The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1910-08-26
WOULD ABATE LONG.
LEGAL DELAYS
STATE RAILROAD COMMISSION TO
RECOMMEND CHANGES IN
PROCEDURE.
Case Of Interurban Rates Cited as In
stance OF Injustice Orders Of Com
mission, it Is contended, Should BE
( Effective Pending Final Determine
ton Of Appeals.

tion OF Appeals.
Olympia, Aug. 20.-In the forthcom-
ing annual report, the railroad commits
sion of Washington will probably urge
the passage Of legislation abolishing
or modifying the discretionary right
of the superior courts of the state to
fix a supercedeas bond in appeals
taken by the railroads from orders
made by the commission.
By some means of the multitudinous
delays known to the legal profession,
the railroads are practically able to
block indefinitely any effort of the
railroad commission toward reduction
of rates or any other reform that the
railroads do not see at to inaugurate.
The commission would cut the Gordian
knot by removing the railroads right
to supercede an order of the commits
sion by means of bond.
The need of such a reform, it is
pointed out, has been emphasized by
the Seattle-T Tacoma Interurban case in
which, without going into details, after
an exhaustive series of hearings, the
commission made an order reducing
rates. Briefly stated, the reduction in
rates were for the commuters living
on little farms or in small towns along
the line of the Interurban when trav-
cling back and forth to work in Sc
attic and Tacoma.
Beautiful in Theory.
They were to be the chief benefi-
Charles of the reduction. Within 20
days after the commission made its
order, the Puget Sound Electric Com
pany Appeared to the superior court Of
King county, offering supercedeas
bond of $4,000. theoretically, of
course, this bond was ample to protect
the rights of the passengers of the
road should the courts sustain the
commission in it's reduction of rates.
Patrons of the road could, of course,
preserve their evidence of the exces-
sive fare paid and eventually recover
on the bond. It was good law on the
face of it.
The commission contended that it
was unjust, that it practically an
nulled the order of the commission.
Even should the commission be sus-
tanned after years of litigation, men
of ordinary means could not afford to
employ a lawyer and bring suit for
the rebate to which he would be en-
titled, even though he had preserved
greatest injustice, however, was that
the commuters along the line, who
were financially unable to pay the
higher rate, were being driven to the
cities to reside, giving up their little
suburban homes. The territory tribu-
tary to the Seattle Tacoma Interurban
is being depopulated, the commission
contends, for that very reason.
Judge ]. r. Mitchell of the superior
court of Thurston county, held that
the supercedeas bond was sufficient,
overruled the plea of the states attor.
neys. Four months have already
elapsed since the appeal was filed and
nothing has been done toward adj
vancing the case.
Reminds Of Another Case.
It threatens to follow the course of
the case of the physical connections of
railroad tracks. When the commission
was first organized, it discovered q
constitutional provision compelling
railroads to make physical connection
of tracks at points where competing
roads appropriated each other. But
there was no legislation providing for
a method of procedure. The commits
sion succeeded in having legislation
enacted at subsequent session of the
legislature. Later hearings were had
and orders made for track connections
at several points. The railroads APP
pealed to the superior court, and then
to the supreme court, the commission
being sustained in both instances. The
case has now been appealed to the
supreme court Of the United States,
and five years after the commission
law became effective, there are still
no physical connection Of tracks UNI
less the railroads want to put them
in.
II laws can be enacted, It is pointed
out by the commission, that will lay
the supercedeas on the shelf and make
the commissions order effective pend
ing the railroads appeals, one Of the
most important steps in the history Of
state legislation will have been &C
complished. The railroads will have
no occasion to resort to the laws de-
lay and final adjudication Of rate
can be accomplished in q fraction Of