Denver, Colorado, January 1, 1911. To His Excellency HON. JOHN F. SHAFROTH, State Capitol, Denver, Colorado. Sir: In accordance with section 14, chapter 121, Revised Statutes of 1908, we have the honor to submit our biennial report containing an account of all matters pertaining to this office from January 1, 1909, to January 1, 1911. The statute providing for the Railroad Commission of Colorado provides that the commission "may also cause to be printed its annual reports," but there is no direct requirement to do so. As the work of regulating railroads through the instrumentality of a Commission is entirely new in this State, and as there has been a widely diversified opinion as to the effectiveness of the Commission, what it has done and what it expects to be able to accomplish in the future, the members of the Commission have deemed it wise to make a report covering its work from January first, 1909, to January first, 1911, and to some extent explain what the conditions were under which the Commission has been operating and what it has been able to do in spite of the disadvantages under which it was compelled to work. In March, 1907, the Sixteenth General Assembly of Colorado passed an act entitled: "An Act to Regulate Common Carriers in this State," providing for three Commissioners. The act became effective by law on June 20, 1907, and the Commissioners appointed by the Governor, as provided in the act, Frederick Chamberlin, Halsted L. Ritter and Bulkeley Wells, entered upon the discharge of their duties. On June 29, 1907, a number of the railroad companies instituted quo warranto proceedings against the Commission in the District Court of the Second Judicial District, and on July 29, 1907, the court held that the act creating the Commission was unconstitutional, and a judgment of ouster was entered against the members of the Commission. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court of Colorado, and on June 1, 1908, that court ordered the District Court to dismiss the case without prejudice. On August 3, 1908, the railroads of this State brought suit in the United States Circuit Court, again attacking the constitutionality of the act creating the Commission. In the fall of 1908 Aaron P. Anderson, Daniel H. Staley and Worth L. Seely were elected Commissioners as provided in the act, and the above was the condition in which they found the Commission on entering upon their duties January 12, 1909. Notwithstanding these conditions the said Commissioners took the oath of office and entered upon the duties of their office. One of the first obstacles which presented itself was the fact that in view of the action pending in the United States Court the State Treasurer declined to pay the expenses of the Commission in carrying on its work; he also declined to pay the salaries of the Commission and its employes until the Commission and its employes gave bond to the State Treasurer to protect him against legal action for payment of all expenses and salaries disbursed. The Commissioners and employes therefore issued its bonds to the Treasurer, amounting in all to $31,830.00, and were thereby enabled, at the risk of payment of the bond for all moneys expended, to carry on this department of the State Government. On giving the bond as aforesaid, the Commission was thereby enabled to transact the various duties of its office prescribed in the act, which duties, so performed, are reported herein. On January 29, 1910, the suit then pending in the United States Circuit Court was dismissed by plaintiffs on their motion. However, the State Treasurer still continued to refuse payment of the salaries and expenses incurred by the Commission. On April 4, 1910, cases 22 and 23 as reported herein, and commonly known as the Northern Coal Company cases, were decided by the Commission, in which the Commission ordered a very material reduction of the rates in question, which were the rates then in existence on the different defendant roads operating between what are known as the Northern Coal Fields and the cities of Denver and Littleton, Colorado. From the orders therein (which will be found in cases No. 22 and 23 of the formal complaints in this report) the defendants, the Colorado & Southern, the Union Pacific, and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Companies appealed, while the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company and the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Company obeyed the order. The appeal was taken April 9, 1910, to the District Court and before the same District Judge who had before decided the law unconstitutional, and it was again declared to be unconstitutional. On June 2, 1910, the Commission sued out a writ of error and the case is now pending in the Supreme Court. At the extra session of the Eighteenth General Assembly, 1910, the law of 1907 was amended and re-enacted, and the features in the old law objected to as unconstitutional were eliminated therefrom. The said law became effective February 15, 1911. It will be seen that the Commission has from the beginning been unable to do as effective work as it would have been able to had it not been surrounded by the difficulties herein recited. From its beginning it has been confronted with the fact that many meritorious cases would have been brought had complainants not feared that through the pending litigation, in the end the law might be declared unconstitutional. In fact, since May 21, 1910, when the law under which the Commission was then acting was again declared unconstitutional, many cases then pending before the Commission were withdrawn, awaiting the decision of the Supreme Court, and only one case has been filed since that date. The Commission is of the opinion that the new law, which goes into effect February 15, 1911, is a much better law than the old one. It at least settles the constitutional questions involved. In the opinion of the Commission, however, it does not go far enough, and the Legislature ought to amend the present law, giving the Commission the power of adjusting freight rates. AARON P. ANDERSON, DANIEL H. STALEY, WORTH L. SEELY, JOHN W. FLINTHAM, Clerk. Commissioners. |
