The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1916-02-10


OF Public Utilities by governmental
agencies. but rather to confine my re-
MARKS to an explanation of the Public
Utilities law as it Eow stands on our
statute books, the necessity of its adj
option. its purposes, scope, and the
| enc is of such law TO the people
of this state: neither is it my pur-
rose to discuss at length or in minute
detail the historical features OF Public
Utility laws in this and other states,
except in so far as to show the trend
OF molern thought and the necessity
of adopt ng, in the various states,
method of regulating business con
Germs affected with a public intreat,
not only lecause of the necessity of
securing adequate service and fair
rates for the people but also tie ne
cessiiy of placing Utility concerns or
firm fnanci2l footing, thus BRINGING
about a better unders tanding as to
the rights of each other and more
harmonious relation between them.
The method of handling public utili-
ty questions throueh the medilm OF
Commissions is comparatively new as
yet, and it cannot lie said that it has
entirely passed the experimental
stage; however. up to this time it has
proved to be the best method ever de-
NlSCu III ITedlllle Will ll-e DiblIt NLll-
ity questions. Wherever tried it h 5
proved to lie popular and generally ef-
fcient: opular IecaUse it affords an
easy, quick and inexpensive method
of rishting wrongs, ard efficient he
CaUse it creates a forum with ample
IoYer to Investigate every phase of
public utility questions. At the pres
ent time every state in the Union, ev-
cept Delaware ard Utah. has Public
Service Commission with varying de-
grees of rover and authority.
The primary cause for the creation
of Public Utility Commissions was
general belief On the rart of vast
majority of People that they were
compelled to ray exorbitant and ex-
cessive rates for service far in excess
of what would be a reasonable return
on the value of the property devoted
to supplying their demands and it
cannot he denied that in many in
stances this condition existed. The
old method of controlling rates and
services of local utilities by franchises
and ordinances did not prove to be
complete success: local utilities were
in many instances powerful agencies
in determining the results in local
political disputes and the methods ad-
opted in securing a franchise were
not always above suspicion. A feel
ing of mistrust and antagonism re-
suited and consequently neither side
was in a mood to deal fairly with
the other; the inevitable result
was chaos. which affected not only
the consumer. but the utility and in
vestor as well.
The creation of Public Utility Com
missions was brought about in the
face of violent opposition on the part
of a great many local utility concerns.
who objected to any form of regula-
ton. In some instances opposition
was occasioned from the fact that
their records would be subject to pub
lie inspection and thereby become
public property. In most cases. how
ever, opposition was occasioned from
the fact that they had become ac-
customed to doing business in GER
tain way. as best suited their particu-
lar convenience, and preferred to fol-
low the old way rather than be forced
to adopt something new and untried.
and the fear that those to whom was
entrusted the duty of regulating their
business would in all probability be
inclined to popular opinion rather
than make their decisions from a
standpoint OF equity and justice. TX
perience has proved, however, that
this has not been the case and the
opposition which developed is rapidly
being dissipated. Corporations no
longer hesitate to meet the popular
demand of taking their patrons into
their confidence: no fair minded per-
son objects to fair rate of return
on actual capital invested. SO long as
the property is properly managed and
adequate service is furnished at rea-
sonable and non-discriminatory rates.
Utility services have long since
passed the stage when they were con-
sidered as Injuries. but are today, un-
der our present standards of living and
conducting business, absolute neces-
stiles. This is not only true within
the limits of cities and towns. but also
in the rural districts as well. so that
the questions of rates and services
enter into daily lives of almost all OF
the PEOPLE, and the proper regulation
of the same is of vital importance.
The power to regulate public utili-
ties is primarily vested in the state
under the general and broad police
power which the state always reserves
to itself. There are three ways in
which this power may be exercised:
The legislature may regulate by direct
enactment or ii may delegate thar
power to cities and towns. or it can
create commission clothed with the
necessary power to regulate and con
troll all public utilities.
Regulation by direct enactment has
long since been abandoned, on ac-
count of not being elastic enough to
meet the requirements of changing
conditions: the delegation OF the pow
er to cities and towns to regulate
service, and rates of local utilities has
also long been abandoned for a multi
tude of reasons. | will not discuss
the many and varied reasons but will