Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1913-09-10


Of this Company has been atrociously
bad and complaints many and persist
ent. Public sentiment In this connec-
ton was fairly well represented at an
election in April last when by a vote
Of seven to one. the community express
ed a desire for municipal ownership Of
this utility. An appeal was made to
the wisconsin Commission to assist the
people in obtaining home rule: The
Commission furnished no relief and at
the legislature and demand some legis-
lation that would enable them to buy
their street railway plant E SIS. u
The value to the public Of the New
York Public Utilities Commission, has
frequently been exploited by the advo-
Gates of state supervision. "The Gas
Age" the official organ of the gas in
terests in the United States, in its June
number, publishes the following item,
| which is eloquent of the character of
| the work that the upstate commission
| is doing: ia. 81
1.-THE Public Service Commission, sec
| ond district, New York, has made an
| order fixing rate of SOC per 1000 cub
| ic feet, as the just and reasonable max
| imum rate to be made by the Buffalo
Gas Company, to the city of Buffalo as
a municipality for manufactured gas
| supplied to the city. The order was
made, following great number of
| hearings and an exhaustive investiga-
| ton on the part of the commission. The
| complainant in this case was the city
| of Buffalo and the complaint was direct
ed against the Buffalo Gas Company.
! The commission was not asked in this
! case to fix the price to be charged to in
dividuals or corporations other than
the municipality, the city of Buffalo.
! At the present time the rate charged
for manufactured gas to the public gen
| orally is $1.O0 per 1000 cubic feet" g..
The attitude Of the New York Com
mission in the Buffalo Gas case is sig
nificant when compared with the situa-
ton in Minneapolis, where gas rates
and services are in the control of the
city council. Buffalo is situated on the
Lake, is geographically much nearer
! the coal fields and freight rates from
the coal fields are necessarily lower.
| The city is one-half larger than Mime
apolis. Ninety cents to the city looms
up as a big price in comparison with
| Csc, the price which the city of Mime
apolis has been paying during the past
three years for it's street lighting.
| Prices to the public IN other upstate
New York cities also tell an interesting
story; examples, Albany, $1.00; Roch-
ester, CSC maximum; Syracuse, csc
| maximum. ,-4
| During the last twenty-five years the
different states have had railway COM
| missions, to whom has been delegated
| by the legislatures of the different
states the duty Of regulating the serv-
| ice Of railroads and limiting the rates
! to be charged for service. 1t will be
| interesting in this connection to con-
slider the efficiency of such commissions
If we adopt the Wisconsin system in
| Minnesota, it will be the Railway and
| Warehouse commissioners who will do
| the work. Those commissioners will
not be elected but will be appointed by
| the Governor, as is the case in Wiscon-
! sim A commission appointed by the
! Governor will, in all probability, be less
| efficient than one elected by the peo-
| pie, but for the purpose of this argu-
ment let us assume that the Governor
will appoint a commission equal in ca
|
In considering the work of our pres
ent Railway and Warehouse commits
| sioners, I want it strictly understood
| that am not attacking those men per-
sonally, nor am I attacking them for
| ineff1ciency. They are perhaps as good
| as any other commissioners in any 9TH
err state but what am attacking is the
system ITSELF Railway commissioners
have been deemed necessary because
our legislatures meet only once in two
years. In order that there should be
some governmental department that
can control and regulate public trans
| portation companies of the state at .al1
| times, the state legislatures Of the diff
| ferent states have delegated that power
| to these Railway and Warehouse COM
| missioners. This necessity does not ex-
| list with regard to public utilities within
our municipalities, because our city and
! village councils are in session contin-
! ually and can devote their time to those
| utilities as we'll as commission. Prob
| ably the longest forward step in the
| control and regulation of railroad rates,
was the legislation by our Legislature
| four years ago that led up to the Min
nesta rate cases in the Supreme Court
| Of the United States. You will find by a
study of the work of our Railway and
Warehouse commissioners, that the re:
duction in rates has come very largely
from the legislature, and not from the
| commissioners. In tina, case. the legis'
| lature passed a two-cent fare law, but
it was in response to a resolution pass:
ed by the legislature of Minnesota thai
the Railway and Warehouse commits
sioners made the reductions in this
state in commodity freight rates
}. The last legislature passed a dis
lance tariff law known as the eastman
bill, and this eastman bill was pending
, before the legislature during two SEES
sions and after a great deal of opposi
ton was passed last winter A shor
time after the passage of the eastman
bill, the Supreme Court of the state o
, Minnesota held that the Railway an
:, Warehouse commissioners already ha'
, the power conferred upon them in TIL
: eastman bill. Here this Commission
f had existed for over a quarter of a cen
fury and never had exercised the pow
er lodged in them by the state.
: The state of Iowa has done goo
work in reducing railroad rates, but
!, you come to examine the situation i
+ that state, you will find that it is no
q the Railway Commission that has don
n the work, but the legislature in passin
+ distance tariff law. :, ~ - 55e.>,s$g
= Take the Railway Commission in til
n state Of Wisconsin. Four years ago tn
n Commission of that state undertook a
r investigation at great expense to tn
q state, and it was determined that tn