The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-14
RAILROAD COMMISSION
 AS A POLITICAL FACTOR

son who has some knowledge of such business operations. A person operat-
 ng noseon to Sv m sa,s of his experience he is particularly qualified. In order that he may pos sess the qualifications for passing on railroad mana rare parsonage in this Commonwealth. if any there be.
 It Is an incongruous condition to dis discharge the duties of the office and solve the difficult problem of tariff rates. which Is so important to both
 os in 4asns well thas hs vested ses the members of the commission with quasi judicial power, do we understand that this statute means to carry the suspicion that the influence of the rail road oyer the official would .pervert justice? If commissioner. who is railroad man. Is assumed to be inca- ike RIe's suspicion ST rest upon the % preno"nced D sos%s sosaas ea Of 'ae syste% sr1aaod"e of rates @ which the railroad declared to be not only harsh and inequitable, but destruc- tive in its ultimate conclusion? The lawyer who is elected to the office of judge is never supposed to be incompe- tent to determine question of litigation The judge Is supposed to be learned in the law. man of experience In legal affairs. and therefore competent. All other classes of persons are altogether ineligible.
 This parallel indicates a discrimina- tion in the rating of eligibility. and 1t would seem to be reasonable that a man with practical knowledge should be member of the commission. in view of the duties devolving upon this com mission under the statutes of this State. A man of trade aaffirs. con versant with commercial relations. and | person learned in the law, and of business acumen. might constitute the remaining membership. The board thus | composed in its personnel. would be well adapted for the proper adjustment | of the tariff in accordance with the | intent of this statute.
 Readily this suggestion is met with a | statement that like provision, limit | ing the qualifications of the member ship, is found in the Act of Congress, | approved February 1, 1887. and usually | The Interstate Commission applies to
 the courts. under the terms of the act, | not only for the enforcement of it's
 orders. but for the ultimate determine
 discrimination against shippers. Under the State statute this power | as we have seen. is vested in the com
 mission. In my Judgment. therefore there is a manifest distinction between
 the State and Federal statutes; and the State statute. vesting in the commission | the power to determine and fix rates l would seem to require the service of
 one who is experienced and fully com potent to judge of the intricate prob- | lem.
 | There are reputed existing evils which can only be rightfully corrected
 by a commission entirely free from | partisanship. Some of these wrongs
 are said to be fragrant. and if none
 other existed they could be remedied by simple force of power, wherever IL
 might be reposed. But the subject ad- mits of no such narrow consideration, and it would not be consistent with a | system of laws conceived for the com
 mon good and administered as aues- | tion of economics.
 The subject Is commercial, and per
 tains to the industrial success of the State, its citizens, and the carrier. Ap- parently 1t is wrong to permit a rate | for the carriage of an article the dis
 tance of fifty miles, within the border
 one hundred miles. and a rate equal to | tho value of the article of shipment is | confiscation. Discriminating rebates
 are egregiously wrong. If 1t be true
 one section, where full rates are charg-
 ed in competing territory, or if a re- bate is given to one manufacturing en-
 terprise and denied to another. wrong | of most dangerous tendency exists
 which should be thwarted by such pow | CT as the exigencies of the case de-
 mand. If such @ system prevailed. dis
 aster and ruin would necessarily fol- | low.
 l Large commercial concerns locate
 their plants having In view the natural | products of the country and existing
 shipping facilities Their success de-
 in order to secure 1t, earnings are more or less limited in percentage. The profit lies in the quantity sold. and any
 material favoritism by the carrier l At loh fn wrVAN h
 held from his neighbor similarly situat- l ed, means the overthrow of the latter. The courts. as organised. are doubtless | adequate in power and procedure 10 l obViate this condition. If not, certain ly tribunals could be clothed with full | Jurisdiction. Sections two and three of the Aact of Congress, approved Feb ruary 4th, 1887. are directed to the cor rection of this evil. but the purpose may be said to be limited to the enforce ment of equality between shippers over the same line, and to prohibit any re- | bate by whatever device it may be at tempted. Whether this statute should include competing lines might be worthy of great consideration.
 | With this act 1t Is not my purpose to | deal, neither do l attempt any con
 struction of the statute. The inter | leave well established the idea that | the fixing of rates requires skill. ex- perience fair judgment. and non par tisanship. Can we not presume there, | fore. that questions involving alleged hardships of this extreme nature would | likely lead in a popular vote, to seri- ous injury? If determined as the pre- sent commission law requires. through A WatchfuI and careful supervision, "and as experience and business opera tions may show to be just" all existing 1 evils could be easily avoided.
 | All public questions determined by an expression at the ballot box are quasi political. Immediately the right or the | wrong of the proposition Is subject to l the personal view of tho majority. While | we recognize the righteousness of our
 plan of government through the elee, l tive franchise, no one will contend that l economic inquiries and questions essen | tialIv Judicial are within range of this method of determination.
 l In our last general election a freak either curious or natural. as you may our most intelligent people. The views entertained by certain candidates Tor the supreme Bench on the question or osteopathy determined their availabil- Ity if not their qualifications, Tor thls high office, by many Of our physicians learned in the most progressive of all sciences At different points at the polls this issue was strenuously louBht and strange fancy 1t would be for a lawyer to select his family Physlclan of a court which the lawyer advocated! A candidate for judicial office who ad- mfred fine live stock, and who passed his leasure moments with his pipe. an cient in delicious perfume, at the viiI lage livery stable. would be sure of all inc votes of that classical environment. A scholor struggling through many weary years over the dative case. and its derivatives, would be tri1e awk- ward at the throttle of locomotive.