The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1913-07-28
WHAT DOES IT MEAN7
Special Telephone Commissions Report
on Vermont Monopoly" Questioned.

!
on Vermont Monopoly" Questioned.
This paper has not the slightest sym
pathy with any grasping monopolistic
corporation that is breaking down com
petition by unfair means, taking advan-
tage of its opportunity to overcharge
the public for the service it renders, or
lodging its rightful share of the tax
burden. On the other hand, it has not
the slightest sympathy with attempts to
harass or needlessly curtail the activi-
ties of public service corporations, to use
the laws club to force their charges
down below the point of justice to the
investors or to rob such concerns by ex-
eessiye taxation. Which way out sympa-
thies go in any particular case depends
on the facts we are able to make out,
and this is not always or often easy.
There is SO much suspicion OF hiding
the truth and of misrepresentation on
the one hand and so much suspicion OF
Interior design and political ambition on
abe other that the truth is difficult TO
find Corporations are prone to abuse
their power, and office seekers have dis
covered that it is popular to bait them;
so there is at present an era of bang
ing anything that resembles monopoly;
whether with or without reason it is
hard for the citizen who has no preju-
dice either way to discover.
Our Vermont statutes have established
a board known as the public service COM
mission, whose duty it is to investigate
all complaints made against such cor
porations and with adequate power to
regulate them for the public good The
present commission consists of leading
Democrat, the chairman, named by the
present governor; one Republican, also
named by the present governor; and one
Republican hold-over. resignation
gave the governor the opportunity to
name a majority Of the commission to
his choice and liking, so that the pre-
sumption is he made it up as he wanted
it, with due regard to the public well
fare.
Recently there came from Caledonia
county complaint that the Passumpsic
Telephone company, one of the subsid-
iaries of the New England. was charging
excessively for its service and praying for
relief. The matter was put into the
hands of the public service commission
and was being investigated in the usual
thorough manner This, for some rea-
son, apparently didn't suit somebody,
and petition was hurried to the gov
ernor asking him to take il UP himself |
1t is said that the business partner of
one of the two special commissioners |
later named to investigate was very ae-
tive in promoting this movement The |
governor. after a special trip to the To- |
cality, complied with the request and |
named a committee of two, consisting |
of one man of the immediate locality !
who had been the governors |
counsel in his former move to increase !
the railroad appraisal, and whose selec- |
tion, for other reasons, might be open |
to some question on the ground of pos |
sible prejudice; the other member is said |
to be in equally close touch with the |
governor. These two men proceeded to |
the New England Telephone
and in about a month were |
able to report that it was a wicked, UNI
lawful monopoly, grinding and oppress-
ing its patrons, evasive of its duties, and /
that its phone rates should be reduced
twenty per cent, according TO a table
that the committee of two kindly
framed
The governor transmitted this report
to the public service commission with
the hint that it promptly adopt it as its
own, so that if any additional legisla-
ton were required 10 enforce it the mat
ter could be handled at the coming spe-
rial session. The governor asserts that,
this special investigation having found
prima faeie case against the company, il
IS now up to the company to prove that
its rates shoulda not be fixed and its
course and conduct circumseribed, as
therein directed.
In view of these circumstances, and to
the end that the corporation. it's patrons
and the public may be fairly treated,
we seek enlightenment on the follow
ing points,
!. Why was this matter taken out of
the usual and legally established chan
nel for the settlement of such contro
versies?
?. What legal authority had his ex-
'elleney the governor to name any board
IF special investigation
3. What legal authority had such
board to act in the premises, to summon
he company before it or complain if
he company did not appearf
4. What binding force on the legally
established public service commission has
such a report?
;. Does not the whole proceeding bear
he appearance of an attempt to force
he hands of an unwilling public service
commission of the governors own choos-
ng and make it do that which its own
Judgment did not decree?
8. What does it all mean-politically
" otherwise Randolph Herald.