The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-01-22
1T is III 10" THE LEGISLATURE

There has beer criticism of the
Corporation Commission because pf
the poor service rendered the people
Of North Carolina by most railroads
These roads have arbitrarily broken
connections and caused great loss and
Inconvenience 10 the people OF tn"
state because Of lack OF provision and
p in transporting the p""-
pie and freight. The power of the
Corporation Commission with refer
epce to connections and the requiring
Of special trains to accommodate The
local business is not as full as II
should be, and needs 10 be enlarged
and strengthened. The Corporation
Commission should be criticised whoa
it does not exercise every lower con
fcrrcd upon ii 10 serve the people
but if the legislative department 81
government does not make its power
ample and so plain that even a ran
road judge cannot misc"nstrue Tue
words Of the law. then the criticism
for bad service is upon the Legislature
rather han upon the Commission.
The CRYING need is for fair pas
senger service i'm North Carolin to-
day. How can it be obtained There
is only one way: Give clear and eX-
plicit power to the Corporation Com
mission to order railroads to run adj
ditional rains whenever the con-
venience Of the public demands 1t.
Much of the present inconvenience
and delay is due to the fact that local
business is made subservient to
through business, and if there is delay
on the through trains of any of the
big systems. that delay subjects to
loss of time and to great inconyeni-
ence every person wishing to take a
local train on that system. Ana vet
there is dispute as to whether the
Corporation Commission has power 10
compel the running OF enough trains
TO save the travelling public in the
State the loss and inconvenience that
has come to be 50 serious as to cry
aloud for a prompt remedy. when
the Commission moves Judge Pur-
nelrs court is ready. upon the first
suggestion Of the railroad. 10 annul,
SO far as he may. the action OF the
state. and it has been stopped more
than once BY the action Of that Fed
eral Judge. OF course cases can ana
should be appealed from his little
Southern Railway annex Of a cour..
but in order to do 50 with certainty Of
securing relief. it is important thai
the power Of the Commission shall be
50 explicit that there can be 10 two
possible ways Of looking at the ac,
In its last eport the Corporation
Commission made an important rec
ommendation with reference 10 local
afic az follows:
THE local service. in the opinion of
the Commission is subordinate 10
the through; this is remark ably so ~
the service Of passenger trains. Inc
trains on which the local travel is
wholly dependent are the identical
trains scheduled over hundreds ~
miles for the convenience. ia It's con
nections and in other respects. OF the
through travel; hence, the tTanspor-i
tation of the local passenger = de-
pendent on the movement Of the
through train. and is subjected 10 the
multiplicity Of delays incident - long
distance runs. 4 local passenger
service cannot be satisfactory or aie-l
quate when il IS irregular and UNI
certain. and the interests Of the local !
passenger served only secondariIg. The |
thus served, in the very ma
ture of things, must sustain great loss |
Of time and means on account Of ex-,
ira expense.
This Is equally true Of the through !