Perth Amboy evening news., 1919-10-08
UTILITY BOARD DISCREDITED

1t was a rather weak defense that the Public Utility Com
mission, through its attorney, former Attorney General John
w. Griggs, put up for itself at the hearing before Governor
Runyon on the charges preferred by the town commissioner of
Montclair.
The two principal contentious of the board were that the
zone system which they authorized is only in the way of an ex-
pertinent; that the board retains complete control of the stu
alton and can order notifications whenever it wants to. 1t
futher maintains that it was not required to make an appraisal
or valuation of the Public Service property before putting the
temporary zone system into operation.
AS for the fact that the present zone system is only an
experiment, the average citizen has found it a pretty costly
one and the general impression is that it might have been bet
ter to have been a little more sure of the outcome before sad
ding such an imposition upon the public.
This leads to the second contention put forth by the com
missioners attempting to justify the action of the board. If
the board had made an appraisal or valuation of the Public
Service property before authorizing the zone system, even
though it is not compelled to do so, it might not have Numbered
SO seriously.
It is a rather petty excuse for a state board, the members
of which are being paid 81, 500 a year for their services, to de-
clare that they did not do something that appeared reasonable
and highly desirable merely because it did not have to.
In fact, the situation looks very much as ii the commls-
sioners had permitted the trolley company to go the limit and
# it got away with it all we'll and good, but if the people re-
bened then notifications would be made according to the tenn
per of the public. In other words, instead of the Public Utility
Commission taking every precaution to safeguard the peoples
interests, it left it to the people themselves to assert their
rights and if they asserted them hard enough the commission
would be compelled to take notice.
The Public Utility Commission was not even interested
enough to see that the different zones authorized by them
measured O full mile. In practically every suburban district
trickery was resorted to for the purpose Of collecting an extra
fare. Some zones were shortened up q thousand feet or more
in order to permit the collection of an additional fare before
the next town was reached.
The public was given to understand that under the new
plan three cents would be charged for the first mile and two
cents for each additional mile. There is every reason to be-
lieve that an attempt was made to deliberately deceive the pub
lie; no effort was made by the Public Utility commission, APP
parently. to learn whether or not the people were having any
thing put over on them. 1t was left for the people them
selves to find out this apparent fraud and expose it. Had the
people trusted entirely to the Public Utility Commission to see
that their rights were protected, as they have a right to do,
nothing would ever have been said about this or any other mat
Ter and the Public Service would have "got away with their
proposition as they had planned it, for their own benefit all the
time.
1t is such conduct as this on the part of public officials that
breeds distrust- There is no question that the present Public
Utility Commission has lost the confidence of the people of the
state. for the big salary being paid the commissioners the
people have a right to expect far better service.
AS a matter of fact, the impression is general that most
of the recent commissioners were appointed more for political
reasons than because of any particular fitness for the office.
The duties of a public utility commissioner for q state like New
Jersey calls for exceptional skill and training along certain
lines, That is the reason why it is not appropriate to have the
board an elective body. 1t is necessary that discrimination be
used in the personnel of this body. 1t is notorious that such
discrimination was not used in the selection of the present
members. 80
The present board should be ousted from office as incom-
petent and for neglect of duty, as the town Of Montclair charg-
es. A new board should be named made up of men who have
something else to recommend them besides being more or less
successful politicians.