The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-04-15
The CONDITIONS
ARE AMICABLE
BETWEEN THE STATE COMMITS
SION AND THE RAILROADS,
SAYS w. n, sTuTsMAN, ONE OF
THE STATE OFFICIALS, IN AN
ADDRESS LAST NIGHT"

The regular meeting of the Com
mons club occurred last evening -atsthe
commercial club rooms. About thirty
five men, members and guests of the
club, sat down to dinner, and after
wards listened to a very illuminating
discussion of the work which is being
accomplished by the railway commits
sioners of this state.
Hon. H. w. Stutsman, president Of
the commission, was the speaker of
the evening. Mr.. stutsman has been
at the head of the railway commission
for the last three terms. and. under his
leadership. the North Dakota. commits
sion has taken a very excellent posi-
ton among the commissions of the
country. 1t is a we'll known fact that
not until the present commission came
into office in 1909 did we have a rail-
way commission in fact.
Nh. Stutsman prefaced his remarks
by saying that he did not feel that the
members of the club desired to know
or the routine work of the commission
but were rather more interested in
some of the larger phases of the work
which they a been doing, He said
that so far as his knowledge went the
railroads had never refused to obey a
single order Of the railway commits
sion. In one of two instances they
had appealed from the decisions of the
commission to the courts, but that in
almost every instance the order of the
commission was upheld by the courts.
The routine business Of the commits
sion consisting in securing the proper
sidings, proper stations and agents at
points where the business demanded.
lie directed the attention of the
club to three important phases of the
work during the past several years.
one was h famous rate case which
was decided in the United States cir
cult court of appeals by Judge San
born, and which is now pending in the
United States supreme court. Mr..
Stutsman considers this case practic-
ally as important rs the bred Scott
decision, because it involves the right
OF a state to control property within
the state. The contention of the rail-
roads is that the state commissions
have not the right to fix rates if in the
fixing Of that rate it disturbs an inter
state rate. Judge S~anborn's decision
turned on the point that rates must be
such as would earn reasonable divi-
bends upon present value of railway
property, including the present value
OF r~lght-of-Way and terminal facilities
without regard to the original cost of
these properties. If this decision holds,
it gives railways the right to continu-
ously raise rates in order to pay divi-
dendS on the increasing value of their
property. The railway commissions
of the western states asked and re-
CeiVed permission to file a brief before
the supreme court representing their
side OF the controversy, and IN this
North Dakota played a prominent
part.
Another phase of the work which
the commission has been interested in
was in h hearing before the inter
state commerce commission protesting
against the introduction of a new
classification, it being the claim of the
various state railway commissions
that while rates were not necessarily
being advanced, a change in classified
ton meant the same as an advance in
rates. The matter was fought out to
a considerable length before the COM
mission in Chicago, and the decision
of the interstate commission was en-
Phatically against the new classical
ton.
The last point which he presented
was the work of the commission in he
matter of express rates, Wherein Mr..
StutSman called attention to the far
reaching effect of the Interstate Com
merce commissions upon express
rates. They AVE divided the country
into n somewhat similar to that
Of the parcel post, so that it is posi-
BILE now for any shipper to ascertain
for himself just exactly what the rates
should be-.
Mr.. Stutsman's discussion was ex-
ceedingly interesting, and at the close
of the discussion he was rendered the
thanks of the club, and the members
took occasion to personally express to
Mr.. Stutsman their appreciation of
his work and that Of the commission.