Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-05-28
Senator Rayner Criticises Dis.
trict Railway Companies.
ADVOCATES STRICT LAWS
Corporations Declared to Be Violat.
ing Their Charters.
IGNORE THE PEOPLES RIGHTS
Responsibility for the Conditions
Placed Upon the Directorates
and Suggests Remedy.

charges that the street railway corpora
| tons of the District are violating their
charters and disregarding the peoples
rights Is not furnishing sufficient cars
were made in the Senate this afternoon
by Senator Rayner of Maryland. Upon
the directorates of the companies he
placed the responsibility, and said laws
should be enacted through which this
responsibility could be definitely fixed
upon them.
Speaking of the lessons of the Titanic
disaster, Senator Rayner commended that
| it showed the necessity of legislation that
will make the controlling and superior
officers of corporations criminally re-
sponsible for the careless and negligent
| management of the public service cor
porations, which they control
Corporations Uncurbed.
american corporations in a number
| Of instances are running loose and wild
| without curb and without reins." he con-
tinued. Take the street railways of
Washington. 1 have never in any city
| in the Union seen such utter disre-
gard of the peoples rights. / have time
and time again intended to offer some
| measure here to bring them to bay and
| call them to terms, and l expect to fol-
| low up this purpose. They are violating
| the people proper accommodations and
| facilities. l have been in these cars
hundreds of times when afflicted and
| helpless people have been made to stand
| from almost terminus to terminus SIM
ply because the management of these
railroads will not run sufficient num-
| Der of cars and will not give to the peo-
| pie of the District the rights that they
are entitled to. They forget that they
| are the trustees of the public as well as
the trustees of their stockholders
Owe Duty to Public.
Speaking more generally, on the basis
| OF this illustration, he continued:
1T is delusion that these gentlemen
are laboring under that they represent
| private stockholders alone and that their
| duty ceases when they pay their own
| salaries and interest upon their bonds and
| dividend upon their stock. They owe
| just as great duty to the public as they
DO TO the private interests that they rep
resent, and l think the time has come
when We must lock hands in this Con-
| gress of the United States and demand
OF these public service corporations, in
| terstate and in the District of Columbia,
| that under the heaviest penalties they
| must properly administer their charter
obligations and that the public will no
| longer stand by and permit the gross
violation of their public duty to take
place from day to day as it is now doing
| In this District and elsewhere. What
| occurs here occurs all around us. and
call upon Congress, taught the lesson as
| 1t is by this terrible disaster, to fix the
standard and the measure of responsible
| lty, not against sailors and captains and
conductors and brakemen and motormen
unless where they are personally negli-
gent. but upon the heads of these cor
porations. where the responsibility at
taches to them for the proper direction
and management of the interests that
they represent"