The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-07-23

The supreme question III =
DINA ana in the United States =
whether the state ought TO regulate
public service corporations. Ihough
the law has always been clear thdt
the exercise or the right Or eminent
domain made a railroad a quasi-puDAc
+ corporation and the courts nave helo
that it t. in all respects, save private
ownership, a public highway, the own
ers have demanded the right 10 do as
they please and the tolerant pubic mas
seemed To acquiesce in this claim until
the Goulds and the HaTrimans ana
the Morgans used their mighty power
T. exploit the public by dishonest
fnanciering. nccessitating exorbitant
rates to pay the interest on watered
stock. For Years the several States
have claimed and exercised the right
to regulate railroads. but few of the
scratch the ground. Not in h1lf a
Commissions have dom more than
dozen states have they done any deep
pjowing. and the state Commissions
while relieving some Of the smaller
evils, nave rarely touched the matter
Of rates. The North Carolina Com
missions record Is as good as most OF
the best. but It has neither
freight nor passenger rates. the
intra-statc freight rates were fixed
during an era of competition and the
Commission has resoluteIy refused any
increase from those rates.
The recent acute litigation in Wake,
growing out of the exercise by the
Legislature Of the right to fix rates has
served to accentuate the question
whether the State should regulate the
railroads. This IS a broader question
than whether the State shall fix the
fares and freight rates. 1t embraces
all matters Of regulation and litiga-
ton growing out of operating railroads
in North Carolina. 1t is evident that
President Roosevelt, now with the APP
proval Of the heads Of the big rail-
road systems who are willing to ac-
/ cede to some of the Presidents views
if he will permit them to charge what
they please. is desiring TO take away by
judicial construction the right of a
State to regulate wen intra-State
traffic on a railroad If it operates in
tiACi Niioi ciAC hAhS pAAh ~ OiA~
exclusive power of regulating such
roads upon the Interstate Commits
sion. What would that mean for this
State? 1t would mean that North
Carolina would have nothing whatever
to do with the regulation of any rail-
road that had a mile of track in
another State. This would Gust it of all
power over the Southern, the Atlantic
Coast Line, the Seaboard Air Line, the
Norfolk and Southern, the Norfolk
and Western and the Carolina and
NorthWestern-the very roads that
most need State supervision. If a ship
per upon either of those roads needed
regulation, the application would have
to be made to Washington. Experience
has taught that application to Wash
ington, even when the Interstate
Commerce Commission is ready to
grant relief, is attendant with such
expense and delay as deters business
men presenting their grievances. Even
if there were no other reason for de-
nying the State the right to regulate
the railroad business wholly within
the State lines, the fact nat State Off
Gals can near and determine matters
promptly and with little cost should
give the State exclusive power. The
only thing hat causes the big rail
roads to join with Mr.. Roosevelt in
favoring exclusive national control is
that they know such regulation would
rarely be invoked and that they could
secure the right to charge what
they please better from one
central body far removed from any
touch with the public than from the
commissions of the several States.
An injunction by a Federal Judge
preventing the going into effect a State
law reducing rates is only the first
step toward this policy of having lit
tie or no regulation that affects rates.
If North Carolina had remained quiet
and permitted such virtual repeal of
the State statute, it would. in a sense,
have been equivalent to abdicating its
right to fix rates, but that would not
have been all, for if there is to be no
state power to fix rates, then would
it be long before the State would be
denied the right to legislate in any way
affecting railroads doing Interstate
business?
The question is fa~r-reaching. 1t CON
Germs every man who travels and
ships or receives freight. But it more
vitality affects engineers, conductors,
firemen, railway telegraph operators,
b~rakemen. machinists, gents and all
employees of railroads. If North Caro-
lima cannot. subject to the proviso
that rates cannot be confiscatOry, fix
rates on intra-state business on rail-
roads that do an interstate business
also, can it fix the number of conseCu-
tive hours that men employed by such
railroads. in the State may work ?
Can a suit be brought for damages
in a State court. where com paratively
an early and inexpensive trial can be
lad? North Carolina enacted a good
fellow servant law twenty years before
Congress could be induced to consider
it. Railway telegraph operators are
L-s4- IL 49,