People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1897-03-05

six months before rendering his Opin
ion. About ten days before the decis
ion came we learned that New Yorl
firm had bought out the street-railwa,
company. When the decision wa
handed down, it was in their favor
What reason the New York capitalist
5 had for thinking the stock of compa
: void by the circuit court was safe in
5 vestment will possibly never be pub
| licly known.
CORPORATION METHODS.
con the fling of the opinion of the
Court of Appeals the new owners be
gan to make. overtures for peace on the
basis of thirty-year franchise and
five-cent fares, but in the mean time
another factor had entered into the
; problem. On the goth of November,
) 1894, Messrs. Pack & Everett, of Cleve.
land, made application to the Common
Council for a franchise to operate street
cars on streets not as rule, used by
the old company, and agreed to equip
sheir system with modern appliances
and sell eight tickets for quarter, to
be good from quarter before six in the
morning until eight o'clock at night.
When the ordinance granting this fran
chise was pending before the Council,
the ew managers of the old company
exhibited the same short-sightednes as
mad their predecessors. They not only
refused to reduce fares themselves
publicly admitting that to do so would
have bad effect upon their street-car
properties in other cities-but violent
ly opposed the granting of a franchise
to the Packet Everett syndicate. Their
obstructive policy, however, went for
naught, and the ordinance was adopt
ed. The old company then announced
its intention to contest in the courts
the right of the new company to oper-
ate the lines, and applied for an in
junction in that behalf. In this fight
before the courts, however, the old
company failed, and the citizens of
Detroit have now access to a street-car
system extending to nearly all parts
IF the city, with the fare during work
ing hours practically three cents, and
with universal transfers. During the
last campaign there was, indeed, a
practical consolidation of the new com,
pany with the old, but the com bination
is bound to operate the franchise of the
new company upon the terms laid down
in the charter. Mr.. Everett, of the
new company, was opposed to entering
the com bination. He told me when his
company started that they would be
satisfied if they made money in year
and half, and afterward admitted
that they had made money almost
from the start His company at one
time proposed to the Council to oper-
ate all the street-railway lines in the
city at the rate of two and one-half
| cents per passenger, and pay the in
7 Jsrest upon tlo purchase Price of the
street-car tracks if these tracks were
condemned by the authority of the leg
islature and the purchase price decided
by arbitrators. The fight has not
ended, and may not end until the fran
chise of the old company expires. Fort
unately, the Michigan legislature was
long ago wise enough to provide against
perpetual franchises. All franchises
in this State are for thirty years."
BRINGING GAS DOWN.
In reducing the price of gas from
$3.50, Mr.. Pingree proved by statistics
that gas could be proftably furnished
at ST., and although failing to secure
from the legislature the right of the
city to regulate the rates, he says that
the old company accepted a new fran
chise to furnish gas at 81. The munich
lished has reduced the cost of lighting
the streets from $11.15 to 1920 per arc
lamp. The waterworks have been
owned by the city since 1852, and mo
one dreams of such a thing as return
to private. ownership" according to
Mr. Pingree. He is in favor of genera.
taxation to furnish free water as well
as free schools. parks, etc. He believes
in strict compliance with civil service
reform principles to secure efficient
admins tration And from his expert
ence he concludes:
THE time is coming when municipal
monopolies will De owned by the peo-
Pile Detroit during my administration
voted by a majority of four to one in
favor of pubic ownership of street-car
tracks. If the tracks were owned by
the public, it would be easy to get the
service performed at competitive and
reasonable prices. We must not, how
ever, wait for public ownership before
putting an end to the extortion now
practiced by private monopolies. We
must, under the present system, com
pei the corporations exercising public
franchises to furnish their services at
the reasonable rates contemplated in
their charters. This can be done where
ever the city government is intent upon
accomplishing it, and the city govern
ment will be intent upon accomplish
ing it whenever the citizens wake up
to the extent of the cxtortions now
practiced upon them. Literary Di
gest.
If you can't legislate man rich or
poor why do the corporations want
legislation in their interests? Legisla-
ton has much to do with the prosperi-
ty of the people.-Truth.
The Peoples Party Paper of Atlanta,
Ga, comes to us this week changed to
large column folio with an entirely
new dress. This is about the ablest
Populist paper in the nation. Every
true Populist who can, should sub
scribe for it and read the able editori-
ais of Thos. e. Watson.-Cle burne
TEX Herald