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Show THE PUBLIC UTILITIES LAW The so-called public utilities lav which was recently passed by the New York Legislature is considered, both by those who favor it and b those who oppose it, as one of the most important pieces of legislation ever passed in America. How wide is its scope and how comprehensive com-prehensive arc its powers within its field may be judged by a glance at some of the provisions of the act. The commission of ten men which the act creates is empowered to regulate regu-late and control all railroads, street-railways, street-railways, gas and electric light com-, panics. It can compel transportation companies to give safe and adequate service, and can decide what are fair and reasonable rates. In the case ot gas and electric light companies it can fix rates, and in the case of railroads rail-roads prevent rebates and discrimination discrimi-nation in rates within the state. The act also forbids free passes, prohibits the capitalization of -any franchise for an amount greater than the sum actually paid into the public treasury for it, and provides that tb5 capital stock of a corporation formed by the union of two or more companies compan-ies shall not exceed the sum of thi capital stock of the consolidated com- I panics. Even more radical is the pro- I vision that no corporation shall pur- 11 chase or hold stock in another com- , nion carrier corporation unless author- j ized by the commission. ' It will be seen by this summary that New York has placed restrictions upon corporations which have never been applied before by any state in the Union. Just because this is so, the act is regarded in very different ways by the corporate and great com- I mcrcial interests, and by the people J, at large, who arc not financially interested. in-terested. The one group regards the act as a piece of ill-considered retaliatory re-taliatory legislation, which takes the power from experts in corporation management and puts it into the hands of men who know nothing about it. They believe the effect will be most disastrous to business, if not ruinous, and trickery must bow. It is a tru- J ism to say that the character of the members of the commission will be a large clement in deciding which I group is right. The other group believes that at least a responsible authority has been established, to which corporate greed and trickery must bow. It is a truism to say that the character of the members mem-bers of the commission will be a large element in deciding which group 1 is right. Ex. |
