Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-19
WILL THEY COMPREHEND


| THAT at least two of the members
OF the state railroad commission
have been ignorant of the laws
governing or intended to govern the
administration of the affairs of that
office naturally should be the source of
amazement. If, as shoul1 be the case,
the members of that useless appendage
of state government at any time had
entertained serious thoughts of partici-
pating in any manner whatsoever in
the regulation of the operation of rail-
ways in California, the first sentence
Of this paragraph would be literally
true. Not only should the ignorance
Of its members in this respect be the
source of amazement, but it surely
would be.
The oath of office for state officers
prescribed by the constitution of Cali
fornia runs thus:
81 do solemnly swear (or affirm. as
the constitution Of the United States
and the constitution of the state of
California, and that will faithfully
discharge the duties of the office of
-, according to the best of my
ability"
1t is not probable that any person
familiar with the history of the opera
tions of this ornamental, if not yet use
full, bureau of state government has
expected, up to this time, that it would
really endeavor to perform in full the
duties prescribed for it by the statutes
and by the constitution. Particularly
may it be said to be improbable that
this distinguished body would be ex-
pected to discharge the duties of its
office unless its members understood
what the duties of their office were.
Yet more particularly may it be said,
further, that no one should expect the
board to enforce the laws prescribed
for the regulation of the railroads of
the state unless the members of the
board know what such laws are.
AS is indicated in the news columns
Of The Herald today, two of the mem
bers of Californias railroad commission
have admitted their ignorance Of that
section of the organic law of the state
which defines the duties of that body.
Through The Herald, however. they
have been informed of the existence of
the law referred to-; and though the
natural presumption is that they, in
common with other public officials who
have taken the prescribed oath of office,
will make conscientious efforts to
arrive at an understanding Of the pro-
visions of the law and, having done so,
will endeavor to live UP to its I'M
equivocal mandates, interviews with
these two men do not hold out the
hope that they will take steps in this
direction unless compulsory measures
are resorted to or the fear that they
may lose their fat offices gets grip
upon their hearts.
So long have the members of this
commission looked to their political
creators-the Southern Pacific bureau
of political economy-for advice and
instructions in regard to such unim-
portant and utterly useless things as
they sometimes do, such as preparing
reports indicating that they have
accomplished zero. that we may have
to wait until the usual orders are
received as to the procedure to be
taken in this case.
If the Southern Pacific political bu-
reau "hears something" approaching,
for the sake of the men now awaiting
orders let it be hoped that it will not
mistake the sound for the buzzing of
the wings of an innocuous insect. The
source of the noise is near enough at
hand to be easily distinguishable. 1t
sounds to us more like the battling Of
an angry pepulace. clamoring for the
rights so long denied 1t.