STATEMENT.* Showing stations in Wisconsin at which Western. Union commercial service has been closed out Jan. 1, 1908. Shows the average number of telegrams sent and received and the average monthly receipts, June to September, Inclusive. Similar statements for several other railway companies are printed in an appendix hereto. SUMMARY. Total number of Western Union offices closed. Average number of messages per month at each office. Monthly average receipts for all the offices put together.. 41 6 .90 .$36.90 As stated above, the railway companies filed with the Commission copies of their contracts with the telegraph companies. An examination of these contracts reveals little that is pertinent to the present inquiry, except, perhaps, that the railway companies do not hold themselves out as companies doing a com mercial telegraph business and that for all commercial telegraph business handled by persons in the employ of the railway companies, chiefly station agents, the telegraph companies assume full and sole responsibility. The railway companies are, therefore, not under present conditions the parties to whom recourse must be had in the case of inadequate telegraphic service at any particular point. The contracts referred to are full of interesting provisions with respect to the relationship existing between railway and telegraph companies in the matter of mutual services, but these have no bearing upon the situation created by ch. 575, and will therefore not be discussed in this connection. From the point of view of the Western Union and other telegraph companies the case of the stations at which the railway companies have discontinued telegraphic operators is simply one of expenses and earnings. The Western Union Telegraph Company claims that it cannot be compelled to maintain telegraph offices in places like the stations on the Chicago & North Western Railway, given above, where there is a negligible amount of business or where the amount of business is not sufficient to pay operating expenses and a reasonable return on the investment. It appears to be unquestioned that legally the telegraph companies and not the railway companies are responsible for the commercial telegraph business in the state of Wisconsin. The inconveniences and hardships resulting from the closing of many telegraph stations have been greatly mollified through the agency of the telephone. The record in this proceeding shows that in a great majority of closed stations the telephone is availabie both for long distance telephoning and for the purpose of telephoning messages to the nearest telegraphic station for transmission by telegraph. What is perhaps the most surprising fact connected with this investigation is the substitution of the telephone for the telegraph in the operation of trains. This movement of substitution has been greatly accelerated by ch. 575, Laws of 1907. Reference has already been made to the limited number of telegraphers which the railway companies found available for their work Jan. 1, 1908. The Western Union Telegraph Company appears to have no difficulty in getting as many operators as it needs, according to the statements made at the hearing. The railway operators are obliged to handle baggage, sell tickets, and do other station work which, according to the testimony, is uncongenial to professional telegraphers; hence, in part at least, the scarcity of telegraphers in the railway business. Restrictions regarding apprenticeship and the teaching of telegraphy were also mentioned as causes of the existing limited supply of railway operators. Under these circumstances it seems but natural that the railway companies should turn to the telephone, for the operation of which no technical training is required and for which any competent employe of the railway company may qualify himself in a relatively short period of time. Bearing upon the use of the telephone, the testimony offered by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and the Illinois Central railroad companies was particularly valuable, for the reason that these companies, more than most of the others, have had a long and more extensive experience with the telephone in the operation of trains. The Illinois Central has operated train blocks on 800 miles of line for from two to four years to the entire satisfaction of the operating department. The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy is at the present time extending its telephone system over other divisions and expresses complete satisfaction at the results achieved on those divisions where the telephone system has been in operation for some time in the past. The superintendent of telegraph of another large company, who had inspected the telephone system on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, testified that the same worked to his entire satisfaction, that it was more elastic than the telegraph, that it frequently saved time, and that it was in general fully as safe. Figures were introduced in evidence showing the average length of time consumed in giving train orders. by telephone and telegraph, the import of which was entirely. in favor of the telephone. Officials of all the leading companies testified that the use of the telephone in train operation is fully as safe as the telegraph and that the telephone possesses some advantages which the telegraph does not possess. In short, the testimony in this proceeding reveals a. broad movement directed towards the substitution of the telephone for the telegraph in the operation of trains, whether by block or otherwise. It should be pointed out, however, that with reference to ch. 575, there is no significance in this movement of the substitution of the telephone for the telegraph because telephone operators giving and transmitting train orders are as much subject to its provisions as telegraph operators. The law made itself felt most directly in compelling an increase to two operators where more than eight hours of telegraphic service connected with the movement of trains had to be maintained, and to three where more than sixteen hours of service had to be given in connection with the operation of trains. As shown above, this has resulted in a substantial increase in the number of telegraph operators employed; and in order to provide for this increase at important points, station operators had to be transferred from less important points, which, together with the restricted number of operators available and the small amount of commercial telegraphic business transacted, caused the closing of such stations. The introduction of the telephone, therefore, is significant chiefly in that it makes available practically an unlimited supply of operators and that, partly in consequence of this and partly because of the nature of the telephone itself, the whole system of train ordering is made more elastic. When the first complaints reached this office regarding the enforcement of ch. 575, the suggestion was urged with much insistence by a number of persons that railway companies might employ operators for more than eight consecutive hours, provided that all the telegraphic and telephonic work performed by such operators relating to the movement of trains were confined to eight hours. We do not think that a plain reading of the law permits of such a construction; and if it did, it would require little ingenuity to avoid and nullify it in every respect. The suggestion has also been made that railway companies may employ operators as station agents for as many as ten or twelve hours per day and that if such agents are not required to give and receive train orders, they can transmit commercial messages and still be employed for that length of time without violating ch. 575. At small stations, where the agent may have relatively little work to do, it may not be unreasonable to require him to be on duty during ten or twelve hours per day. This is being done at a number of stations and is, we believe, strictly within the provisions of the law. We understand that ch. 575 is now being tested in the courts. For this reason alone it would be improper for us to express an opinion with reference to it, even should we otherwise feel disposed to do so, which is not the case. Whatever of comment we may have to offer regarding the merits of this law will be submitted at the proper time and in the proper place. This law is a legislative act regarding which the Commission has no discretion. If, as a practical result of its enforcement, railway or telegraphic service should have been reduced to a point where it is no longer adequate, this Commission can act under the Railroad Commission Law with the same powers and under the same limitations that all its other duties are performed. However, the adequacy or inadequacy of the telegraphic or railway service at any particular station is a question of fact which must be determined for each particular case within the scope of the law applicable thereto. One of the chief purposes of this investigation was to determine in what manner, if any, the safety of the operation of trains had been affected by the changes in the organization and distribution of the telegraphic force and the greater use of the telephone since Jan. 1, 1908. The testimony was unanimous and unqualified to the effect that the operation of trains is as safe under the present system as it had been theretofore, and our inquiries have suggested nothing to the contrary. The engineer of the Commission has been paying special attention to matters relating to safety in railway operation for more than a year past, and he has been instructed to follow with especial care the effect of the more general introduction of the telephone. In what has preceded, we have endeavored to present the chief facts brought out in this investigation. These facts tell their own story and no additional comments are necessary on our Obviously, we could not issue a general order affecting the situations regarding which complaints have been made, even if the facts presented were clearly indicative of what the contents of such an order should be. If, in the light of what has been presented, any of the individuals and communities that have hitherto complained to the Commission regarding the telegraphic service at their respective stations, feel satisfied that the service is inadequate within the meaning of the Railroad Commission Law, we shall, of course, entertain formal complaints with reference to such service and make whatever order the facts and the law may require. |