The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-10-31
PROOFS OF CORRUPTION
 UNDER GOODWIN'S EYE
MELLEN OUTLINES
 HIS PLAN FOR A
 COMMERCE COURT
Composed of Superior Court Judges Appointed by Leg
 islature and Chief Justice

In letter made public today. ad- Association, President c. S. MeIlen of the New York. New Haven & Hart. ford railroad outlines his plans for a Commerce Court, to replace the pro- jected Public Utilities commission.
 MT. Mellen states definitely his plan for such court and his reasons for preferring it to the proposed com mission. His letter is as follows. Dears Sirs:-
 I have received requests from some of the members of your Association to make my letters briefer. I shall ac- cordingly not undertake in this let ter to do more than answer some of your questions regarding a Court of Commerce.
 I suggest for consideration the fol- lowing definite plan. Let the Legis- lature provide three additional Judges of the Superior Court. Let the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from time to time assign Judge or Judges of the Superior Court to conduct the sessions of the Court of Commerce. authority to act under it's own simple rules of procedure and of evidence, which should be so framed as both to prevent delays in the settlement of freedom of inquiry necessary for the effective investigation and speedy and just determination of difficult and complex commercial questions.
 It is my belief that such a Court would be better adapted to deal with 8 good many intricate commercial Controversies than the ordinary Court of Justice with it's technical and rig i'd procedure. But now propose such a Court only for the determination of controversies as to the reasonableness and fairness of charges made and ser vices afforded by those who serve the general public, including particularly the tionss so-oalled Public Service Corpora
 You ask me to state the difference between 8 Court and a Commission and to explain why a Court is better question were asked by an inquiring statesman from Siam, or from some other oriental nation, desirous of un- derstanding why Anglo-Saxons believe in the separation of the Judicial and Executive Departments of Govern ment, I should consider 1t a natural of our fathers been so far forgotten that it is necessary for me to e1a- borately justify to the people of Con- necticut preference to be tried be- fore a Court of Justice rather than before an administrative commission? F It would be absurd for a business man like myself to attempt to make in a few letters an adequate defense sof settled principles of Civil Liberty and American Constitutional Law. But I can see, as I think other business acts as a branch of the Executive Power, and therefore must be free from many wholesome restraints against arbitrariness and injustice with which the law has surrounded judicial activities. I know also that the life training of our judges pecu- narly fits them to weigh evidence, to analyze a, complex mass of facts and to apply logically and justly to the relevent facts the rules of law and right reason properly controlling the issues of the controversy. I feel, moreover, in common with other men of sober thought, that our judges are peculiarly protected by the traditions of their high office and by constitu- tional guarantees in the independent, single-m minded administration of jus tice.
 But I ought not to have to argue this point. It ought to be enough for to ask you in turn, and through you the thoughtful people Of Connecticut to refresh your memories of past struggles for civil liberty, and to give for yourselves the reasons why the personal and property rights of the people of this country are protected, as nowhere else in the world, under a. government of law, troversies to the determihatlon or an independent and trained judiciary If as you say, and as I believe, the thoughtful people of this State do not share the popular prejudices against corporations and against railroads, l ask them, through you, to secure Tor us what they would not deny to the noos+ desnised and hated individual, namely the right to have controVers1es affecting important property rights tried before a properly constituted ju- dicial tribunal
 Yours truly,
 c. s. MELLEN.