The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-09-16
UTILITY BOARD IS NOW HAMMERED IN
 ENFORCING ORDER

A&4tA 0&A&AAV >S ~
 (Continued From Preceding Page) two the following week, sine die ad- 1ournment coming about Septem- Der 27.
 Hugh White, special assistant at- | torney general, who mado an inves- question, has prepared the following memorandum regarding the purpose of the bill:
 "rhe purpose of this bill is to pre- scribe as a rule Of evidence that whenever 8 citation Is issued by the Alabama public service commission or a complaint by any member of the public is docketed by the com mission, which calls into question the fairness or reasonableness of any rate or regulation of any public utility where the rate has been in- creased since September 25, 19HS, the burden of proof shall be upon the utility to show that such rate or reg ulation is fair and reasonable.
 "Ldkewise the purpose of the bill Is to provide that In the case of any such momplaint or citation involving the fairness or reasonableness of any rate or regulation of railroad where the rate has been increased since January 1, 1917, the burden of proof shall be upon the railroad to show that such rate or regulation is fair and reasonable.
 "The ebill provides that such prin- ciples above stated shall apply to pending case before the commission, but gives to every utility and to every railroad or other transporta- tion companies the right to offer ad- ditional evidence in any such case If it desires to do so, if the bill Is made law.
 Gives Fair Rate Benefit
 This bill simply seeks to give the | people of Alabama the benefit of a i fair rule as applying to intra-state rates when they are under investiga- ton by the state commission as has l been given by Congress to the people under the intestate commece act where interstate rates are under in- vestigation by the interstate com merce commission Paragraph of Section Is of the interstate com merce act as amended by Congress February 2S. 1920. contains the fol- lowing provision:
 At any hearing involving a rate, fare, or charge increased after Jan uary 1, 1910, or of a rate, fare, or charge sought to be increased after the passage of this act, the burden or proof to show that the increased rate, fare CT cnarge, or proposed increased rate, fare or charge, is just and req sonable shall be upon the carrier, and the commission shall give to the hearing and decision of such ques- tions preference over all other ques- tions pending before it and decide the same as speedily as possible"
 This bill was before the Judiciary committee of the house and after hearing representatives both of the public and of railroads, the bill was reported favorably by the Judiciary committee and is now on the calen- dar.
 Justice To Public.
 Justice to the public demands that
 this bill be promptly made law and the enactment of the bill into law will not do any injustice to any utility or transportation company. we can safely assume congress
 fould not have enacted such a statute applying to interstate rates if it had not been fair to the 'rail- roads and If it had not been neces- sary for the protection of the public Interests. It is a fundamental prin- ciple that Is fair in any investigation to put the burden of proof on the
 party that has in its possession
 and under its control the material
 affirmation which Is necessary to be 1 had in order to determine tho issues involved in any such investigation.
 Where the fairness of any rate Is in volved 1t Is plain that tho knowledge as to the cost of the service rendered 1 for which the rate Is charged as well as much other material information bearing on the reasonableness of
 such rate is in the possession or under the control of the public utility
 or the railroad.
 Although our smaller cities and
 towns and the farms and other in terests in Alabama may be convinced
 that the rates which have been
 greatly increased during the World
 war period and the period just after
 the war 1t would be extremely diff
 cult and almost impossible for us to prove before the commission by conn l potent evidence the extent to which
 such rate Is unreasonable where we
 do not have the assistance of rate
 experts, which only the largest cities l in the state are able to employ. Un- | der the existing rules of evidence In
 this state it Is well nigh impossible | for any town or city or any shipper l or any community that is unable to l employ a rate expert to come before
 the commission and In dealing with | such a technical matter for them to
 be able to show by competent evil | dence the extent to which any rate may be unjust, unreasonable or dis- criminatory.
 O O O
 Proof Is Hopeless.
 "Yet under the existing rules of evidence if any smaller town or city
 makes complaint against any rate,
 unless the complainant offers sub | stantial evidence necessarily of a | technical character, he cannot pre- vail either before the commission or before the courts if the utilities or the railroads appeal to the courts.
 "It Is also true that If an indi- vidual shipper complains of any rate of any railroad and the commission should be unable to decide such com
 plaint In favor of the shipper for lack of such technical evidence, such individual shipper under the existing law governing appeals in this class of cases does not have a right of ap- peal to the courty The railroad can take an appeal 4 the commissions
 order Is adverse to it and an appeal can be taken by the state of Ala bama, hut no such right of appeal Is