USA > Ohio > Ohio legislative history, 1913-1917 > Part 29
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Mr. Riddle married Miss Estella Conklin October 17, 1900. They have a son.
Mr. Riddle had three years' cadet training at Ohio State University and was four years in the Ohio National Guard.
HARRY JAMES MADDY
was born in Gallipolis, Ohio. His father, Edwin F. Maddy was born at the same place. The mother's maiden name was Mary Bayes.
The son was educated in the public schools of Gallipolis, Ohio, and Cincinnati, Ohio.
He has been clerk and purses of Ohio River steamboats, bookkeeper for various firms, auditor of city of Gallipolis, treasurer of the Com- mercial Bank, Gallipolis, O., chief clerk of the Ohio Board of Adminis- tration and promoted to position of Fiscal Supervisor-Secretary Octo- ber 1, 1917.
Mr. Maddy married Miss Syd Campbell of Charleston, W. Va., October 10, 1914. They have a daughter Ruth, born March 5, 1916.
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OHIO LEGISLATIVE HISTORY.
HON. THOMAS E. DAVEY
One of the most valued public servants known to the people of Ohio in recent years, Hon. Thomas E. Davey, died February 20th, 1918. He was ever earnest and faithful in the discharge of his duties and he leaves behind him the reputation of a thoroughly honest man. Thomas Elliott Davey was a native of Hamil- ton, Ontario, Canada, where he was born in 1856. His father, Thomas H. Davey, was a native of England. Mr. Davey was appointed a member of the original Ohio Board of Ad- ministration by Governor Harmon in 19II, and continued by reappoint- ment a member until his death. In 1881 Mr. Davey was joined in mar- riage with Miss Ada R. Holland, of Youngstown, Ohio, and is survived by the widow and three children, Thomas E., George S. and Mabel (Mrs. Edward McEwen).
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OHIO LEGISLATIVE HISTORY.
FRANK B. O'BLENESS
was born at Athens, Ohio, October 28, 1881. He was educated in the Columbus schools, graduating from East High School in 1900. He was married December 24, 1902, to Miss Josephine Lang of Columbus and they have two sons, Neil, aged 13, and Ralph, aged 7.
Mr. O'Bleness was engaged in news- paper work for 12 years, beginning as a "cub" on the Columbus Citizen in 1900. In 1905 he was appointed secretary to O. B. Gould, Warden of the Ohio penitentiary, but resigned after a year's service at the prison to re-enter newspaper work, later going to Fort Smith, Arkansas, as managing editor of the Southwest American, a paper founded by William Decker, former Ohio State senator from Paulding County.
He returned to Ohio and located in Toledo, working on the Toledo Blade and subsequently joined the staff of the Associated Press. He was manager of the Associated Press bureaus in Toledo, Cleveland and Columbus, establishing the Columbus bureau in May, 1911. He resigned from the service of the Associated Press in December, 1912, and in June, 1913, again became secretary at the Ohio penitentiary, holding that position until March 1, 1918, when he was promoted and transferred to the Ohio Board of Administration as Executive Clerk.
As police, court and penitentiary reporter Mr. O'Bleness became interested in institutional work and especially that branch dealing with penal institutions, to the study of which he has added more than five years' practical experience.
INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION OF OHIO
MR. J. D. CLARK, Dayton.
MR. T. J. DUFFY, Columbiana County. MR. ROBERT S. HAYES, Secretary.
MR. H. L. ELLIOT, Delaware County.
THE OHIO INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION.
Ohio may be considered one of the pioneer states in workmen's compensation legislation. On May 17, 1910, an act was passed by the general assembly providing for the appointment of a commission to inquire into the question of employers' liability and other kindred mat- ters, and make report of its work and findings to the general assem- bly at the opening of its next regular session and to include therein its recommendations for legislation providing for the speedy remedy for employes for injuries received in the course of employment. The commission was officially known as "The Employers' Liability Commis- sion". It made a report to the general assembly at its regular session in 19II and submitted a bill for enactment.
The first workmen's compensation law was passed on May 30, 19II. It provided for the creation and maintenance of a state insurance fund for the benefit of injured and the dependents of killed employes, such fund to be maintained by contributions from both employers and em- ployes, the former contributing ninety per cent and the latter ten per cent of the total amount. The act was put into operation March I, 1912. It was administered by a board of three members appointed by the Governor for definite periods, known as the "State Liability Board of Awards". This first board consisted of Wallace D. Yaple, of Chillicothe, chairman, T. J. Duffy, of East Liverpool, and Morris Woodhull, of Dayton.
The actual experience under the act of 1911, as administered by the State Liability Board of Awards, covered the period from March I, 1912, to December 31, 1913, during which period 3,937 employers employing 257,805 employes elected to operate under its provisions, paying into the state insurance fund a total of $1,093,637.50. During the same period 16,632 claims for injury and death of employes were filed with the board.
On September 3, 1912, a constitutional amendment was adopted authorizing the enactment of a law establishing a state fund to be created by compulsory contributions thereto by employers and adminis- tered by the state. Governor James M. Cox, in his message to the gen- eral assembly, strongly advocated the enactment of a compulsory law. The general assembly responded to his suggestion and on February 26, 1913, passed an act, which, with succeeding amendments, constitutes the present compulsory workmen's compensation law in Ohio.
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OHIO LEGISLATIVE HISTORY.
Subsequent to the enactment of the law, an ineffectual attempt was made to submit it to the electors of the state under the referendum pro- visions of the state constitution. The petition filed with the Secretary of State to secure the referendum was found to be permeated with fraud as to be in effect no petition, and that official refused to certify the act for the vote of the people at the election held in November, 1913, and his action was sustained by the Supreme Court.
In March, 1913, an act was passed creating the Industrial Com- mission of Ohio, which superseded the State Liability Board of Awards in its administration of the workmen's compensation act.
The membership of the Industrial Commission at that time was made up of Wallace D. Yaple, Chairman, T. J. Duffy and M. B. Hammond. Its activities were greatly enlarged so as to include the administration of all inspection laws of the state and the enforcement of the laws for the safety of persons, female and child labor laws, film censorship, etc.
The Industrial Commission now has under its direct supervision the administration of workmen's compensation, inspection of boilers, examining of steam engineers, inspection of workshops, factories and public buildings, inspection of mines, mediation of labor disputes, col- lections of labor statistics, collection of industrial statistics and the cen- sorshp of films.
The present Industrial Commission of Ohio is composed of T. J. Duffy, Chairman, J. D. Clark and H. L. Elliot. Robert F. Hayes is Secretary of the Commission.
The premium income of the Ohio state insurance plan for the single year of 1917 exceeded $9,000,000.00, it being now by far the largest carrier of workmen's compensation insurance in the United States.
The Commission during its existence has paid out approximately $13,000,000.00 in compensation to injured and killed workmen. Up to January, 1918, 471,091 claims had been filed and passed upon. Some- thing over 22,000 employers now have coverage under the state fund, protecting 1,500,000 workmen.
The Industrial Commission employs approximately 400 people and the cost expense of administering the work is four and one-half per cent of the premium receipts, - the lowest in the United States.
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OHIO LEGISLATIVE HISTORY.
HON. WALLACE D. YAPLE
That "Death loves a shining mark" is a truism in the lives of pub- lic men in Ohio of recent years, and there have been many notable deaths of men distinguished in the service of the State. Hon. Wallace D. Yaple was one of the best known among those who have passed out of this life, but he left a fragrant memory which will permanently endure with all who knew him. "Mayor" Yaple, as he was most familiarly called by his friends, was richly endowed with the qualities which secure and hold friends in public life, but greater than these were the numberless cases of rendered aid to those who were less fortunate than himself. Mr. Yaple was appointed by Governor Harmon a member of the original "Board of Awards" in 1911, continuing through the changes in the board until appointed by Governor Cox to succeed himself as a member of the "Industrial Commission." The death of Mr. Yaple early in 1917 was deeply deplored by all his associates in public life and by all who knew him.
A more complete biography of "Mayor" Yaple can be found on pages 229-230, Vol. I, of this work.
PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF OHIO
MR. B. M. CLENDENING, Hamilton County.
MR. C. C. MARSHALL, Chairman, Shelby County. MR. H. L. GOODBREAD, Secretary, Wyandot County.
MR. B. W. WALTERMIRE, Hancock County.
THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION.
The scriptural span of three score and ten years has not elapsed, and yet the period has been sufficient to tell the story of the regula- tion of common servants by the commonwealth. While it cannot be stated positively, yet it is fair to infer that when the actual operations of railroads began the people found that they had merely added to their ordinary life a creature too large to respond to the established peace officers. Naturally the thought was to create a sort of Super- Policeman who would control the railroads. In 1867, after the war had definitely classified the railroad as the great carrier, Ohio created the position of Commissioner of Railroads and Telegraphs. Under his authority were placed the railroads and their two contemporaries, the telegraph lines and express companies. His duties, as has been sug- gested, consisted of the administration of the special police regulations found necessary to govern the railroads in lieu of the old rules of the road which had answered when all commerce upon land was moved by the carters.
In the early nineties this official's time was almost wholly con- sumed in requiring the carriers to adopt safety devices, found neces- sary by the increase in size and power of equipment. This activity, it is interesting to note, is still pursued, but has been delegated to a sub- department of the present commission.
The Interstate Commerce Act, passed in the eighties, had been welded into a working mechanism by the dawn of the new century, and the directors of Ohio's industry were finding a need for a similar power in the state. It is now history and will hurt no one to say that the possibilities for favoritism and other abuses had been fully de- veloped by those in charge of the carriers and it is only another evidence of the inherent vitality of America's industrial development, that it emerged, full strength, from the period of secret rebates, discriminative car distribution, etc., which was such an open scandal.
August 1, 1906, the Railroad Commission of Ohio came into existence. While many reasons are assigned for this addition to the governmental agencies, it is interesting to note, that the demand for such a commission was precipitated by the action of the Commissioner of Railroads and Telegraphs in refusing to hear and determine, upon the evidence, a service complaint from Cincinnati. The Attorney Gen- eral, to whom the matter was referred, now seems to have also suf-
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fered from the old idea that private interests were sacred, and in an opinion, held that the right of the Commissioner to summon witnesses was limited to that of a justice of the peace.
The new commission's time and efforts were monopolized by the hearing and determination of complaints relating to the rates, service and facilities of railroads - steam and electric. Governor Harris, having the privilege of naming the members of the new commission, ap- pointed O. H. Hughes, J. C. Morris and O. P. Gothlin. Mr. Morris was succeeded under Governor Harmon by J. C. Sullivan. The duties of the Commissioner of Railroads and Telegraphs were imposed upon the Railroad Commission, and the statute creating the department ex- plicitly provided that one member should be a practical railroad man.
Flaws in the act were developed by the experience of the Commis- sion and omissions noted. The people had not been slow to note the advantages accruing from the regulation of the carriers and the thought was growing that the same good would come from a control of the utilities. The telephone problem had become particularly acute. In- vestors had discovered a new economic law ; competition was passing, and in its place was being reared the strange thought that "the most efficient service must be rendered for a reasonable rate." The original construction of a number of telephone plants was ready for renewal and the owners were unwilling to send good money after bad. The whole matter was decided when the Assembly created The Public Serv- ice Commission of Ohio, with practically the same powers over utilities as had been exercised over carriers. Messrs. Hughes, Gothlin and Sul- livan were retained by Governor Harmon. Among other things pro- vided by the new law, competing telephone plants could, with the con- sent of the commission, be merged after and as the Commission had fixed the rates to be charged by the single company. The time of the Commission has been occupied by many such mergers and the improve- ment of service and stability of rates may be counted a heavy factor in the development of the thriving communities where duplicate tele- phone development has been abandoned.
At this time the popular thought has been largely devoted to the abuses of the stock market, and Ohio undertook the regulation of the issue of securities by the railroads and utilities. Naturally a larger part of the work submitted to the commission still consists of these ap- plications for authority to issue securities. The Commission at once recognized the fact that in these premises there was only one practical procedure, and has, from the first, allowed the issue of securities only upon the proof of actual expenditures or the exhibition of estimates which the commission's engineers determine to be reasonable. The
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companies are held to strict account and must submit sworn reports of the expenditure of the proceeds of their securities. These reports are checked as rapidly as possible.
The Assembly had recognized the fact that there is a fundamental difference between carriers and utilities, and had provided that the commission should determine the rates of utilities, having in mind a fair allowance for the use of the company's property. The layman will readily recognize the fact that for practical purposes a utility must be wholly constructed to provide him service, while the use he makes of a carrier seldom calls for more than an infinitesimal part of its in- vestment. Further the state had for years been proceeding on the theory that utility rates should be fixed by the nearest governmental agency and inaccuracies corrected by the courts. It became, therefore, necessary to provide a new machinery for the construction of utility rates. Municipalities had long exercised their function and the proce- dure of the commission must be so clear conviction would carry at every point. The Public Service Commission Act provided that the value of the utility's property should be determined.
How to determine this value now became the uppermost question. In 1913 the Public Utilities Commission Act was passed with a specific procedure defined. Of the three members appointed, O. H. Hughes, E. W. Doty and W. L. Dechant, the latter, publicly known as one of the framers of the new act, died before he could assume his office, and Governor Cox promoted Mr. C. C. Marshall, who had been serving as attorney for the commission, to fill the vacancy.
Progress in the scheme of regulation now became marked. Upon the inauguration of Governor Willis, Mr. Beecher W. Waltermire suc- ceeded Mr. Doty, and at intervals, the vacancies caused by the resigna- tions of Messrs. Hughes and Marshall, were filled by the appointment of L. M. Day and L. K. Langdon. Mr. Langdon was the second at- torney for the Commission to be promoted to a commissionership. The decisions of the commission were emitted in a steady flow and were eagerly accepted throughout the country as the latest word.
With the return of Governor Cox, Mr. Day resigned and was succeeded by Judge Hughes. Mr. Langdon's term expired and Mr. Marshall was induced to return to the office. Mr. Byron M. Clen- dening now serves in the position made vacant by the death of Judge Hughes. Mr. Radcliffe, of Lancaster, who served as Secretary of the Commission throughout the administrations of Governor Harmon and the first term of Governor Cox, is the present attorney. Mr. Harry L. Goodbread, of Nevada, whom many have known during his service in the General Assembly and as an executive in the Insurance Depart-
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OHIO LEGISLATIVE HISTORY.
ment is the present secretary. The department is manned by a corps of technical experts, the services of whom run from nineteen years down to the last appointment of yesterday. Long before the adoption of civil service by the State, this department determined upon the course of retaining the competent worker, and the result is evidenced by the steady progress of the work despite frequent resignations, death and reorganization.
While the decisions of the commission are always interesting and vital, two pronouncements by the department as now constituted, and since the inauguration of Governor Cox's second term, are monumental. Each marks a distinct stage in the field and will, in the future, reflect credit to the executive who found the men who could so completely administer this department.
The first was the decision of the Commission in the case of the Village of Oberlin, where the Commission held that a public utility must furnish its service pursuant alone to the provisions of its pub- lished schedule. Secondarily this decision, if upheld by the Supreme Court to which it has been appealed, will finally determine the right of the Commission to compel a natural gas company to conserve its available supply of fuel for the household consumers. The commis- sion has long contended for this right upon humanitarian grounds, but now claims to exercise it as a legal right. This decision will do more than anything else to clear away the red tape and tedious delays in- cident to a new patron securing service. "The utility holds itself out to furnish the public, and the public is ready to receive service" is a succinct way of putting it, and marks the passing of the tedious preparation, signing and sealing of contracts, full of sleepers and double entende.
The last decision of the Commission, announced March 1, 1918, is so revolutionary that its content is hardly yet clearly understood by the public. Primarily the commission professes to change public utilities from the class of speculative ventures and reclassify them as positive investments. In the appeal of the Cincinnati Gas Com- panies, now pending, counsel of the city called upon the commission to announce in advance the bases it would follow in determining the value of the companies' property. In passing upon this request the commission took occasion to announce its views and the procedure it would follow in fixing both the value of the property and the rate. The commission proposes to establish the value of the company's prop- erty by the most scientific method possible, and this value once fixed to be permanent, subject to future additions and deductions. The company would have no recourse but to adjust both its books and
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OHIO LEGISLATIVE HISTORY.
capitalization - since the stock in the ordinary enterprise is issued to represent the speculative possibilities of the project, and the commis- sion proposes to eliminate all speculation in this field, upon this value, the commission proposes that a proper return shall be allowed as a fixed charge, along with taxes, etc. Jurisdiction is to be retained of the rate, with periodical reports, so that the Commission may, if the law permits, make revisions in the rate at proper intervals to meet increases or reductions in operating costs, the only factor which the commission cannot definitely determine in advance. Of the commis- sion's multitudinous activities nothing has been said - the people of the State generally know that its Railroad Department has been the main stay of both the Fuel Administrator and the Food Director throughout the dark days since the World War began. It seems that every user of the railroads and utilities will at some time have recourse to the Bureau of Rates and Service, whose title is sufficiently explana- tory. In this department thousands of matters are handled each year, covering every place of failure by the utilities and carriers to render adequate service at satisfactory rates.
The appraisal division has appraised over fifty million dollars of property, and this means that every item has both been listed and per- sonally inspected. And the end is not yet.
HON. CHARLES C. MARSHALL
The Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio is spe- cially well equipped for the important duties of his high position, and for one so comparatively young in years he enjoys a brilliant legal reputation. Mr. Marshall had several years' experience as associate counsel in the department of Attorney General and was assigned by Gen. Hogan as chief special counsel to the Public Utilities Commission before he became a member of that body by appointment of Governor Cox. Mr. Marshall resigned the position at the end of Governor Cox's term in 1915, and upon the Governor's accession to office again in 1917 he was again appointed a member of the commission and elected Chairman.
A more extended biography of Mr. Marshall may be found on page 203, Vol. I, of this work.
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OHIO LEGISLATIVE HISTORY.
HON. BYRON M. CLENDENING
The latest appointee as a member of the Ohio Utilities Commission is Mr. ClenDening and he was formerly a member of the State Liquor Licensing Board. Mr. ClenDening is well known in Democratic politi- cal circles and he is recognized as a party leader of importance.
Byron M. ClenDening was born at Rockford, Mercer County, Ohio, May 16, 1859, the son of John A. ClenDening and Theresa (McDonald) ClenDening. He received his education in the public schools at Celina, Ohio, and taught in the country schools of Mercer County for five years.
He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1881, was elected Prose- cuting Attorney of Mercer County in 1884 and re-elected in 1887. He was elected by the Democrats a member of the Ohio House of Repre- sentatives in 1893 and re-elected in 1895. Removed to Cincinnati in 1897 and engaged in the practice of law, where he soon became a strong factor in Hamilton County politics, and he was chosen President of the famous Duckworth (Democratic) Club in 1911-1913. In 1913 Governor Cox appointed Mr. ClenDening a member of the Ohio Liquor Licensing Board, which position he resigned in 1917 to accept appointment on the Utilities Commission, to which he was appointed by Governor Cox.
HON. HARRY LEITH GOODBREAD
The secretary of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio is a gentle- man well known in legislative and political circles and he bears the reputation of being a most capable and popular official. Harry L. Good- bread is a native of Wyandot County, Ohio, where he was born October 3, 1873. His paternal great grandfather was one of the survivors of the expedition of Napoleon against Moscow, and his maternal great grandfather was probably the first white male child born in Ohio terri- tory.
Mr. Goodbread received his education in the public schools and Wittenberg College, Springfield, Ohio, and he attended the University of Michigan, graduating therefrom with the degree of LL. B. He was admitted to the bar in the year 1900.
Mr. Goodbread was elected by the Democrats to represent Wyandot County in the 78th and 79th General Assemblies serving the latter term as chairman of the House Finance Committee, where he had the great honor to present the general appropriation bill carrying over $19,000,000 and which was adopted without amendment. Mr. Goodbread is married and has a daughter.
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OHIO LEGISLATIVE HISTORY.
GEN. O. H. HUGHES
In the death of Gen. O. H. Hughes, which untimely event oc- curred October 28, 1917, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio lost a most distinguished and useful mem- ber, and the people of Ohio will ever remember his valuable services to the State. Gen. Hughes was a resi- dent of Highland County, Ohio, where the people had repeatedly hon- ored him and he served two or more terms as Probate Judge of the county. In 1907 Judge Hughes was chosen by the lamented Governor Pattison for the high post of Adjutant Gen- eral, but the Governor's death shortly afterward naturally brought about the resignation of his Adjutant Gen- eral. Gen. Hughes was appointed a member of the "Public Service Commission" of Ohio by Governor Har- ris, and this commission being changed to the "Public Utilities Com- mission," Governor Cox again appointed General Hughes a member of the commission, where he served with distinguished ability until his death.
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