The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-02-29
FRON OTHER PENS
POWER OF COMMISSIONS.

A law clothing an administrative COM
mission with power to regulate rates to
be charged by public utility companies
for their service has been held uncon-
stitutional by the New York court Of
appeals; but the very grounds OF the
decision confirm the right Of the legis-
lature to delegate it's rate-making pow
ers. The rate attacked in the present
case was one fixed by the now defunct
state commission Of gas and electricity
and affecting a company operating in
Saratoga; and incidentally the decision
invalidates all rates made under like
conditions. The law in question pro-
vided that rates made under 1t should
continue in effect for three years, and
the court holds that because there was
no appeal from this arbitrary require
ment the statute Is invalid.
The court, however. does not stand
for the principle SO strongly insisted
upon in the United States senate during
the discussion Of the rate bill, that an
appeal must lie in every instance and
from every order Of an administrative
commission to the judicial tribunals. AS
a matter of course, where an order i'm
pairs the constitutional rights and lib
critics of citizen the courts will inter
vene; that Is their function, irrespective
of the specific terms Of an act Of legis-
lation. To the general principle Of ratio
regulation by commissions the court OF
appeals sets the seal of It's approval 1t
practically declares the public service
commission act fethered by Governor
Hughes to be impeccable. This act pro-
vides for appeals from the state COM
missions for the rescisston or amendment
of any of their orders; a court review is
provided only in the event OF the i'm
pairment of a constitutional right; and
more than this an appellant is not con-
stitutionally entitled to. The delega-
III fn q
commission has apparently ceased to
be a matter for judicial controversy
Philadelphia Record.
| THE STUDENT OF THE WEATHER.
tolerated for its means of livelihood.
in the estimation of the one fond OF
fishing and hunting. 1t may be a
prison to the one whose heart Is in
the fields and woods and streams, but
upon the student of the weather the
| city FORCES no chains. The everchang-
| ing prospect Of sky and air Is lost to
most of those drilled to the routine
| of town life. The weather Is inter-
preted In terms of comfort. One day
| is unlike another only so far as it af-
fects the sense of wellbeing. As most
| Of the hours are spent within doors
the question OF temperature is more
concerned with the price of coal or a
| Jan1torS cOnSCl04co l1laA HAtlA lhG soAi
and the direction of the wind.
| The person who can find pleasure
| in comparing thermometer readings
has nature always about him. His
contentment is not narrowed by walls
as long as his windows permit him to
| watch the clouds, the sweep of smoke
or the fall of snow or rain The seas,
| ons are no mere measures marked
| off arbitrarily on a calendar for pur-
| poses such as regulating the wearing
| Of clothes or carrying of umbrellas
He reads signs in buds and birds. In
| the sound of dry leaves scurryine
along the pavement, the murmur OF
| tree tops, even in the fog that forms
upon his glasses, If he wears them. A
night that is dark and still and starless
weighs not upon the soul of the stu
| dent Of the weather. 1t is book OF
many pages, and he has no time to
spare from his reading to acquire the
blues. A wet, soggy snow brings forth
no conventional curses on the street
| cleaners. He Is wondering how long
the wind will keep to the southwark
or how soon a hard rain will carry
the Ice and snow aways-CievslanS
Leader.