The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1913-07-31
POWERS ARE WIDELY EXTENDED
Work Now Being Done by Smaller
Boards in the State. to be Undertaken
by Commission in the Near Future
Join Terminal Order Important.

lSIabufe Jn6fo was considerable Ieellpe
shown from some quarters of the state
against the railway commission thai
feeling has largely disappeared, as has
been shown by the fact that none Of
the bills which were presented to the
legislature with the idea of curtailins
the powers Of the commission passed
The legislature has shown it's faith in
that commission by increasing rather
than limiting It's powers.
The most important power conferred
upon the commission at this session il
the right which has been given it tt
order the use of the tracks of one
street railway company by another an6
to fix the compensation which shall be
paid by the non-oWner to the owner OF
the tracks for their joint use. This
was a bill which was introduced or
iginally for the purpose of relieving q
situation in Milwaukee. As a matter
of fact, however, the measure is q
statewide law and as such will be eff
fective in all parts of the state. There
are likely also to be situations with
the increase of the interurban traffic
in this state and the construction OF
new interurban lines which will make
this law in regard to the joint user OF
tracks of fully as much benefit to some
of the interior cities of the state as it
is to Milwaukee.
The law will be of especial aid in
the control of street railway terminals,
as under the terms Of the measure the
railway commission can compel the
use of a terminal already existing in a
city by another company entering a
city and can thus provide a terminal
for that company if it desires it or
prevent multiplicity of terminals if
such multiplicity would tend to con-
gestion and single terminal would
care for the traffic as well.
AS regards steam roads, the powers
of the railway commission have been
greatly increased. In the first place,
they have been given the power to in
vestigate complaints of any one in re-
gard to overcharges on freight rates
and adjust for the party injured the
overcharge. Thus if any small shipper
in the state considers that railway
company has charged him too much
for the transportation Of freight all
that he will have to do will be to send
this bill to the railway commission and
clerks in the employ of the commission
will figure out the correct charge, and
if the shipper has been charged too
much, notify the railway company and
ask that a refund e'made.
This work is now being done by a
large number of private bureaus and
it is said will be of particular benefit
to small shippers who cannot afford
to go to the expense of having al in
vestigation made by private bureau
to discover whether the rate they have
been cha rged for freight has been toe
large. The bill was very much desired
by small shippers and the railroad
commission seems to think that while
there will undoubtedly be a large num-
Der of these freight overcharge claims
to adjust, that the work itself will not
greatly hamper the more important
work of the commission for the reason
that, it is said, the work is of largely
a clerical character and can be turned
over to clerks to look after, thus leav-
ing the questions of weightier import
ance to be handled by the commits
sioners themselves.
Another power that has been lodged
with the railway commission is that
of ordering joint terminals or union
stations by railroad companies at such
points in the state where the commits
sion consider such union terminals
would be for the best interests of the
public. 1t is said there probably will
not be very many applications fo1
orders under this power for many wears
to come, but as the present stations
of the railway companies grow old and
new ones are needed it is probable that
in number of cities there will be ap.
phcations made to the railway com.
mission asking for the location of joint
terminals and the issuance of orders
for union station and when the time
comes, if the commission thinks such
orders will be for the benefit of the
travelling public, it will undoubtedly
order them. At resent the power will
be largely used for the issuance OF
orders for the construction of union
stations at steam railway junction
points.
The powers which have been con
ferred upon the commission relative t.
the reduction Of grades have already
been referred to at length in this