The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-09-02
Special to The Journal.

Special to The Journal.
=. Seattle, Sept. 1.-THE big riots in
TOXIC, Japan, several weeks ago, caused
by the raising of street car fares are
fully explained in the --latest Yokohama
papers to arrive in Seattle. The affair
contains some features that will be lead
by municipal and government owner
ship advocates with interest.
During the Russian japanese wnr the
Japanese government placed a tax of
one sen, equal to half a cent, On all
street car fares. This necessitatcl the
companies, all owned by private cor
porations, to raise thel" rates from
three sen to four sen. The government
sanctioned this and it was checrfully
accepted by the people us Il war meas
ure.
About three mouths ago the Toxic
city council placed another earning tax
to- take the place IF the var measure
which had been stopped ut the close of
the war, upon the two electric street
car companies of that city. This was
upon percentage basis.
War Rate Proposed Again.
Soon after that the two companies
announced that they interdel to con-
solidated. With over two hundred miles
Of lines, hundreds of cars, the entire
equipment the finest anl most up-1o-
date, furnishing transportation to over
in the suburbs for ten 10 fifteen miles
around, the new company would ne
! most important corporation ana it was
believed that a saving il operating ex
penses would be made.
But like thunder clap 81 the people
came the petition of the new company
to the minister of the interior asking
I to be allowed to raise its rate Of fare
from three to four sen, the Old war
rate The sen is a big item with most
people in Toxic where d fnmi!y can
live for from 20 to Is sen {: cay Fab
lie feeling was greatly aroused. in'}ig-
nation meetings were leld all over the
city, the newspapers took up the matter
and it was discussed oy impression
speeches in every household md fac.
| tory, on the streets and in the ears.
Riot Follows Minister'S Act.
When the minister Of the interior
flew in the face of the popular tiisap-
prevail and sanctioned the new fare,
the mobs that assailed the cars, tule
up the tracks, burned the ears, stoned
the officials and demo!ishe the power
house stations, was so great that it
required an army division to auell the
riot. But it did not end there. The
riots began again The next :lay and for
week and up to the time that last
mails were sent from Yokohama to the
United States, the ears had not been
able to run. -,
The Toxic newspapers all published
by Japanese have been dealing extern
sively with the situation, and one of
new company found after making a
study of the matter, that they could
not make over per cent dividends and
pay the, city's percentage. So accord
ingly they asked for permission to raise
fares sen, and make their dividend
8 per cent. ,,
| All this would seem to indicate tina.
corpora tons had things about their own
way in Toxic and that the government
turn on money invested. But there is
something behind it all.
Secret Exposed.
The secret Of the consolidation was
that the government, which has been
taking over every big public and pri-
vate corporation in the country, is turn
ing its attention to the electric COM
panies and seeing an opportunity in
Toxic, informed the directors Of it's in
tention to buy them out. This was kept
secret, and for an excellent reason.
Seeing the big return derived from
high fares during the war period, the
government determined to raise fares,
but it wanted it to appear as if the
privately owned corporation was respon-
sible for the act. The government did
not dare to stand up against what it
knew would be an united populace pro-
testing against the increased rates, and
yet it had to have that increased reve-
nue. Of s per cent, or rather 10 per
cent, which'is the real income, includ-
| ing the government tax.
THE English and American news
papers in Yokohama in discussing the
matter say that the governments ac-.