The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1921-04-21

null and void; and if, in the judg-
ment of the Railroad Commission,
such contracts are against the public
policy, the Railroad Commission has
the right to declare them null ana
void! This may sound like imperial
ism, but anyway it's law.
In the face of these decisions by
the highest tribunal in the land it
would be waste of time and effort
to make a fight in the courts against
the increase in rates 1t may be re-
marked in passing. however, that
until the United States Supreme
Court reverses itself a contract be-
tween a public service corporation
and an individual or a group of in
dividuals is nothing more than a
scrap of paper. 1t is binding on the
individual, but not on the public
service corporation. The Justice who
wrote the decisions based his find
ings on broad and general principles
of public policy, but he erred gre
viously in his conceptions of right and
wrong
The United States Supreme Court
having. by its numerous decisions,
vested the State Railroad Commission
with supreme authority in the set
tlement of disputes between public
service corporations and their pa
trons, it Is clear that the fight must
be carried on before the commission.
The telephone officials have made a.
showing before the commission in
which they proved, or sought to prove.
mat an increase in rates was neces-
sary or the company would have to
go cut of business. Candidly. we be-
lieve the Railroad Commission took
snap Judgment without going deep
enough into the affairs of the tele.
phone company
The Southern Bell is a subsidiary
OF the American Telephone and Tel
iegraph Company, one of the largest
and most powerful business organi-
cations in America. The general man
ager of the Bell Company is author
ity for the statement that his COM
papy pays the American Telephone
and Telegraph Company 4 1-2 per
Cent or its gross earnings. The Amer
lean company owns and operates the
establishments that manufacture the
various articles used by the Bell
company In the construction and
naintainance Of its lines and exchan-
ges. The parent company, we pre-
sumo, owns all the large office build
lnSs and warehouses in the large
cities of the United States, and col
iects pro rata share of the rents ont
of the Bell Company.
1t is evident that the parent COM
pany Is prosperous company, as its
president announced a few days ago
that 1t had increased its dividend
rate from 8 to per cent. Not many
weeks ago the Armour Company is
4 30 ohhudi oLdlcIueNL, and III our
memory serves us right, its Officers
were delighted at showing a profit of
something like 2 per cent.
There has been big decline in the
price of copper and other metals.
working hours have increased and
there has been a decrease in the
price of unskilled labor. All these
things should tend to decrease in
stead of increase rates, and it is EVIL
dent that If the telephone company
Is losing money under present condi-
tions its losses must have reached a
staggering sum during the years of
the war; But that is neither here nor
there. All these statements will have
TO De proved by facts and figures.
A statewide committee has been
organized to carry on the fight
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