The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-01-08

tnumbers the personal responsibility of leach member is greater. The Comm1s-
 sion ought to have power to employ
 such experts as may be needed in it's | investigations; and. given this power,
 it will not be so necessary that the
 members of the Commission be them
 selves experts as to those matters
 which their duties may require them
 to investigate, consequently the bill
 submitted does not provide that the
 members of the Commission shall pos
 seSs the professional qualifications
 which are now required by Section 387S
 of the General Statutes for appoint
 ment on the Board of Railroad Com
 mlsslCners. The commissioners ought to have no pecuniary interest in, or of fcial connection with, any corporation subject to their supervision, and the proposed Act so provides.
 Provision is made in sections and
 D of the Act for removal of com-
 missioner. for cause. by the courts.
 The question whether such cause for removal exists is a judicial question
 and should be determined by the courts.
 This provision has the additional 1d- vantage of making the commissioners independent of political influences. l Section 7 provides that each commits sioner shall be paid the same salary now raid to the judges of our Superior Court. If the Commission is given the
 powers herein recommended the per- formance of it's duties will demand the entire time of it's mem bers. it's business
 will be of the highest importance. and i it's members should be men of recog- l nlzed ability. who can and will give their entire time to the work of the
 Commission and whose services will be worth the compensation provided.
 The requirement that the corpora tions shall pay the salaries and ex- is vided in section 1882 of the General
 Statutes as to the Railroad Commis- sioners. is omitted from the appended | Act. The Commissioners are the of- scials of the state. and any flavor of an obligation because of salaries paid from any source should be avoided. 1 Part II deals with the organization of public service corporations under 1 general law. the provisions of which are suggested by our present statutes relating to the formation of corpora ! tions other than those transacting bus ] mess therein excluded, and corpora 1 tions requiring the right to take and condemn lands or to occupy the public 1 highways of this state. The opinion of this Commission of the advantage and advisability for incorporating in this manner rather than by special charters granted by the General As senibly has been previously noted in this report.
 Part III deals with the method whereby the corporation may have designated the territory in which it may supply public service, or a lay
 out over which it may construct a rail- road or street railway.
 Part " deals with the right of con- struction upon private property, and it's provisions have largely been taken from existing statutes, combined and condensed. The principal change is that the determination of the specific land which may be taken under the power of eminent domain is vested in the Commission and is to be granted only after a public hearing of all par ties in interest.
 Part V deals with construction in highways, and is practically re-en- actment of existing statutory provis- ions extended to apply to all public service corporations having their con- struction in or under our highways, and prescribes a uniform method and power of determining the location on the highways of the fixtures and con- structions of all public service corpora tiOnS.
 Part VI deals with the issue of capi- tai stock and securities by public ser vice corporations and the investment of the avails thereof These corpora tiOns are given extraordinary powers by the public, among which are fre- quently monopOlistic privileges, remov- ing them from competition, and com polling the patronage of the public W;1Ein their respective territories Such corporations, properly managed, should be allowed tp charge rate, toll, or tariff, to the public, for the service rerciered, which will yield the corpora tion fair return upon the amount horestly invested in it's property devot- ed to the public use. but the tariff, fn1 fn lad t1,n h lie ought not to be predicated upon a capitalization which is fictitiously in- Hated and which in no sense repre- scnts honest investment. To require honest capitalization and honest in vestments of the proceeds of capitali- zation is a protection which the State ought to accord to the stockholder and bond investor and to the consuming public. This is what is sought to be accomplished by the provisions of Part VI.
 Part VII deals with the returns and reports, and with examinations and audits by the Commission. To a con- siderable extent it's provisions follow existing legislation relating to rail roads and street railroads, but the provisions have been extended by giv- ing the Commission authority to ex- anime and audit the accounts of the corporations subject to it's supervision, ana requires the COm1n1SSlOn 10 make public the facts by it found from such returns, audits and examinations. This places upon the Commission the res- possibility for the accuracy of the sta- tistics published by it.
 The Act further provides for an au- dit, under the supervision of the Com mission, upon the application of the holders of D per cent. of the stock or of the bonds or long time notes of the corporation. (Secs. 100-103)
 If so large a proportion of stockhold- CTS or creditors are sufficiently con- cerned about the financial condition of the corporation to apply for and to pay the cost of such examination, it i seems that it is sufficient reason for | requiring such examination to be 1 made. The Commission is also given l authority to make such audit at any time upon it's own initiative.
 In addition to it's general annual re- | ports the Commission is required to 1 render special reports to the General 1 Assembly, with a draft of such legisla- 1 tiOn as it recommends for adoption.
 Part VIII is, in effect, a recodifica- 1 ton of existing legislation. Section 113, | however, is new in that it authorizes | the Commission to make recommenda- tions in reference to matters of opera tiOn by the companies subject to it's I supervision. No penalty is provided | for 8 failure to comply with such rec concentrations because they pertain to | the managerial functions of the oor-