The morning journal-courier., 1908-10-22
Thursday, october 22, taOs.
PUBLIC UTILITIES CONFESSION.


 PUBLIC UTILITIES CONFESSION.
 One thing appears already 10 have been determined hy the campaign which has been fought in the state Of Connecticut this fall There will he created a public utilities commission to take the place of the railroad commla- sion. Both candidates for the gov ernorship have approved of tho moye- ment and will therefore, should the oc- casion arise, approve the legislation which will bring 1t into existence. AS an Issue between them 1t has been eliminated, It simply remains for the committee appointed year and a half ago to make it's report. IL will then be seen what is proposed and what is needed, if anything, to complete the bill
 It is rather absurd for either candi- date to undertake Go absorb all the po- ltical advantage involved in the dis cussion of the proposed permanent commission. It would be more absurd for any of the public service corpora tions to seriously oppose the enact- ment of the proposed legislation. IL ia in the nature Of things that Connecti- cut, having yielded the principle of natural monopoly in the case of these corporations, should protect itself in the only way it can against possible abuse of monopollstic power Not to do this would be to surrender outright to the vested interests, which have com plete control almost of the streets and highways of the commonwealth, the re- straining influence which alone should rest in the state This is q simple proposition in political morals and 1t has so caught the fancy of the people and appealed to their sense of right that no matter who is elected governor his name will be found written in ap- proval of any legislative measure which properly undertakes to All this long felt want The governor who would undertake to defeat such measure would retire from office with the contempt of the electorate
 
 The unpleasant rumor is still circu- lating that it is the purpose of the tenn porary commission to confer the power of appointing tho permanent commis- sion upon the judges of the higher courts. We are not prepared to be- lieve that the commission, which has three members of the bar on 1t, has decided to thus load, the judiciary of Connecticut with political powers which cannot fail. if exercised, to weaken the bench in public esteem The appointment of men to supervise or overlook or regulate the public ser vice corporations of the state involves the exercise of political judgment more thu it does of judicial sense. The courts are established to do a certain, definite work and anything which tends to in- terfere with that work, or to invite criticism of it's acts Is mistake in Judgment Of the ability of the high CT judges to make selections for any office carrying with it onerous duties there need be no question. The danger lies, not in the capacity of the judges for such work but in the probability of the dispassionateness of the bench being doubted in event of the commis- sion acting in a manner to provoke discussion
 The safety of the Connecticut courts consists in their freedom from political restraint and their limitation to the purposes which called them into being Anything which threatens to either modify or enlarge upon these powers 
 must be considered a mistake. After all has been said and done that can be said and done the stability and the independence of the judiciary should be maintained at all hazards Because the power to make political appoint ments might lead to the weakening of the judiciary we shall hope to hear that the purposes of the commission have been msrepresented and that the pow CT will he given another branch of the state government In the meantime we are assured of public service com mission, with adequate powers to pro- tect the public against possible corpor- ate greed.
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