has found to be necessities, and
| which, when once inaugurated, sweep
over whole countries and become the
universally accepted policies of govern
mental administration. Originating in
the older states a number of years ago ,
it was found to be an unqualified success
and was therefore copied after in other
and newer states, so that now it is in
force in all the states of the Union except
in about ten or fifteen. No state that
has ever adopted it has at any time since
,h t;,f,
and there is not q man IN the
acquaintance with public affairs
who would for a moment question its
success or wisdom, unless he is one who
is seeking office and hoping to obtain it
by misdirecting and abusing the honest
conservatism of a large and intelligent
class of people.
Enough by way of Introduction.
We have in this state, already, laws
regulating railroads; that is, providing
for their valuation for taxation, fixing
maximum freight and passenger rates,
prohibiting determinations, etc., etc.
But the trouble is Gas the trouble was in
other states before they adopted the
commission idea) that the powers for
inforcing these laws are too widely dis
tributed-are scattered out among too
many officers; namely, among the county
commissioners courts, the state board
of equalization, the encouragement
and others, all of whom have their other
official duties to perform; and the result
is that the laws are not enforced; or, if
enforced at all, are enforced only here
and there, and in most cases only feebly
and Intellectually.
The railroads of Texas constitute
vast, complicated interest requiring for
their proper supervision by the state a
strong central board of able, capable
men vested with plenary powers to see
that the laws are wisely, faithfully, and
impartially executed. No one man can
do this; much less can it be done eff
GENTLY and successfully under the pres
ent system of giving the county commits
sioners' courts part of these powers,
the state board of equalization a part,
and the attorney general and others GER
tain duties to perform. As it now is,
the main responsibility devoIves upon
the attorney-general; and he, by his ex-
perience in these affairs, has found, as
the able men of other states soon saw,
that railroad commission is necessity;
otherwise that the laws cannot be fully
and fairly enforced.
Take the matter of assessing rail-
road property for taxation,
for instance, under the present system
the county commissioners of each county
assess the railroads in their own county
for local purposes. The result is that
there is no uniformity of valuation of the
same road in different counties. If in
one county the commissioners are espe-
cially friendly to road it not infre-
quently happens that the road gets off
with very low valuation whilst in other
counties the valuation may sometimes be
placed too high. This is all wrong. It
forces the roads to interfere in local poll
tics-to the shame and disgrace of the
order to protect them
selves by electlng friendly commission
ers. The roads themselves have no taste
for this, and would be glad to get rid of
it.
To do away with this absurd system of
railroad assessments is one of tn i'm
portant results which the state commits
sion law is designed TO bring about. To
be sure, in some of the railroad commits
sion states this is still left to the state
board of equalization. But the better
has been to vest this power
in q state board of commissioners, sub
ject to review by the state board of
If it be urged that the election of the
of the state commission could
also be controlled by the roads, it may
be answered that the railroads have never
yet been able to control a single state
election; whilst, on the other hand, it Is
often very easy matter for road
10 control the election of the county
only, IN the few counties
If the state through which it passes
The members of state railroad commits |
lions are almost Invariably men of stated
of high character, D
arge experience in business affairs, and |
established regulations. Such men are |
lot easily purchased; and even If they |
we're, their work is of so vast Importance /
md of so public a character that If they |
hould betray their trust their perfdy |
would be at once detected and de-
and the very object for which
hey sold themselves would thus be de-
Gated. But there is not a shadow of
anger of corrnpting the commission
ven If the railroads were SO disposed,
7hich do not believe they are.
Under the commission law the rail-
Dads are usually divided into thrassjf
second and third. Graftf
runk lines, like the Southern Pacific,
re placed in the Hrst class; connecting
mes constitute the second GLASS, and tap
Dads, or feeders, the third class.
The considerations, among others,