Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1908-10-15

demand has sprung up that all public
service corporations should have SIM
| liar state supervision.
The work OF our railroad commits
sion has shown what may be done by
wise supervision, backed by proper
| authority Tor tho enforcement OF such
regulations as they think proper to
make. We have seen many OF our dam
gcrous grade crossings abolished and
| a general Improvement In the service
| rendered the public, not only as re-
CARDS SAFETY, but also convenience.
This is as It should b..
When any corporation receives
charter from this State or comes hero
10 DO business. such q corporation be-
comes child of the state and the only
supervision which can be exercised
over that body being through the
state. the state is under moral obliga-
tons to see that It carries on its
business In proper manner, subject
| to the rights of the pcople The num-
her Of public service corporations do
ing business in our state Is increasing
rapidly. and It is the part OF wisdom
at this time TO place them under such
control as shnl retain for the people
their full rights.
wish more especially to call your
attention to conditions existing re-
garding telegraph and telephone com
panies. AT the present time there is
practically no competition among the
telegraph companies, the result being
that we receive in many cases AK
trcmely poor service, ana such rates
ore charged as are fixed by the com
phny. 1t should be the duty OF telc-
graph company receiving message
to attend to its prompt delivery. They
receive compensation for doing this,
and this obligation should be AZ
binding on them as any other. At the
present time thcy are practically q
law unto themselves No ono can OBJ
tain any address except by their ac-
quiescenco or In court of law. I be-
ileVe with tho proper supervision OF
commission given suitable authority.
that this state Of affairs could be very
largely done away with. and that the
service could be much improved oven
X the rates were maintained MS at
The telephone companies are In n
somewhat different position inasmuch
as many different companies have been
established throughout the State re-
sultinR In many cases In sharp COM
petition This results usually in excel.
lent service and in reasonable rates.
In other cases where there Is no com
petition the service Is not az good ana
rates are higher. In these DAYS the
trend In cases like this is towards con-
solidht'or ana I ar Of the opinion that
this Is bound to occur in many places
before very long time 1t Is also my
opinion that when such consultations
take place. they may he beneficial to
the communities; that one company
giving suitable service at a fair price
Will be much better than two com
panies even though the cost OF each Is
less For tho above reasons 7 believe
that these consultations may be made
Of benefit to the public. but only when
made under the supervision OF the
state and under such conditions as
Will prevent r-capitalization on
which the public must pay dividends,
with tho immediate result of excess
sive charges.
nave spoken particularly of these
two classes of corporations because
they are perhaps more prominently be
fore the public than any others at
this time. but the same arguments ap-
ply to other public service corpora
lions and should he applied to them.
For the purpose, therefore, Of provid-
Ing such provision. I recommend that
the name Of the railroad commission
be changed to that of public service
commission, and be given supervision
over all public service corporations,
with such power and authority as arc
now given this commission for the SUI
pervision and control of railroads.
This will. OF course increase the work
OF the commission very materially and
their salaries should be increased in
proportion. They should also be given
such clerical assistance as is neces-
sary for the proper carrying on OF
this work
INSURANCE. DEPARTMENT.