The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-01-08


 ! interest. Especial Laws of Connecti- cut, 1907, Chap. 470.)
 After careful consideration we have reached the conclusion that it would be desirable to vest in a permanent Public Utilities Commission the follow ing powers and duties:
 1. To grant franchises to public ser- vice corporations.
 2. To supervise the condemnation ot land and construction of fixtures by these corporations in so far as the same affects the public safety or in- terest.
 8. To supervise the capitalization o1 these corporations.
 4. To ascertain the facts relating tc the financial condition of these corpo. rations; the physical condition of theil plants and equipments, and the causes of accidents resulting from their ope- ration.
 5. To supervise their operation in SC far as the same substantially affects the public safety.
 6. To fix the rates chargeable when existing rates are unreasonable. Before giving in detail our reasons for these conclusions we would state that in our opinion the duties of Q Public Utilities Commission should be purely supervisory and rot managerial
 
 fairs of these corporations ought to be left to the corporations themselves. Public service corporations arc dis. t1nct from ordinary private corpora tions in that the nature of their blls- mess requires that they possess eitliel the right of eminent domain or specia privileges. In return for these priv ileges they are subject to certain obli- gations as a matter of common law Prominent among these obligations are: (a) the duty to render to the public adequate service at reasonable rates: (b) the duty to furnish service to all members of the public upon equal terms and without discrimination against or in favor of any.
 The public is justified in supervising the operation of these corporations in so far as it is necessary to enforce compliance with these obligations, and the powers of permanent commis- sion ought to be adequate for that purpose; but beyond this point the management of the affairs of these corporations ought, in the opinion of the commission. to be left to the per sons investing their money therein.
 This commission bases it's general conclusions above stated upon the fol- lowing reasons:
 First. The power to grant franchises to public service corporations should be vested in 8 permanent commission.
 By the term public service corpo- rations." as here used, is meant all private railroad, street railway, gas, electric light, electric power, water, express, telephone, and telegraph cor. porations. Under water corpora tions" are included only corpora tions engaged in furnishing or distributing water for general domestic use. Tho term does not include corporations or- ganized for the sole purpose of devel- oping water power.
 These corporations must necessarily be restricted to a chosen few. The right of eminent domain obviously cannot be granted to anyone and every one who may desire the same, and the Limitations of space in our highways renders it impossible to grant to all who may so desire the right to place fixtures therein. This fact is recog- nized by existing legisla tion in this for the organization of all forms of private corporations under general law, 1t is expressly provided that the general corporation law shall not ap- ply to ''any company requiring the right to take and condemn lands or to occupy the public highways of this State.' Claws of 1908, Chap. 194, Sec. 82.)
 As such rights and privileges cannot fly that the power of determining the recipients must be vested in some pub lie body representative of the general public. In the opinion Of the com mission it would be better for the Gen. eral Assembly to vest this power in a permanent commission than to con- tinue the present system of exercising g IA ~< ~s4J ters; and for the following reasons:
 Q.) Such action would make it pos sible to organize these corporations un- der general law. The possibility of such organization is desirable because it gives to all an equal opportunity and makes no arbitrary discrimination among the recipients of these special privileges. If the corporations are or ganized under general law subject to the supervision of a permanent com mission, the right to locate fixtures in or under the highways or to exercise the power of eminent domain must necessarily be granted in accordance with fixed and definite rules, pre- scribed by statute, to the first appli- cant who would in good faith exercise the privileges granted.
 CD The power to grant these spec ial rights should be vested in small permanent commission, because such a commission will be better adapted to the exercise of such power than is the General Assembly.
 (a.) The commission would be in session at all times, while the General Assembly sits only biennially; conse- quently the commission could grant these powers at any time when re- quired, and 1t would not be necessary for a corporation to apply for these privileges until it was ready and will ing to actually exercise them.
 Cb) The commission could take the time to make a careful study of all the conditions affecting the desirability of granting the privileges sought. Such study cannot be given by the General Assembly. The length of it's session does not furnish adequate time, and the size of it's membership renders careful investigation by each individual member an inpossibility.
 (c) Such commission would have permanency and a cumulative experi- ence and could readily acquire a thor ough and accurate knowledge of the necessity for the powers and privileges desired by each applicant.
 (d) The members of the commission would have no local interests to serve, would be uninfluenced by local polit- ical conditions, and would give each