Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1862-02-06
THE DAILY PRESS.
Tho Per Capita QuestlOu in COuaon.
PUBLIBHED DA
PuBIIsHED DAILY, HxoEPr SUNDAYS, BH
THE CINCINNATI PRESS COMPANY.

Tho Per Capita Question in CounoiI.
The following memorial from the Direct
ors of the Passenger and City Passenger
Street Railroad Companies was presented TO
Council last evening, and referred to the
Committee on Public Improvements.
twill be seen that the memorial sets forth
the condition Of these roads, and states their
utter inability to comply with those portions
of the contract with the city which requires
them to pay the ''per capita" tax and to
bowlder new streets. The Directors ask to
have the contract modified in this respect,
and request Council to appoint committee
to make a thorough investigation of their
books and accounts, and report to Council.
These roads are now managed by some of
our best citizens, and their memorial should
receive that careful consideration which it
deserves. The Directors state that the taxes
which are imposed by the contract, in the
per capita tax, car license, bowldering of
new streets and keeping in repair streets al
ie,dy bowldered, amounts to thirty-nine per
cent. Of the gross receipts, and that if the
city should exact the per capita, they will be
forced into bankruptcy and their cars stopped,
There is no alternative. They can not pay
current running expenses and the taxes too:
To he Honorable City Council Of Cincinnati:
GENTLEMEN: The undersigned, Directors
of the City Passenger Railroad Company and
OF the Passenger Railroad Company of Gin
ciDnati, beg leave respectfully to represent
to your Honorable Body that they ACCENTED
the management of the roads of the above
companies upon the 9th of July last: that
they have since endeavored to manage them
prudently and economically; that they have
in good faith complied with all the condi .
tions of the city ordinance, and their con-
tract under it, so far as they could from the
earnings of the roads. The Board of Citv
Improvements will, we think, bear witness
that we have promptly and thoroughly re-
paired and kept in repair all the streets
through which our roads pass, up to the close
of the working season, and the books of the
May ors office will show that we have regu.
larIy paid the tax of $50 for every car run
upon both roads. But we have found it
impossible to comply with that part of our
contract which requires the payment to the
city Of one cent for every passenger carried.
II amounts in itself to very much more than
the whole net earnings of the roads, IF the
roads were owned by the city, and run solely
with view to tue payment of the per-capita
tax it could not be earned. No street rail-
road in the United States has ever been able
10 show clear net earning of twenty. three
per cent, to which this tax alone amounts.
Should your Honorable Body exact com.
pliance with this part of our contract, YOU.
by sodoing, bankrupt the present companies.
No prudence or economy in management,
nor the return of prosperous times, could save
hn1,a ,l..k.
SOILS could now be found willing to invest
capital in a business weighed down with
such an intolerable load of taxation, and the
profits of which, it is now apparent, have
been go much over estimated We believe
also that 'heso roads have proved a public
benefit in those quarters of the city accom-
modsted by them. And we are utterly at a
loss 10 see in what way the city or the pub {.
lie are to be benefited by their destruction,
We also beg leave to call your attention to
the injustice OF the clause requiring us to
bowlder streets which have never been bowl
dered. 1t seems to as equally reasonable to
require the railroad companies to pay prop
erty owners tor paVements made by them
before the construction of the roads.
From these two conditions-the per capita
tex and the new bowldering of streets-we
respectfully ask to be relieved.
release from them would enable US in
good faith to comply with the other condi.
tons of the contract; without it, the prOp-
erty of the companies must inevitably be
sacrificed, and therunning of the cars thereby
stopped, whenever the city exscts the
amount due her. The necessity of the re-
lief to the existence of the companies will,
we are sure, be apparent to any business
man, when we state that the total amount
of expenditure forced upon these roads by
their contracts and city ordinance, from the
commencement of operations to January /,
1862 amounts to over thirty mine per cent,
of the gross receipts Relieved of the per
capita and the new bowldering, we would be
still the most heavily taxed street railroads
in the country. ~ .
In st. Louis, where the street railroads
commenced operations under law which in
cluded per capita tax of one-half cent per
passenger carried, and which was in other
respects very similar to our own, and when
the business was always more profitable
than here, the city, after ten months trial,
found it necessary to the existence of the
roads to grant them relief, and they are now
only required to keep in repair the streets
within and two feet without the rails, and
pay license of twenty five dollars for every
car regularly run.
In order that Council may be entirely sat.
isfied of the correctness of our statement
that IL Is lmpo5slDle IOr tne companies we
represent to comply with their contract as il
is-the undersigned invite a full examin-
alton of the receipts and expenditures of the
roads by a committee appointed by your
honorable body, or in any other way you may
see fit. And they appeal to Council to aet
in this matter in that spirit of equity auC
liberality which will conserve alike the in
terests of the public, the city, and your pc
titioners.
A. D. Bullock, ]. NJ. Doherty,
Jos. Terrence, s. W. Ely,
Morris Drum, Robert Brown,
N HaadinOtOn