Perth Amboy evening news., 1911-01-17

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risk and adventure la which the pub
he are invited to share. and the hun
dreds, perhaps thousands. who sub
scribe to the stock.do In fact share In
It. oftentimes without sharing Also In
any effectuai In the control
and development OF the business In
which their risk is taken. Moreover,
these modern enterprises, with their
~excheuunrs replenished out of the
common store Of the savings OF the
nation, conduct business transactions
whose scope and influence are as wide
as whole regions of the Union, often
as wide as the nation itself. They af-
feet sometimes the Hives and fortunes
OF whole communities, dominate
prices. determine land Values make
and unmake markets, develop or check
the growth OF city and OF country
side. Ii law is at liberty to adjust the
general conditions OF society itself It
Is ut liberty to control these<great in
strumentalities which nowadays, in
20 large part, determine the character
Of society. Wherever we a md
what the common interest 10 In re-
spect of them we shan find q solid
enough basis for law, Tor reform.
The matter is most obvious when we
turn to what we have~come to desig-
nate public service or public utility
experimentation which supply as
with the of transportation and
with those common ne~cessar4es, water,
light, heat and power. Here are cor
porations exercising peculiar and ex-
traordinary franchises and bearing
such a relation to society In respect of
the services they render that 1t may
be said that they are the very medium
of Its life. They render a public and
common service of which 1t is neees-
sary that practically everybody should
avail himself.
We have a public utilities commits
sion In New Jersey, but 1t has hardly
more than powers of inquiry and ad-
vice. 1t could even as 1t stands be
made a powerful instrument OF publici-
ty and of opinion, but it may also
modestly wait until it Is asked before
expressing a Judgment, and In any case.
1t will have the uncomfortable CON-
seriousness that It's opinion is gratuitous
and carries no weight of effective au-I
thority. This will not do. 1t is I'M
derstood by everybody who knows
anything of the common interest that
1t must have complete regulatIve pow
ers-the power to regulate rates, the
power to learn and make public ev-.
erythfng that should furnish a basis
for the public judgment with regard to
the soundness, the efficiency, the como
my OF the business-the power, In
brief, to adjust such service at every.
point and In every respect, whether of
equipment or charges or methods of
financing or means of service, to the
general interest OF the communities ar
fected. This can be done, as expert
enc elsewhere has demonstrated, not
only without destroying the profits OF
such business, but also with the effect
of putting 1t upon a more satisfactory
footing for those who conduct 1t no
less than for those who make use of 1t
day by day.
Such regulation, based on thorough
and authoritative inquiry, will go fur
toward disclosing and establishing
those debatable values upon which so
many questions OF taxation turn.
There Is an uneasy feeling throughout
the state. In which, / dare say, we all
share, that there are glaring Unequal
tiles In our system-or, at any rate,
in our practice-of taxation. The most
general complaint is that there is
great inequality as between. individ-
uals and corporations. ] do not see
how any one can determine whether
there are or not, for we have abso-
luteiy no uniform system of assess
ment. 1t would seem that in every
locality there is some local variety of
practice in the rate, the ratio Of as
sessment value to market value, and
that every assessor is a law unto him
self. Our whole system Of taxation,
which is 10 system at all, needs over
hauling from top TO bottom. There
can be no system, no safety, no regu
lation, In a multitude of boards. An
efficient public utilities commission
will be a beginning toward a system
of taxation as well as toward a sys-
tenn OF corporate control. We cannot
fairly tax values until we have ascer-
tanned and established them.
Plea For Conservation.
And the great matter of conservation
subject. The safeguarding of our wa
ter supply, the publication Of our
streams In order to maintain them as
sources of life and their protection
against those who would divert them
or diminish their volume for private
profit. the maintenance of such wood
lands as are LEFT US and the reforesta-
ton Of bare tracts more suited for
forest than for field, the sanitation of
great urban districts such as cover the
northern portions of our state by thor
ough systems OF drainage and of refuse
disposal. the protection of the public
health and the faciiitatien of urban
and suburban iife-these are all public
obligations which fall sooner or later
upon you as the lawmakers of the
commonwealth. and they are all parts
OF the ii great task of adjustment
which has fallen to our generation.
Our business Is to adjust right to
right. interest to interest, ana to sys-
tematize right. and convenience, indi-