It is a fact—rapidly coming to be recognized by legislative and judicial bodies—that the prescription and regulation of tolls, charges, and assessments against public corporations cannot be made systematic and intelligent unless there is provided some estimate of the value of the property involved, based on the cost of its replacement or reproduction. Particularly is this true of railroads; and such regulation of the affairs of these corporations as has heretofore been essayed by State and National commissions, has generally been on illogical bases, unsatisfactory alike to the proponents and the companies. Results have been had, it is true, after a fashion, but there have been endless disputes and litigation, with the prime questions involved no nearer solution than before. One has but to contemplate the varied and often antagonistic legislation promulgated by the several States, relating to corporation management, and the many rulings and decisions of the different courts and commissions on the subject of regulation, assessment, and adjudication of corporate rates, revenues, taxes, and tolls, to become convinced of the complicated and tangled condition of the situation, and to realize the necessity for the early establishment of some logical basis on which to establish the fabric of corporate control. While it is not maintained that an appraisement of the physical property of public service corporations will be the panacea for all such ills, the writer firmly believes with the author that such appraisal, as a beginning, is absolutely necessary, and when effected on some fair and reasonable basis, will contribute largely to the successful solution of many of these intricate problems. With the estimate of the physical value of a property before it—which represents money actually invested, together with such accruals to costs as it may be determined that the owner is reasonably entitled to have considered—any Court, tribunal, or commission is in a better position to mete out impartial justice, whether it be the regulation of a rate, the assessment of a tax, or the imposition of a fine.