History
The office was established in 1873 as part of a general reform of the state's railroad laws. One requirement was that every common carrier railroad submit an annual report to the commission, which were then collected and published. These reports were published every year from 1873 until the abolition of the commission in 1919, and remain an important resource for historians. From 1905 onward the commissioner had some measure of control over the state police; this need was apparently prompted by a sharp increase in accidents involving the new electric interurbans.
In 1907 a revision of the law expanded the office; the single commissioner was replaced a group of three. This was prompted by the urging of then-Commissioner Chase Osborn, who believed the system of a single commissioner was antiquated that a "modern type" of commission with greater powers of intervention was necessary. To provide greater continuity in policy, the three commissioners would serve six-year terms at staggered intervals. The commission also received the power to enforce the state's rate regulations and to arbitrate disputes between companies concerning the application of those rates. The commission remained so structured until its replacement in 1919 by the Michigan Public Utilities Commission, which did not retain the title, nor did any of the sitting railroad commissioners serve on the new body.
Read more about this topic: Michigan Railroad Commission
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“I cannot be much pleased without an appearance of truth; at least of possibility—I wish the history to be natural though the sentiments are refined; and the characters to be probable, though their behaviour is excelling.”
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)
“It’s a very delicate surgical operation—to cut out the heart without killing the patient. The history of our country, however, is a very tough old patient, and we’ll do the best we can.”
—Dudley Nichols, U.S. screenwriter. Jean Renoir. Sorel (Philip Merivale)
“You treat world history as a mathematician does mathematics, in which nothing but laws and formulas exist, no reality, no good and evil, no time, no yesterday, no tomorrow, nothing but an eternal, shallow, mathematical present.”
—Hermann Hesse (1877–1962)