Durango semi-weekly herald., 1907-05-30

judges twice as much as the members
of the United States supreme court
receive. The commissioners hold Of
fee for FIVE years. The term Of one
of them expires every year, so that
fresh blood can be introduced annual
ly.
The commissions are given general
supervision over all corporations that
do a public business, with authority
to examine into and correct their
methods OF management, their finan
cial transactions, their rates OF
charges, the accommodations they fur
nish the public, the character and
sufficiency of their plants. their pc
cuniary obligations, their treatment of
their patrons and the general conduct
of their affairs. A commissioner may
make an inquiry into the affairs and
transactions or management of any
corporation doing business in the
state of New York on his own mi
tiGtiye or upon the complaint of any
citizen, and II 1t is found to have
violated the law or to have neglected
10 obey any order of tile commission,
its officials may be fined not less than
$4,000 for every offense. and each
days continuance of the violation or
neglect shall be considered separate
oifense. The penalty for any corpora
tion other than a common carrier is
81 900 for every offense.
The commissions have power to
grant franchises for public utilities,
and no railroad or stree railroad or
common carrier or other public utility
can issue bonds or other obligations
or begin construction or exercise any
| right or operate under any old fran
| chise or lease or contract or make an
| agreement without the permission and
approval of the commission. No cor
poration can issue stocks, bonds or
other evidences of Indebtedness for
| any purpose without obtaining an or
der for such authority from the com
mission; no corporation can purchase
or hold stock in another corporation
unless So authorized by the commits
sion, and the commission has author
ity to decide how much capital is
| lNt'SpuIF anu oDll5dlibliS may
be assumed by any corporation. For
the purpose of determining such ques-
| tions the commission must hear and
examine witnesses and give the per
sons interested an opportunity to ex-
plain their claims and plans.
| Thus you will see that the doctrine
of state control is to be hereafter ap-
piled more closely in the state of New
| York than in any other part of the
world, and no corporation can do busi-
ness In that state unless 1t manages
its affairs in such a way as to secure
no interests at stake.
| Regarding rates, the new law says
| that common carriers are required to
file with the commission and to keep
open to the public schedules showing
rates, fares and charges, and the forms
In which the schedules are to be made
up shall be prescribed by the commits
sion and are to conform as closely as
possible to those required by the in.
terstate cen nerce act CT congress. No
change cen be made in schedule until
after public rotice. No common car.
rier after November j, 1907, may en-.
gage in the transportation of passen.
gers, freight or property until its
schedules are filed with and approved
by the con- mission and published.
No discrimination, rebates or parti
ality toward patrons will be permitted
and no free transportation or service
of any kind may be given except to
scribed in the recent rate bill CT the
congress of the United States.
At the same time the New York
| legislature has passed almost by a
unanimous vote a law fixing cents
a mile as the maximum rate of pas
senger fare on all railroads within the
limits of the state more than 150 miles
in length, but this does not mean so
much as it does in the more sparsely
settled states of the country. The
average regular rates of fare charged
by the railroads of New York state are
under 2 cents mile already.
| | have talked with several prominent
| corporation people IN lnlS city con
corning the new law and, while some
of them are very bitter In denouncing
1t as an invasion of their rights and
as tyrannical and oppressive piece Of
legislation, the mapority accept 1t as
the inevitable and say that they car
easily dust themselves to It's require
ments. They say that If the commits
sions are composed OF homes. and
fair minded and intelligent men there
will be no difficulty, and as rule,
they would rather deal with sich a
commission than suffer the continual
annoyances that they have experienc.
ed from corrupt members of the leg
islature. They say that every corpor-
alton in the state has been exposed to
biackmail; that holdup bills have been
introduced at every session of the
legislature, and that 1t has been neces-
sary for corporations to keep expen-
sive agents at Albany to look after
such matters. All this was brought
out in the insuI ance investigation in
which Governor Hughes made his rep
utation, and to protect the insurance