Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-04-02

! had or as to how the costs shall be
/ provided for; or to compel the attend
! ance of witnesses; or to compel the
| presentation before that commission
OF books and papers and rates. There
! is no provision giving the commission
authority to compel the carriers to
post their rates or to make rates ac-
| cordng to the commissioners decl-
sions.
| There is another way by which you
can tell. if you look into it. that this
provision is not sufficient If you will
! turn back to Section 81 Of Chapter 81,
where the rules are laid down as to
how the railroad commissioners shall
decide between the railroads on ques-
tons Of crossings, you VIII see that
the railroads themselves have recog-
nized that, in order to have any eff
fectiva regulation by the commission
ers, this sort of machinery must be
provided; and you will see that that
section provides how the hearing shall
be had and provides authority to com
pei the attendance Of witnesses. and
| indicates how costs shall be taxed and
all those things which are necessary
TO the carrying out of this authority.
I have shown, / thlnk-and / thlnk
up to this point no one Will disagree
with me--that there is not the same
sort of regulation of the tolls TO be
| charged by common carriers, as Well
as bv other public service corporations
they are public service corporations
I think have shown that the pres
ent statute, while it intends to give
| that authority, does not give Sufficieht
| machinery to effectively carry 1t out.
If any further proof is needed, even
the fact that no attempt has ever
been made to have a hearing under
| this present law is evidence that 1t is
| absolutely useless for the purpose tor
| which it was intended; and l Will say
that | have shown that more authority
| is needed in the absence of any special
| call 1t is not necessary to show that
| anv special call exists. This proposition
can he argued on the general theory
! that the law is defective as a guard
against any call which may arise ana
therefore, that this change should be
made and that the COMMISSIONERS are
without reasonable machinery TO carry
| their authority into effect; but That Is
not the whole situation.
1t having been suggested that TINS
| is all somebody's notion about 1t, and
| that there really is no need tor any
such regulation, l am going to call at
| tent;on to a few Instances, and l am
going to select the eastern part OF the
state, because know more about that
section. l do not want to give the ldea
that this law is being sought SIMPLY
| for one section. If it is not good Tor the
| whole state. no section ought TO re-
| ouire it. But | am going to snow that
| IN one section there is need tor some
kind of regulation Of railroad rates
| want to call attention to some OF lne
rates that are complained oil, ana
| want You to bear in MIND mat III
calling attention to these rates, | 90
not assume to say whether they are
| reasonable or not. I call your attention
to them as rates that are complained
of: and | ask you simply, to say TO the
people that make this complaint, you
shall have a proper and effective trl-
/ bunal to decide between you ana the
railroad whether these rates are right
or not
ON the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad.
the rates on corn, grain and feed, from
the. Northern Maine Junction TO Ger
tain other stations. are as 1olloWS;
Oakfield S45, carload. 10000 poundS'
Houlton, 10 miles further, $42, because
there is competition with the Canadian
Pacific at 1ioulton: Fort Falrfelo
Junction where there is no competl-
ton. 5000 on n carload: to Fort FAR
field, IA miles further on. where there
is connection, $55.50-$15 less on car
load: to Westtield. s69: to Presque Isle
II miles further, where there IS compe-
tition. 5000: to Mars Hill and Blame,
ss7.5O: to Van Buren,, GO miles further,
$3.50: to the little station of MaYsVllle
which iS between PreSpue Isle ana Car
ibou, s13 30; to Caribou, just 60 miles
further. where there is competition,
S55.5O. In other words. 4 man shipping
! n carload to Maysvilc, where the haul
ing is good and the wages not too hlgh,
would better ship it to Caribou by
| team than to ship to Mays
Vile, which is six miles this side. sim
nlv because there is competition at
Caribou and not at Maysville.
7 believe that the principle on which
| the B. & A. Railroad was given
MONOPOLY of Aroostook county was 4
correct one; that one ought t" do the
business. and that they should not I'M
|
but, submit that it is pretty hard Tor
| people living on points of that railroad
| where there is no competition to nave
these rates. and for this Legislature
to deny to them the proper machinery
to get before a tribunal and have it
| decided whether those rates ar" 1aif
or not That is all this bill asks f"r
Nobody asks YOU TO change any rae.
am going To call attention to some
other practical rates They are not
| based on hearSay and gueSSWork, but
are backed up by freight rates, anu
they are only samples. | am not gong
to read a long list of them, but | am
going to say first that YOU and ]. WI"
are not railroad men, need a kihd u
yardstick to measure this thing with.
| know something about scaling logs
and some of you know about other
things, but to measure railroad rates
we need q yardstick to go by, ana J
am going to give as q sort OF a YARD
| stick the local rates on carload lotS Oh
the various classiHcatlons OF frelgnt
material. from Chicago, Illinois. to BoS-
ton. which is considerably over
|