The morning call., 1892-06-23
ON ITS OWN NOTION.
How the Railway Commission
Should Act.
BUT IT WANTS TO INVESTIGATE"
Shiyely VIII Pursue His Egnis Fatuus,
While the Commissioners Look
on and Laugh.

" Rule TO regulate, establish or change
the rates Of charges and schedules of fares
or frcights of any transportation company
iIl his state, said Comm issiolcrs 'cU pro-
coed UPON THEIR OWN MOTION, or
upon tie complaint Of amy person or per-
sons demanding relief and hdring an in
terest herejn."
Rules of Procedure Of The Railroad Commits
sion Of California.
Upon their own motion"
And yet the Commissioners have seen no
necessity for any change OF railroad rates
in this State, and have said all along that if
the people want the rates reduced they
should make a complaint"
t. .. ShiYely is pushed forward as the
man to make this complaint
THE CALL has explained why. 1t is
simply TO give the Railroad Commissioners
a chance to dodge the great issue before
them-the one great issue in which all Cal
if0rnia is interested, and which San Fran
cisco in particular is praying may be sue
cessfuly terminated.
II Mr.. Shiyely has the real interest of the
people at heart. and is not tool in the
hands of Commissioner Rea and his col
leagues If the board. let him show it by
Withdrawing his complaint and saving the
people of The State the spectacle of as COM
plete farce as was ever enacted on this
coast. and also saving them the thousands of
dollars that would be spent in persung an
investigation" which looks better inside
quotation marks than out.
And, if the Railroad Commissioners are
not the creatures OF the Southern Pacific
Company, and are anxious to serve the State
let them begin the work Of cutting down the
awfuly exhOrbilant rates ION their own
motion"
THIS THE WAY IT LOOKS
Salary OF three Railroad Commissioners
from 1850 to 1892 at $1,000 year eacn. sl44 900
Salary Of one secretary, AZ $2+UJ year,
salsr5 OF one 6a!iiH, $40 year, Tor the
Rent i' and d, ot6er expenses al 500 month
Total raid by taxpayers in II years 10 Sc
cure equitabio railroad noIes....-....... 2l6,OO9
BENEFIT derived ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 0
TotaI.......' ....-..................S o
Isn't il almost time to investigate the
workings OF the Railroad Commission Of the
State Of California?
Ii Mr. Shively would make proposition
Of that kind he would be hailed as a man Of
great acumen.
But to let Mr.. Rea bamboozle him into
the belief that it would be a good thing to
file q complaint with the Railroad Com
mlSSoueTS asking for a reduction OF rates,
when Mr. Leeds and all the best minds of
the Traffic Association had pointed cut that
this was The very thing the railroad people
were aching TO have somebody do, Ia order
that they might divert the present attacks,
which come from sounder source, and let
tie wheels Of TeuOETessIon hum merrlly
along.
The Shiyely complaint, the Commission
ers say, VIII require a long investigation.
The longer the better for them and Tor
the railroad.
i'Give US months and months Of invesliga-
/ tiOn-years Of it, say the Commissioners.
| Wen investigate the trains of the track
II you'll give us time enough.
And the Southern Pacific Company smiles
approval.
Now If these Commissioners were in
earnest they would not talk that way.
Why can't they first cut the rates down to
living basis for the local shipper and do
their investigating afteTward?
What is t1e use OF any Investigation?
Does not the necessity for a lower rate
stick out so plainly rs to be seen by the
people in the blind asylum a. Berkeley?
Ii does, most assuredly. ANY blind man
OF sound mind in that asylum Will tell You
that he sees 1t, and any man with good eye
sight and not Southern Pacific man or
Railroad Commissioner can see 1t staring
him In the face all around. The very meat
on his table, the very table Itself, consider
| lHg the prices paid for them as result OF
high railroad rates. are in evidence of that
point TO say nothing of the clothes that he
wears and the cane he walks with.
Said commissioners shall have tho
power, and il shall be their duty" says
the law Of the State, ito establish rates of
charges for the transportation OF passen-
gers and freight by railroad or other trans
p0ItatiOn companies"
And yet, in this year Of grace 1892, the
people of the San Joaquin Valley are build
ing road wagons with which 10 haul freight
between Fresno and Stockton, and will be
glad to get one-balf the rates charged by the
railroad for the service.
The railroad commissioners could take
the matter up and give California relief in
sixty DAYS If they cared TO.
II certainly does not look "a If they cared