Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1910-09-27
Fayors Tribunal to Decide Controversies Be-
tween Public and Railroad
CANDID STATEMENT OF REASONS
Why He Prefers Court of Commerce to Commission
Mr. Mellen Believes in Keeping Sight of Ideals
and Doing Ones Best to Approach Them-Progres-
sive Movement Sure to Become World-Wide

his office with conspicuous ability and
sometimes he will not. On the whole
the purely administrative duties Of
commissioners will be fairly we'll per
formed. but in the long run and on the
average no commission will SUCCESSFUL
ly bear the responsibilities which might
be thrown upon the ideal commission
of our dreams.
? Political Dreams. y
| believe in keeping sight OF ideals
and doing our best to approach them.
My experience in a good many differ
ent states convince me that all large
business, and certainly the railroad
business is better off, the better the
character of the government. / should
be more comfortable if / could dream
with others about what is going to be-
accomplished by renewed efforts to put
none@out honest, Independent and cap
able men in public office But wheth-
er in politics or business. no type OF
man is more dangerous than the un.
practical dreamer
1t is an old saying that the best
possible government would be a des-
potism, If we could only be sure of al
ways having the ideal despot. Those
| who are in hurry to see accomplish-.
ed some social reform are apt to call
for the creation of despotic authority
for the purpose, and to calmly assume
that the proposed despot when Great
| ed Will prove to be the ideal despot
! But all human experience demon
! strates that we cannot reasonably ex-
| pect to get the despot of our dreams,
and that arbitrary political authority,
cannot safely be granted to any man
| or to any commission. Until human
nature changes. the great constitution
al principles for which our fathers.
| struggled will remain the necessary
bulwarlls of civil liberty The faithful
separation of the legislative. executive
| and judicial departments of the gov,
| ernment will, / believe, need hereafter.
| as hitherto to be demanded by sober
minded and thoughtful citizens.
Increased Mileage Charge.
| You ask me specifically why the
printed mileage of the railroad was
increased by two miles a few months,
! ago. The answer is that this was a.
blunder (which was Immediately COR
rected. The orders which resulted an
this misunderstanding on the part OF
those having charge of printing time
| tables related to an increased charge
| of four cents on mileage books in con-
lnection with a general increased
| charge of five cents in interstate com
| merce to and from New York city, ne
cessitated by many causes. but espe
| cially by the great increase in the
| amounts paid by this company to the
! New York Central and Hudson River
Railroad company for the right to send
| in and out of Grand Central station.
Capitalization.
The most important of the specific,
questions which you put to me is, In
substance whether the capitalization
of a street railway company is of any
| Importance to the public My answer
| is, Yes, but not in the way many peo-
| pie seem to suppose. The mere amount
4 of a company's capital bears no rela-
l tinn he nOSSihla
net earnings of the company, or to
| the rates charged or the service af--
| forded
No street railway manager earns
| from his business more or less because
of differences in the amount of his
| companys capital. If he Is worth his
| salt, he always earns Cwhatever be
the amount of his companys capital
| stOCk) all that he can; but the best
| way for him to do this is to give to the
public the best possible service at
rates sufficiently low to create the
| largest possible volume of remunera-'
| tive business.
| A careful comparison seems to show
| that under similar conditions public
service corporations of Connecticut in
| general give at least as good service
| at rates as low as do like corporations
| in Massachusetts, whose capital has
| been stringe gentlysyrestricted. l may say,
| moreover, from an experience in Il
good many states, that the street rail-
way service of Connecticut with all
| its faults is on the whole at least as
good with rates at least as low, as in
| any of such other states.
But the subject of the regulation OF
the capitalization of corporations rs too
| large to be adequately treated at the
| end of a long letter. / therefore ask
| leave to discuss this and other ques-
tions more fully later.
The Progressive Movement.
In concluding this letter, I wish to
repeat my warning that if wrong prin-
ciples are followed in the regulation
of railroad, lighting, telephone and
water business, other industries are
likely to be soon injurfously affected
by the application of similar princi-
pies. Under modern economic condi-
tions competition ceases to be an ef-
fective or even a wholesome regula-
tion of prices or service. Many great
industries are or are inevitably coming
to be controlled by more or less COM
plete monopolieS. Germany has already
begun the policy of regulation Of in
dustries by fixing price of pota sh and
limiting the output of the chief pro-
ducerS.
Court of Commerce.
Unless 1 wrongly read the signs of,
the times. the progressive movement
is sure to spread the Norld over het
Connecticut be ready with sane, safe
constitutional method of applying
principles of justice to the regulation
of all monopolies. I again ask the
thinking men of this state to consider
carefully the idea of establishing a.
court of commerce, which shall with
the independence, impartlality and
ability which we are accustomed to in
our courts of law, and with complete.
simplicity of procedure. hear and give
judgment on all controversies involv-
ing intricate ommercial considera-
tions including complaints against ex-
cessive charges or unfair or faulty
service by railroad companies and
others who serve the general plrblic.s
Yours truly
c 8. MELLEN, President.