Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-11-24
STATES ELECT $4,000 MEN Tc
TELL RAILROADS HOW TO
RUN BUSINESS.
DIFFICULT TO FIND MEN
WHO WILL ACCEPT PLACES
State Railway Commissioners Raped
by Critics Who Watched Recent Con-
vention - Personnel Has Improved
Over Former Years-PIan Proposed
to Have Them Serve Without Pay.

| Washington, Nov. 24.-The nationa
association OF railroad commissioners
stirred up many veNing questions last
week in this city They filled the all
with queries, and perhaps something
! may come Of it; but the fact appears
to be that thru twenty-five years OF
annual meetings these state officials
have not stirred the country with en-
thusiasm over their organization. Their
accomplishment have not been partic-
ularlE remarkable. In recent times
they have recommended uniform de-
rlurrage system which the railroads
have adopted and this demurrage sys-
lem has been so distasteful in parts of
the middle west that in one state, Mich
gan, shippers have begun a case before
the interstate commerce commission %
force its discontinUance The railroad
commissioners have talked and talked
year after year. Last year they talked
Beyond the time of adjournment. and
retired from the rooms Of the inter-
state commerce commission 70 hotel.
where they could talk to their hearts
content
Tn the person Of each OF these COM
rtssioners the American people are on
trial They enbody the American
way Of regulating the great transporta-
ton companies In these annual meet
inss they not only get acquainted with
one another but the yhold up to the
country a composite view of the ma
chinery whereby it is hoped that jus
lice may be secured In alternating and
adequate facilities be insured for the
icountry's rail business. The composite
picture is not altogether lovely, The
hand of politics rests heavily upon this
orga nization thru It's individual menl-
5ers. The appearance Of many of them
is not that Of a group Of earnest men
engaged scientifically OF most per-
picking question.
Personnel is improving.
A friendly observer who has attend
ed many Of the meetings Of the organi-
zation expresses the opinion that the
pers onnel of the state commissions is
improving One of the reasons adj
vanced is advanced is that the salaries
have been increased. thus attracting
better men. Yet, the certainty IS that
there is still opportunity for improve
rent. A conspicuous figure AT the last
NEE ting was ]. C. Sullivan, OF the Ohio
com mission. He was appointed more
than a year ago partly because he had
been road foreman on the Cincinnati,
Hamilton & Dayton, but rather more,
lit Is alleged. because he had political
power Mr. Sunivan's participation in
,the recent meeting awakened nirth
Of not altogether complimentary sort
! =, CHI 1eyt,
| the railroad question. and the light re-
marks he id make carried no convic-
! zion. On the other hand Martin s.
Decker. the retiring president. has
grown up in the school Of railroad regu-
Ilation, having been employed by the
interstate commerce commission when
he was a young man. With the organ
iza-ion of the public utility commission
of New York. he was made a member
because Of his preparation. Md now
it is reasonably certain that Tammany
will turn him ont and put some one else
in his place for politica! rea sons.
| a prominent railroad president re-
Gently said that it did "rile" him to
be told how TO run his railroad b. a
man who was getting $500 a year,
VII en- he was gett!ng-Well a good
deal more than $500. And it is 2 fact
that most of the railroad commission
ers at the recent meeting had not the
appearance Of men who earned large
salaries and We're getting them. The
smallest salary is paid by South Da-
Eota, whose commissioners receive ST.
500. The largest salary is $4,000. paid
by New York. In most states the SAL
aries run from $500 to $1,000. In COM
parison with these figures, the average
paid to general officers of railroads the
country over does not show great
discrepancy. On the average. general
railroad officers received in 1909 sI2.6.
day for their services. But to take
an average figure Is somewhat mis-
leading. There are many little roads
and comparatively few large ones.
commanding the best brains. On per-
haps two dozen roads in this country
! The higher officials receive salaries of
isIS,0Q0 and upward