Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-02-03

or the expense may be assessed upon the
| company.
Section 10 provides for giving sufficient
notice of assessments under the previ
Gus two sections. Assessments are to be
collected like local taxes.
Section 20 allows the capital stock tC
be increased by the amount of better
ment assessments.
Section 81 The board of aldermen Of
a city or the selectmen Of town II
which a street railway is located may
apply to the board of railroad commits
sioners, who, after due notice to the
parties interested and hearing, may
revise and regulate the fares estab
lished by said company; but such fares
shall not, without the consent of thu
company, be reduced below the average
rate of fare charged for similar service
by other street railway companies.
The second bill, providing for munici
pal ownership of tracks, opens as fol
lows:
Section /. Any city or town may
| construct street railway tracks in any
public way within the limits of such city
or town, or Put down such tracks as
part of the street pavement thereof
whenever they NAV adjudge public con-
Venience requires. Such tracks shall be
maintained and kept in repair like Other
portions of the streets or ways in which
they are laid, and any street railway
company may run cars over the same
with the consent Of the proper authori-
ties of such city or town, and upon such
terms and regulations as may be mu-
tually agreed but nothing contained in
this act shall be held to authorize towns
! or cities to run cars upon such tracks or
otherwise to operate street railways
Section says that any municipality
may take the tracks and fixtures To-
Gated IN a street which constitute part
of the surface or substructure of such
street, when owned by any street rail-
way company, upon six months written
notice, but such taking shall not be a
revocation of any part of the location
or affect the obligation or right of the
company to run cars over the tracks so
| taken.
Section provides for compromising
the company for the property so taken,
but the compensation 'tshallanot exceed
Pin amount the actual value of the prop
erty as measured by the estimated cost
Of replacing the same in its condition
at the time Of the transfer of posses
sion.''
Section 4 provides that after the TAX
ing of tracks by municipality the
company shall have the right and OBJ
legation to run cars over the tracks as
provided in their franchise, but it must
pay also for maintenance OF the tracks
a sum to be fixed by mutual agreement
for periods of not more than seven
years while the franchise continues, If
the parties cannot agree, provision is
made for referees, their decision to
hold for seven years, unless the location
is revoked.
The report of the committee review
ing its action and presenting the rea-
sons for reaching the recommendations,
mentions, in opening, the great breadth
of the subject and the great difficulty
in gathering exact information.
There exists ALSO they say, "a vast
and varied amount of popular misin-
formation as to results alleged to have
been reached elsewhere, more especially
in certain European cities"
Two members Of the committee
Messrs. Grape and Hayes-made investi-
cations in this country and Canada,
while Mr.. Adams, the chairman, investi-
gated European conditions. In Europe
statistics are even less perfect than in
America, and no comprehensive report
or official publication, exists"
The report then speaks of the situa-
ton in different places in Europe. Prl-
waite ownership is most common In
America. The second system is that to
which Germany now inclines. In Great
Britain there is a strong tendency to-
ward munieipalization.
OF the system in Massachusetts it is
said: 'As a working machinery for the
daily accommodation of vast numbers
of persons, the street railways of the
commonwealth fulfill their function
quite as well, with az little friction and
at as reasonable a cost as any other
similar machinery elsewhere which the
committee has has an opportunity to
study"
Speaking of franchises of railway corr
porations in Massachusetts, the report
says that they have always been and
almost invaria bly, are, in terms perpet-
ual, but really legally revocable at the
discretion of local boards
In this respect they are anomalous.
for the general practice, here and in
Europe, is to grant concessions to pri-
vate companies for only limited periods.
In Europe these contracts are carefully
guarded, but in Mass chusetts they have
been drawn in general terms, with few
technicalities, reservations and safe
guards
Such franchise is utterly illogical in
theory, but it has worked we'll for half
a century.
The committee questions the wisdom
of disturbing methods which work well
in practice, even IL they are illogical.
Furthermore, in Europe the fixed period
operates as a check on enterprise.
In the American cities visited by the
committee the term franchise has been
productive of dissension, poor service,
scandal and unhealthy political action.
NATURALIZATION is said TO be yet in
the experimental stage. The tendency
toward 1t in Great Britain is pro
nounced. and it is in practical operation
in Glasgow, Leeds and many other
places @.Lsst
aAt the present time the ,mpnicipaliz-
alton Of the street railways is not ac-
cepted as by any means indisputably
desirable in Great Britain, while in
Germany it is regarded unfayorably."
The disfavor in Germany is said to
be due to the fact that large number
of employees of the public tends to in
crease officialism. For this state the
report says:
1.-The system of taxation of corporate
franchises in use in Massachusetts is
well defined, and, in general. works sat
isfactorily All corporations, including
street railway corporations, pay to the
state their proportionate snare of the
general taxes, according to the market
value of their capital stock. which is
perhaps the best index of their ability
to contribute.
LAS, under the terms of the proposed
| act, cities and towns assume the com
| plete control Of their streets it was inn
portant to ascertain in what way they
would be affected financially In order
to find this out so roads, which in 1895
had been in operation more than year.
were taken and the corporation taxes
of 1896 distributed as suggested, and the
Communication tax also determined and
distributed
| Then follows table OF the cities and
towns that would show an increase of
more than $500 over the amount received
tj1a l,rasept ,,fara than,