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Show H PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSIONS. M IN order that the matter of Public M Utility Commissions might bo gotten H before tho people of this locality nud H both sides of the question considered, H Tiie Record has granted the rather B extensive use of its columns to the m adherants of both sides, which, so H long as no disagreeable personalities M are indulged in, they are still nt liberty M to. use. Wo always like to hear both H sides of a question, and wo tnke it M that our readers arc of tho same dls- m position. M In tho mean time, we have formed M a fow opinions on the subject, which H arc perhaps between tho extreme H viewpoints of the advocates of either M side. In tho first place, we do bclievo m in the public utility commission; we H ' bclievo thnt a commission of this kind H to make ii study of and obtain infor- B mation as to the workings of such B organizations is an absolute nccessi- ty, and if wisely chosen and vested flj with only proper powers, is as much a benefit and protection to the utilities an to the pcoplo nt large. Wo do not favor such a mcasuro as flj Uic Evans bill, which wo believe is altogether too far reaching and nrbl- trnry in its scope, delegating to tho commission power and authority not flj hardly vostcd in the legislature itself. 9 It is our opinion that the powers of 9 tho cQinmiHsion should be kept within reasonable bounds, and that its prov- flj itico.be more along the line of making VH investigations and initiating lcgisla- B tion-found necessary than in making arbitrary rules, which might seriously jS obstruct nnd embarrass the legitimate fjjP operations of our utilitis, which aro Bj just as important to the people them- pH nolves as the stockholders of tho cor- vjm porations owning and controling them. 89 It is not our idea thnt a utility com- fiH mission will have for its purpose the ")jury nd unnecessary interference with tho afTnirs of utility companies and'i'ndlviduals. Its mission should Ixt B ono of justice only, and in its operation B) ' ' '" r"-- " - - ( should bo moro beneficial than otherwise other-wise to honest corporations, who only . want the square deal, which we take it Jb tho case with the great majority of our utility companies. The utility commission is in accordance accord-ance with progressive nnd modern ideas in legislation. It has been found beneficial nnd valuable in other states and sooner or later must come here; but what we want to avoid is the extreme ex-treme notions in such matters. Some pcoplo seem to assume that all utility corporations aro bad; that they aro one of our necessary evils which, whtie they must lie endured, should be beset and belabored just as much as possible. possi-ble. Such vlewH tend only to widen the breach and accumulate difficulties. Utility companies nrc composed of in dividuals who have invested their money mon-ey in conveniences for tho people, nnd they nrc entitled to a reasonable return re-turn on their investment. They arc not entitled, however, to rob the people peo-ple in the high-handed way in which the sugar companies in the Western country aro doing at present, the uf-fairs uf-fairs of which are sadly in need of investigation by the Interstate Commerce Com-merce commission. |