The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-02-13
An Index of Public Sentiment.

q MONG the interesting freak
~ bills of the present legisla-
n tive season is one before the
general assembly of Illinois
providing for a public service COM
mission" to regulate the control OF
corporations of a quasi-public charac-
ter. BY it's terms the control of all
railroad, telegraph companies, tele-
phone, electric light, power, heat, ex-
press and water companies would pass
into the hands of seven men to be
named by the governor. This commits
sion is to fix the rates the corporations
shall charge, the wages they shall pay,
the number and kind of people they
shall employ. 1t would also have
power to prescribe the amount OF
stocks and bonds to be issued, and one
of it's duties would be to see that no
corporation paid a higher dividend
than 8 per cent.
~Manifestly this bill is an impossi-
biity: yet laughing at it does not re-
move the fact that 1t is an expression,
distorted and fanciful, it is true, OF a
public belief, which is growing stead
lily in the United States, in favor OF
more stringent public regulation of
public utilities. There is hardly a COM
munity OF considerable size in the
country which is not awakening to a
consciousness of the truth that in the
easy-going methods of regulation here
tofore prevalent il has been getting
the small end OF the bargain. There
are exceptional cases Of conspicuous
honesty and fairness in the dealings
of quasi-public corporations with the
people whom they serve, but these are
so rare and beautiful as to prove the
rule that the tendency Of such COR
porations, when not restrained. is to
operate upon the Vanderbilt idea of
"the public be ID" There have
been local illustrations in which rates
have been raised without a word of
parley or "by your leave" beyond the
ex parte assertion that the increase is
fair. AS 10 the truth of this assertion
the public has no means of learning
save through individual litigation: and
the average citizen is rarely i'm mood
or funds to meet the bother and cost
OF fighting a powerful corporation
through the various courts essential
to final decision; he naturally pre-
fers to submit, for n time, to what he
regards as eXtortion and, while sub
mitting, nurse his wrath against a day
of judgment
1t Is this patient nursing of popular
wrath which constitutes the danger Of
an excess of restrictive legislation
when once the avalanche moves. The
American people on the average are
fair. They are not contiscationists.
They do not, when at a normal con-
dition of mind and temper, want any
| corporation which serves them with
light, heat, water or rapid transit to
do so on terms that, with good man
| agement, will make impossible fair
profit on the capital and enterprise
actually invested. The straightforward
method OF dealing with them is al
ways the best method in the long run.
| because it wins their confidence and
respect. The great trouble Is that in
/ the majority of Instances the man.
/ ayers of public utilities, in their eager
ness TO shape results to the liking of
the stockholders, fall into the habit of
forgetting the other parties in inter-
est. They try to bluff or cheat the
people; they rely on their ability to
corrupt legislative bodies or 10 win
legal battles on technicalities by rea-
son of their superior power to employ
able and ingenious counsel and to meet
the expenses of frequent appeals, all
the while overlooking that in battling
the public's intuitive sense OF right
they are simply toying with a volcano
that one day may burst forth and
sweep them to inglorlous destruction
We continually hear complaints in
regard to the lack of confidence in
spelling on the part of the rising
generation, and yet it would probably
be impossible to induce the educational
experts of the country to abolish the
system of teaching pupils to read be-
fore they know the letters Of the al
| phabet. The return to the good old