The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-06-11

n,1ircs) cover private or confid mat
fters s. They are required only Tor ne pur-
nose of supplying such information as
Inc public ID entitled to-, and are required
to be received. collated. CLASSIFIED e, anu
flied By the commission for the sole PVT.
pose Of enabling the public 70 nave . 1879
Z 10 them. Sue h re ports arc practicaii =.
limited to such information as the bas:s
sof 4 stock issue, the amount OF stock t,ls
and bonds outstanding. the names H any an.
residences IT the corporate Officers an No
directors, etc. Thus IT will be seen&th I
tho Virginia State corporation com ms
sion (ur,lke the Federal ncpa rtment OF
Commerce and Labor does not !. opta ~,
4 possession OF amy corporate secrets
rupon which it's members -can rade. y
they would All the knowledge they have
is gathered for the Information OF the
public and amounts only to statStlcs
gathered for the public. ~
The annual fees payable by private cor
porations are all fixed By, the General
Assembly, and cannot be Increased, Ill
unfinished or RENTED by the commission
whose sole duty is to see that every COM
I pany pays them propmtly. They aresnot
even payable 10 the commission, hut to
the State treasurer. Il I, 55sf5
SIT A. y apparent, u: therefore, that while
PUEBLO SERVICE corporations may
have much to hope and fear from the
ECOUlTllS6lOIl, aSh1StA1AS
5yors which that body could grant to, and
no shardshps which IT could inlet upon
PRIVATE corpora ions however dis
posed 1t might be- to do either. 5 ~
q For these reasons no law forbids
member OF the commissioner own stock
in any private corporation
Private Corporations.
I. u But while the powers and duties Of the
commission in reference to private corpo-
$rattons are few and simple, they n one tho
less entail a vast amount OF work upon
the commission, and result in bringing q
large revenue, much OF It never realized
before the existence OF the 5commissio
into the State treasury. Some idea Of
the extent OF this work OF the commission
and Ats value, to the State may be had
when 1t Is, known that In the year ending
December 81. 1901, there were 765 charters
issued or amended. some three or four
thousand private corporations registered
and their various annual reports obtained,
collected and filed, and some $3.50, 900 cov-
erred into the State treasury from fees
Of private corporations. It must be borne
In mind, however, that this is the least
difficult, lahorious and important part
OF tho commissions work, In that 1t .omits
entirely the regulation and control Of
PUBLIC SERVICE Corporations, func-
( TOMS which are sufficient to cngross
LAS 1t was Intended and contemplated 1t
should do) almost the entire personal
services and attention OF the commission
( ers. ;3il NJ 5gf ;iS S;s
Duties Of G Commission.
+ From what has been said, i t will be
readily seen that practically all the COM
missions work in reference to PRIVATE
corporations might be PERFORMED through
competent clerical assistants, leaviug to
the commissioners personally only the
general supervision ard direction Of 1t.
and thus enabling them to practically
devote all their time and personal labora
to their non-assignable and vastly more
Important and difficult duties in connec-
ton with the regulation Of public SER
vice corporationa functions In which.
however. the commission MISC requires
extensive clerical aid. I:
It can truthfully be sold that even The
/ most Intelligent portion of the p1blic
Z has but very faint upprecutlonf OF the
amount OF labor and tho extent Of DIFF
ficultcs involved In the regulation OF the
public service corporations Of tho state,
10 say nothing OF the telegraph md tele-
phone companies, the steamb boat and
street car companies, the turnpike and
trolley line companies, and others, over
which tho commission has jursdlctoA
ana considering only the steam railroad
companies, Of Which there ara q bout thir-
ty-fiye operating about four Thousand
miles OF road in this State, some idea
81 this work may be obtained, when It Ia
remembered that the COMMUNIST oners are
charged with the personal performance
OF the following duties In respect to such
railroads; &, .5.l y. af,
( list. TO inspect the physical condition
OF these roads and their depot and other
facilities, and to see that thc.safety and
convenience OF the public are properly
provided for, Under this head the com,
mission has already condemned and
caused to be repaired or rebuilt. under
it's supervision. something more than one
hundred depots. at an aggregate cost 70
tha M Threads OF many thousand dollars.
ed, 10 assess for taxation all the roads.
stations. rolling stock, and other rea!