Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 January 1915 — Rates of Roads Should Be Adjusted by Commissions. [ARTICLE]

Rates of Roads Should Be Adjusted by Commissions.

To bfe fair with the railroads in the matter of rates should be the desire of every person. It has for a long time seemed to the writer that a rate fixed as, a basis for all roads within the state was not altogether fair. Some roads may run through thinly settled country and thus deserve a higher rate, while roads that operate thorugh densely populated localities should receive less fare It seems that this is a matter that the legislature might well confer upon the Public Utilities Commission. The same might apply to a single railroad corporation. The main line might have enough business to justify a 2-cent rate and some of its branches might justify a much higher rate. Telephones and light? plants and water plants are operated at much the same expense in various towns, but there is a great variation of rates and the commission has undertaken no plan of equalization. But railroads are very different. It is understood that the Monon operates trainfe over some branches at a decided |oss. Then, the business of the roads vary doubtless during prosperous times and times of financial depression. A commission could regulate the rate to meet the requirements. To do so intelligently would necessitate an open book policy between the railroads and the commissions, but is the roads are to be regulated, no fair result between the roads and the public can be expected until there is frank understanding between the road owners and the commissions. It seems certain that a fixed rate for all roads, ignoring their business is a policy that is unfair. In Some cases to the public; in others to the railroads. Regulation that iS not founded on understanding is not regulation, it is guess work. Surely there should be some person in the state legislature able to draft a law that would be fair to all concerned and this is a matter that concerns all.