Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-02-02
SEEK GOOD SERVICE
New Workers Prefer 1t to Re-
duction in Prices.
GETTING WHAT THEY ASK
Public Service Commission Has Solv-
ed Many Problems.
MUCH YET TO BE DONE
Improved Equipment Has Reduced
Number of Accidents, Despite
Great Increase in Traffic.
BY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.

Special Correspondence of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.
NEW YORK January %. 1910
| Although railway managers grow
little sometimes when they dis
cover that they cannot do they
please any longer, and the directors
of public ility corporations are not
yet entir, reoonciled to an au-
thority ch can compel them to
do some things and forbid them to do
others. nevertheless the public service
commission, which has been in operation
for two years and a half in New York
state, is generally accepted as the most
satisfactory solution of the regulation
problem, and by all concerned. Nobody
contends that it is perfect or ideal. and
the members of the two boards in their
recent reports point out defects in the
system. They have asked that the law
be amended in several particulars: but
every one agrees that both commissions
have served an important purpose and
constitute the best method that has yet
been devised for the protection of the
rights of the public and the stockholders
of the railway lines, the gas works, the
electric light companies and other public
utilities.
The policy of both commissions-there
are two entirely distinct, one having juris-
diction of everything in the city of
Greater New York and the other of the
rest of the state-is not to cut rates or
interfere with the proper management of
the various companies, but to improve the
service. Gov. Hughes defined the motive
and the policy of the public service COM
mission, which is his creation, when he
vetoed the bill prohibiting the railroads
of New York from charging more than
> cents a mile for carrying passengers.
He took the ground that the people OF
this state do not want too cheap trans
portation, but prompt. regular, comfort
able and rapid transportation and are
willing to pay for it. He believes that Is
the sentiment of the people at large in
this country, Notwithstanding the persis-
tency of the two-cent-a-mile fanatics.
Fight for Better Service.
Not how cheap. but how good is the
motto of the public service commissions
of New York, and their endeavors from the
date of their appointment have been to
compel the railway companies, both in the
city and throughout the state; the gas
companies. the electric light companies
and other public utilities to furnish the
best possible service they can render. and
on the other hand to provide that the
public shall pay all it is worth.
This has become the fixed policy
of New York state said William r. Will
cox. chairman of the public service COM
mission of Greater New York. land while
the law under which we are operating
needs smoothing down in some particu-
lars and strengthening in Others any at
tempt to impair it's efficiency or change
the purpose of the board would be de-
feated by the almost unanimous vote of
both political parties. Neither party
would dare go into campaign to dis
credit the commission or abandon the
municipal campaign in New York every
political party and faction spoke well
of us, and the number of letters we are
receiving from different parts of the
country indicate the desire and intention
of other states to adopt a similar law
1 believe it has already been decided
on in Ohio. / understand that the repub-
lican leaders of that legislature have pre-
pared a bill similar to law. and that
it has received the approval of President
Taft. A similar law has been proposed
in Connecticut and will probably be adopt
ed by the legislature of that state. In
New Jersey, Pennsylvania and California
similar measures have ben proposed and
we have received large number of let
terS from people in Illinois, inquring as
to the features of our law and their prac-
teal operation as applied to steam and
electric railways and to other public utili-
ties.
There is an irresistible tendency in every
part of the country to railway regulation
The movement cannot be stopped, and the
wisest of the managers and financiers,
recognizing this, are accepting the stu
alton philosophically, and are using their
influence to secure the most practical
and efficient methods, which, l believe
have been developed in the experience
of two years and half of our up-
state public service commission, which
has It's office at Albany, and the COM
mission which has jurisdiction over the
public utilities of Greater New York