THE ROLL CALL
The Roll Call ON MEN AND MEASURES Meyer of Wisconsin IN SELECTING Chairman B. H. Meyer of the Railroad Commission of Wisconsin for appointment to the vacancy on the Interstate Commerce Commission...
...He went on teaching in high school and afterward in the University of Wisconsin, and he has gone on teaching until now he is recognized by common consent a full professor in that great university, the university of practical world affairs...
...Notwithstanding the arduous duties of his new and important work on the Railroad Commission, Meyer has continued for the five years since, without compensation, to give his course of instruction in transportation at the university, holding his classes early in the morning before office hours at the Railroad Commission and giving of his evenings and holidays to the preparation of his lectures—a service devoted to the upbuilding in his own state of that public intelligence so essential to the solution of the important problems of public service monopoly...
...justice to the public interest and justice to the private interest involved...
...In personal appearance Meyer looks German...
...Because of these personal qualities, as well as his knowledge and scholarly attainments, Meyer has made a success of railroad and public service regulation in Wisconsin...
...And these services Meyer has always given gladly and freely whenever they have been needed and always in the light of contribution to an important public cause...
...The President and the country are to be congratulated upon the selection of Meyer of Wisconsin to assist in the important work which lies before the Interstate Commerce Commission for the next few years...
...The power of public correction must be co-extensive with the power of corporate abuse...
...Cop'ng With a Big Problem IT IS no simple problem—this world-old conflict between private monopoly and public interest...
...To the first subject, Meyer gave years of research and study in this and foreign countries and in 1903 he published a book on the subject, which has become standard...
...Meyer's worth been better appreciated than in the Interstate Commerce Commission and the accession of the new Commissioner will be especially welcome to the present members...
...So, when Meyer was teaching in the university of his state, when the training and scholastic attainment which he had gained through years of work and study and through availing himself of the opportunities afforded by the educational system of his state had brought him renown and offers of positions of profit and distinction elsewhere, Meyer said, "No, whatever the personal sacrifice to myself, my duty is here, to discharge my obligation to Wisconsin...
...Practically the law is of little value until it is interpreted and applied in each case by an authority that is just and reasonable...
...Appointed by Governor La Follette upon the Wisconsin Railroad Commission, charged with the enforcement of that law, Professor Meyer and his associates have answered the question of efficiency in administration by giving the State of Wisconsin regulation of railroads and of public service companies generally recognized as the most effective yet established...
...Intelligence there must be, not only on the part of the regulating authority in the exercise of regulation, but intelligence on the part of private management, on the one hand, and the public, on the other, in their dealings one with the other...
...Of these, none is chief...
...Efficiency of regulation requires first, the enactment of adequate laws, and second, the thorough enforcement of the laws made...
...B. H. Meyer is eminently a just man and his temperament is judicial...
...By his writings and lectures in dfferent parts of the country, Meyer has contributed like services to the public at large...
...For exercise he mows his lawn and walks in summer, and in winter he shovels the snow off his walk, and skates...
...Regulation must regulate...
...In the case of Meyer a keen sense of justice and of obligation controls not only in dealing on behalf of the public with public service corporations, but in dealing on behalf of the public with Meyer...
...Because of his qualities and his attainments it was said of him that he would make one of America's greatest railroad presidents,—said by one of the best known men in the country, himself a great, if not the greatest, of American railroad presidents It is because of these qualities and attainments that Meyer has achieved in Wisconsin that seemingly paradoxical feat of regulating railroads and public service corporations and making them like it...
...The Roll Call ON MEN AND MEASURES Meyer of Wisconsin IN SELECTING Chairman B. H. Meyer of the Railroad Commission of Wisconsin for appointment to the vacancy on the Interstate Commerce Commission created by the appointment of Chairman Knapp as Chief Justice of the Commerce Court, President Taft recognized eminent fitness, which heretofore has been generally recognized the country over by people who have given special attention to the subject of public regulation of common carriers...
...His eyes and features suggests keenness and discrimination, as well as culture...
...All are essential...
...A Home-loving Man ALWAYS an exceedingly busy man and burdened with arduous official duties, which are often trying, or would be to most men, Meyer still finds time to be devoted to his home and family, to have many friends and to be a friend to many, and to treat all who come in contact with him with uniform courtesy and amiability...
...He suggests the type of German scientist...
...A Pioneer in Railroad Regulation SECOND in order, but not in importance, is efficiency...
...And Meyer skates better than most people, partly because most people are not so nearly seven feet tall...
...It was studied with profit in the framing of the Railroad Commission Law of Wisconsin, the most efficient piece of legislation upon this subject enacted anywhere...
...Justice"—the Keynote WE HAVE set down as the third essential of regulation, justice—justice to the shipper or consumer and justice to the carrier or utility...
...In a large measure, public service regulation must stand or fall accordingly as those charged with its administration meet or fail to meet these requirements in themselves, and in their official acts...
...When occasion arises, it must be exercised without fear or favor...
...He began teaching in a district school in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, back in 1884...
...In this book, American railway legislation was analyzed, bcth as to what it provided and what it failed to provide, and from the standpoint of the requirements of efficient regulation...
...A Rare Public Servant WHEN Meyer was called to go on the newly created Wisconsin Railroad Commission, he was educating students at the University in the subject of transportation—in the Meyer thesis of the mutual rights and duties of public service corporations and their patrons...
...Educated in the schools and university of his state, Meyer insisted that he owed certain personal obligations to his State, not merely the general obligation of good citizenship and the intelligent promotion of self-interest, but an obligation of specific personal service...
...And the Professor's specialty is, and for a long time has been, the relations between the public and persons and corporations whose business is to serve the public in the important fields of transportation and public utilities...
...Born and reared in Wisconsin, educated in the common school, high school, and in the State Normal School and State University of Wisconsin, he is a real embodiment of the Wisconsin Spirit and of Wisconsin perseverence, a profound student and a prodigious worker...
...The Meyer book, probably the first scientific treatment of the subject from the standpoint of public interest, was timely and was valuable to the movement which resulted in the amendment of the Interstate Commerce act in 1906 and its further amendment in 1910...
...Nowhere has Mr...
...The law says that the charges of public service companies shall be just and reasonable...
...A general understanding of this thesis, which is a favorite thesis of Meyer's, not only makes regulation more effective, because with every rule there is a reason, because orders cease to be mere policeman-with-club mandates and become directions, more effective because understandably right—not only does this intelligence make powerfully for effective regulation, but, in proportion as it becomes general with managers and public, it removes in large measure the necessity for regulation, removes that ignorance of mutual obligations out of which arise many of the abuses and complaints calling for the exercise of regulation...
...Meyer was and is a teacher— a teacher not a pedagogue...
...Hence, Meyer's devotion of his time and energies, without compensation or reward of any kind, to the teaching of both corporation managers and the public, in their rights and obligations toward each other, and that their obligations as well as their rights are mutual...
...It is a difficult one— difficult enough to enlist the keenest interest and best efforts of men like Meyer, but not too difficult for men like Meyer to attempt and to solve, as they will eventually, through the medium of governmental regulation applied with intelligence, efficiency and justice...
...For recreation he drives with his family, frolics with the children, or plays his violin...
...A Product of Wisconsin BALTHASAR HENRY MEYER is a product of Wisconsin...
Vol. 3 • January 1911 • No. 1
