The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-05-10
PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION


 PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION.
 Senator Frank Butterworth of this city, who represents the eighth sena- torial district in the general assembly, and who is demonstrating that he owns the body which is clothed with the toga of statesmanship and inde- pendence, holds out the hope that he may be able to suggest public utili- ties commission bill in time to have 1t acted upon at this session of that body. It is apparent that he is moved to un- dertake this by the experience of the winter at Hartford, which has probably borne in on him, what has been borne in on others, that legislation is not enough to regulate the public service corporations of the state; that com potent and un-bossed commission is re- quired to see that all of the regulatory laws are impartially enforced.
 It Is becoming more and more ap- parent that the exact relation of these corporations to the state should be de- fined, not because we have sympathy, which we have not, with those to whom every public service corporation Is the red flag in the bulls history, nor be- cause we are afraid that the creature of the state may become greater than the creator of 1t, but because there is and the state can live in harmony to- gether. The attitude of the state to- wards them is extremely liberal and considerate; 1t neither wants nor ought to want to interfere with their logical and natural development; 1t does want and should want to so aid in the direction of their affairs that the public may at all times be fully protected, that the errors of the past, which in some phases of them amount to crimes against the commonwealth, shall not be repeated. What 1t appears necessary to do Is to arouse on the part of each institution recognition of the rights of the other, and if a commls- sion having the oversight of the public service corporations will aid in that the railroads should be among the first to advocate it.
 When we get down to all this dust in the highway, 1t is impossible to get away from the fact that the troubles which attract attention are not as a matter of fact of recent origin. They run back to the beginning of state oversight, which was more thing of sentiment than practical fact When the law was amended, it undertook to take away from the railroad commis- sion It's social character, and required that of the three members one should be a lawyer, another an engineer and a third citizen. Opinions among ex- perts differ as to the usefulness of the work of this commission, but there are more who believe that its present or ganization is no longer fitted to the task which confronts the state of over seeing and watching all of the public service corporations, including the rail- roads. If we are not mistaken there is already a bill before the general as- sembly creating public service com mission, but we shall have to wait un- til we see Senator Butterworth's pro- posed bill before it can be told wherein his bill represents a higher standard of public protection.
 As we have said before, in view oi the new policy of the State of Con- nectieut of regarding certain public service institutions as natural mono polies and protecting them in theil mastery of the situation, @ competent un-bossed and impartial general com mission is necessary for the protection of all concerned. The commissioner, should receive a salary, too, large enough to assure the employment O the right kind of men.
 -------------~---=