The Washington herald., 1913-11-13

the universal custom OF the commits
sion to make, It's Investigations as We
are making this one. When q compn-
Gated situation. such as now contronts
,us, concerns the commission. II desig-
mates one OF, its members or one or
more of its agents to make an investi-
cation for the purpose of ascertaining
all the facts IN the situation That
inquiry is usually conducted by direct
examination Of the railroad companys
books and accounts. 1t Is never a pub
lie inquiry. However. when the in-
vestigation has been completed the
board or agent of the commission
makes a complete report upon what he
has learned and submits II to the COM
mission. That report is then made Of
public record, and the whole commits
sion then conducts a public hearing on
the basis Of the report, all OF which IL
usually made public as the hearing goes
on. II Is our intention to follow this
practice. which appealed to US as ef-
fective and more speedy than would be
an effort on the part of the commission
of three at public sessions to get the
same information. 1t means also that
the results Of the inquiry will be with
held from the public only temporarily.
Character of Corporations.
TN closing, / want to say one word
more about public character Of corpora
tons which render a public service. Fol-
lowing the experience Of most other
American States and cities and the ex-
perience Of the national government It.
self. we have entered upon a period OF
control and regulation. Congress has
said to us, The stock OF these corpora
tions in the District of Columbia is
owned by private individuals, but the
business OF these corporations Is pub
lie business. Therefore. the District gov
ernment must see to II that the public
gets the best service possible at the
lowest possible rates and that the pri-
vate individuals who own this stock are
entitled to a fair return on their invest
ment' We have Just barely started In
our efforts to comply with this direction
of Congress, and want to assure you
that We are going to do our level best
to see that the spirit-sf the law Is car
ried out. At the same time ] want to
make the prediction that we have not
yet arrived at the real solution Of the
problem that confronts US. y
"The reason that control and regula-
ton is not the real solution, although 1
hope II will bring about vast improve
ments, is that It cannot reach the great
underlying cause OF a dissatisfied public
on the one side and a dissatisfied stock
holder on the other. so long as the
stock OF public service corporations Is
held by private individuals, the primary
consideration Of the officers Of the COM
pany is going to be the interest Of the
stockholders and not the interest Of the
public. Similarly, the primary interest
of the public is going TO be its own In
terest and not the interest OF the COM
pany. Between these two elements there
is always bound to be friction which can
not be eliminated by the establishment
OF a governmental commission which
shall say to the public, on one hand. you
may have such and such q service and
to the stockholder. on the other hand,
YOU may have such a dividend. Neither
one VIII be satisfied. and before many
years OF effort to satisfy In that way
we are bound to come to the conclu-
sion that that friction can only be elimi-
mated by the elimination Of private owner
ship OF the corporation"
Edgar S. Martin. Supervisor OF Play
grounds, and Miss Emma Jacobs, in
charge of the domestic science depart
ment Of the public schools. also addressed
the meeting. D. A. Edwards. president
of the association, presided. After the ad-
dresses Commissioner and Mrs. Newman
held an informal reception.