Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-03-13

Territory through its Legislature be
expected to say to congress practi-
cally that although you have just
shown us what you think is right by
the amendments which you made in
a bill that we passed at the last ses-
sion, we will nevertheless take the
position that you are wrong and We
will persist in passing another bill,
on a similar subject, that is far less
up-to-date than the one which you
so amended? Should not the people
of these islands show to congress
that they can safely be trusted to do
the right. thing by the public in the
matter of special franchises?
First Consideration Is Service.
THE first consideration in mat
ter of this kind is the public service.
Ine public may own and operate a
street railway, as it does in some
places, and as it owns and operates
the water works here, or it may itself
own it but permit company to op-
crate it for a fair compensation, or
it may, as is probably best, permit a
company to own and operate it un-
der conditions which will insure the
company fair return for its invest
ment and yield the maximum public
service consistently with such return.
The question is, what is the best way
for the public to obtain the service?
The question is not, how great or
how little favors shall be granted to
the company! Nor is it, how much
revenue can be made by the public?
The company should be allowed sufs
ficient profit to induce capital to uI-
dertake the service and it may be al
lowed an additional amount by way
of stimulation to giving better public
service, but beyond that it cannot
reasonably ask anything and its ten
uYe should be during good behavior
and therefore the public should
necessarily keep the whip-hand. The
question of the length of franchise
of this nature is of comparatively lit
tie Importance SO long as the public
retains control, and accordingly in
some states franchises are now given
for indeterminate periods, the idea
being that so long as the company
properly performs its duties to the
public, it should not be disturbed, but
that when it falls short of that, the
public should have the power to step
in. and either terminate the franchise
or compel the company to perform its
duty. Fne company must trust the
public, and experience has shown that
it may safely do so. 1t is indeed, in
matters of this sort, merely the agent
of the public; and the public is soft
hearted in dealing with individual
persons and companies.
The Chief Concerns.
The considerations of chief prac-
tical concern, at least in this case,
are I'D control by the public, Cd ser
vice by the company, and go the issu-
ance of stocks and bonds and DISPOSE
ton of the earnings.
4. Control by the public. This
should be assured in several ways.
In the first place, the public should
reserve the right to repeal or amend
the franchise at any time. Congress
has inserted such a provision in the
gas and electric light franchises
which have been granted by our leg
islature; and, following the example
thus set by congress, our legislature
inserted 1t at the last session in the
Hilo street railway franchise, and it
is now contained in the till intro
duced on behalf of the Rapid Transit
Co., but it may not be going too far
to consider the present franchise as
something already granted which
should not be disturbed in this re-
spect and to make the provision as
to repeal or amendment operate only
from the end of the present franchise,
as If a new franchise were being
granted to begin at that time. This
provision is to become operative IN
the company's bill on January l.
1880, and in the bill drafted by me
at the expiration of the present fran.
chise, which is year or two earlier.
in the second place, the company
should be made subject to any pub
lie utility commission that might be
established, even during the continn-
ance of the present franchise, be-
cause the public should have the
right to insist on proper service and
the company could not fairly object
to that, and especially could it not do
so with good grace when seeking a
long extension OF its franchise. 1t
would seem absurd not to make this
company subject to such commits
sion when we have the opportunity to
do so and just when we are propos-
ing a public uti&ty commission bill.
A provision for this purpose is in
cluded in the substitute bill.
Right to Buy Out
an the third place, the public
should have the right to buy out the
company at any time, but since this,
like the provision as to amendment
or repeal, is in the nature of power
to terminate the franchise, it also
may fairly be made to become opera
tive only upon the termination of the
present franchise.
THE company's bill purports to pro.
vide for a purchase of its road by the
public, but the provision in the bill
is open to several serious objections.
In the first place, it postpones the
date when this provision may become
operative to a time eleven years or