The Daily Texarkanian., 1900-05-16
ARKANSAS RAILROAD C0MMIs-
SION.

Secretary Chas. S. S. Collins, of
tie Arkansas railroad commission,
submitted a report to the annual
convention of railroad commission
ers at Milwaukee, in which he says:
This commission was only Great
ed one year ago, and has been doing
little more than going through its
formative and preparatory stag
es. Its time has almost entirely
been consumed in accumulatiug
data, records and information nee
essary for the intelligent perform
auce of the functions of such a
commission. It's members have
long ago become satisfied that the
work of developing the system is
one that cannot be accomplished in
a day, but must be slow, deliberate
and methodical, and the motions of
the commission, in fulfilling its OBJ
jects, will only become rapid and
satisfactory after period perhaps
of years. AS to its powers, under
the law creating this commission,
its jurisdiction is limited entirely to
the question of fixing and estab-
fishing freight rates and in pre-
venting determinations and extor-
tious with relation thereto. 1t
must be very apparent that the
law, insofar as our state is con-
cerned, is defective, and must be
perfected by amendments before
the commission can be of the SER
vice that it was intended to be by
those who conceived and advocated
its establishment IN the face of the
determined opposition on the part
of railroads themselves.
I'm the face of these difficulties
and of this opposition (Which has
continued after its creation and
will doubtless be continued, atleast
for a time, } the work of this com
mission, up to the present time, has
been successful beyond our expec-
tations. Among other things it
has eliminated recently in the is
suance of a standard distance tar
if, which is also mailed you under
seperate cover. 1t is, of course,
defective, but it is subject to
amendments. Since its issuance
quite a number of amendments
have been promulgated looking to
the curingof defects. We antici
| pate nothing but success in the
end, and hope eventually to reach
a point where, not only the shipper
and consumer will be benefited by
the change in the system, but the
railroads themselves will become
convinced that, by the adoption Of
the new system, their revenues, or
the whole, will be increased an(
'Aagrant determinations and 'un
just exactions, whice gave rise fo,
a demand for the creation of thest
commissions, will be, in a large
measure, removed. The statutes
will be properly amended, and thu
commission will be strengthened
not only by appropriate legislation
but by the fact that those exercis
: ing it's functions will become famil
lar with the science of freighting
as well as with the law applying
! thereto. The people will, as well a
the railroads themselves, learn hoy
it can be used for the benefit O
those concerned, and, in process o
time, both sides will wonder VIII
they were satisfied with former con
ditions, and why they could hav
; been induced to oppose and obstruc
f the establishment and development
of the new system,
) under the head of powers
: would be wise to clothe all stat
2 commissions with every power in th
premises that the legislature itsel
has in dealing with the subject 0
the control of traffic and physics
properties of the public highways
, and this should embrace not onl
railroads but all other utilitie
operated under legislative gran
and exercise the power of eminen
domain This because, properly .ur
: derstood commission is really th
representative of the legislature it
, self, and is created on the theor
: that the legislature cannot stay i
session all the time, and cannot at
tend to thSinfnite details that ar
demanded in the administration o
the work. Then, the interstate
commerce law, creating the inter
state commerce commission, and, II
a measure, presiding over the entir,
i ,it