The Alaska daily empire., 1915-09-13
THREE coMnssIoNs IN oNE.
lst. Lonls Rennbllc.O ]


 In emphasizing the fact that the Interstate Com merce Commission is a failure a ratemakng body by reason of the fact that the law creating 1t violates the fundamental American principle Of immediate re- spOnsibity of all legislators to the will of the people, is important to keep clearly in mind that the Legs- ative task of rate-maxng is but part of the Com missions activities and that it has done yeoman ser vice in the public interest sn other fields of work The commission is really three commissions in one, and two of them arc effective
 The commission is at times a legislative body, at times an executive board and at times judicial ribun al. When it makes rates h makes laws. The power to ordan that the rate from St. Louis to Banvile, which SO today shall be 55 cents after the first day of October is legislative power pure and simple dele gated by Congress. The power to draft regulations securing uniform accounting and prescribing the way in which certain legal requirements shall be met is exc cutive The receipt of complaints from shippers and the adjudication of the questions presenting them is judicial In its activities the Commission is really three bodes so general criticism of it could possibly have any value.
 Insofar as it is judicial. the Commissions ire sponsbity to the courts is reasonable and sem sble and in accord with American political traditions Insofar it is executive it's power delegated to by the President and there is why t should be responsible except to him. though it would be in harmony with the framework of government to make the Commission as an executive body respons- ble the President not directly but bureau of the Department of Commerce. But insofar t Is law making body or in other words insofar as 1t makes rates t ought to be responsible to the people just other lawmaking bodies Which is only another way of saying that the awmaking function of the Com mission ought not to be intrusted to the same body the of the responsibility is different that the control ought to differ correspondingly.
 No fair-mnded American citizen can fail to give the Commission high praise for it's efficiency as an exc tive board It has taken railway financing out of the shadaw where ways that were dark and tricks that were vain nourshed in the past and placed t under clear light Today the railroads all keep their books alike and the public knows what they take in and what for what they spend and what they get for it. In fact it would be well if a like commission were given equal power impose uniform methods of accounting on our National government, where accounting and reporting are done to 95 separate laws and real financial condi- tions known Go nobody.
 A layman cannot speak with authority of the Com missions of its judicial powers; impression is that these powers have been exercised without partial iy and wisely the sad disproportion between the of it's tasks and the working strength of so small body permits. The Commission has m- portant place It has done a work it adapted to do and earned the recognition of all good cntzens for ts efficiency. But It's effectiveness in drafting execu- tive regulations under the statutes and passing com paints has bearing upon the wisdom unwisdOm of giving legislative functions and placing it wholly beyond the power either of Congress of the people and practically beyond the power of the President al SO.
 The American people have recently, by consti. tutional amendment done away with the indirect elec tion of Senators. because our political experience proves that lawmakers must be immediately responsi- bc to the people in order to be efficient. There is general oucry against the neciency of the Interstate Commerce Commission as rate-making-i e., awmak- ing-body. What else can you expect from a set of lawmakers responsible such to nothing and nobody? Look at the House of Lords in England It is digni- fled 1t is honest it contains of ability So is and does the Interstate Commerce Commission. But as lawmakng body the House Lords is inefficient be- cause 1t is directly responsible the people and does not reflect their will So is the Interstate Com merce Commission. and for the same reason.