Evening star., 1908-01-16
MADDEN BILL DISCUSSED
Hearing by the House District COM
mittee.
LOCAL CONDITIONS CONSIDERED
Universal Transfers Would Be Ac-
cepted If the Railway Company
Could Charge Five-Cent Fare.

committee this morning George II. Har-
ries, vice president Of the Washington
Railway and Electric Company. was heard
In opposition to the Madden bill for uni
versal trans trs on local street railways
Gen. Harries. who spoke for an hour and
a half and was frequently interrupted by
questions from various members OF the
committee. declared there was no general
demand for universal transfers in the Dis
tr.ct OF Columbia, that a law passed by
Congress forcing the local companies to
exchange universal transfers would be OF
qucstIona BILE legality. and that. moreover.
such a proposition. II legal and carried
out by the street railways. would work
decided hardship upon stockholders.
In reply to a question from Representa-
tive Slms OF Tennessee. who went aater
Gen. Harries hot and heavy, the latter
declared that his company would be will
irg % accept universal transfers II per-
mitted to charge fve-cent fare.
President Dunlop OF the Capital Traction
Company was not in attendance as ex-
pected, and Chairman Smith of the COM
mittee announced at the beginning OF the
hearing that Mr.. Dunlop was seriously Ill
at his home.
In his statement Gen. Harries started
from the beginning Of street car troubles
IN Washington and led the committee
through a maze of facts and figures con-
nected with the consolidation of the vari-
GUS unrelated lines. at one time or an
other, into the-t local traction organi-
this connection he commented upon the
Injustice of various comparisons that
were made.
'It is entirely unfair he said, ito put
capitalization in one scale and in the
other the amount that 1t would cost to
cleared and ready for the work to begin.
Why, goodness me- we are still paying
interest on some old horse-ear stuff"
Gen. Harries made the committee men,
bers sit up and take notice when he re-
marked that even in the present modern
state Of the traction systems of the Dis
trict of Columbia, and even after the vast
improvements perfected in recent years
had been taken into account, the cars OF
the Washington Railway and Electric
Company made the run from East Capitol
street to Georgetown in only ten minutes
less time than did the old two-horse cars
If former days.
Pronounced Indefensible.
THE question up today" Gen. Harries
continued. lis not whether we shall be
permitted to extend our tracks to the new
Union station. but whether you shall put
additional burdens upon the shoulders of
universal trsas 'fers. And except from the
standpoint q Ahe man who wants some
thing for n' hing the universal transfer
proposition is absolutely without de-
fense.
There has been a revolution in pas
senser trace portation in the National cap
ital In the days of the old unrelated lines
transfers were never exchanged. And
there Is no reason why there should have
been. for a road cannot be compelled to
rsar xwyAA \
ceives the fare.
But in order to better conditions we
were liberal with transfer arrangements
so liberal. In truth, that a former chair
man OF this committee said on the floor
OF the House that we were f1olishly SO. At
any rate. at the present time a passen-
ger may travel fourteen miles on the
tines OF the Washington Railway and
Electric Company for 1-6 cents. although
our system cost fully three and a half
tenn in the country. So that fourteen
mile ride for 4 1-8 cents is practically
equivalent to q ride of forty miles on an
overhead trolley line for the same
amount
Tax on the Railways.
Attention was then called by Gen. Har-
ries to the fact that In addition to a fran
chise tax OF per cent on gross earn
ings and the regular rate OF $1.5O thou
sand on real estate, the local street rail-
way concerns were compelled to pay
crossing policeman tax. something he had
never heard of anywhere else.
''In other communities" he said "a
corporation that behaves itself and pays
its taxes, etc, Is given police protection
and doesn't have to pay for it on the
side"
''Well. it isn't tax to have the people
81
protected from damage
SUITS" remarked a committeeman.
We'll. We don't want the crossing po
licemen," said Gen. Harries, decidedly.
I'VE would like mighty well TO get rid of
them. Regular policemen would be all
right-effcient and valuable--but these
men are political appointees and do not
have to possess the ordinary qualifications
of a policeman"
Continuing, Gen. Harries insisted that it
was hard to discuss the universal trans
fer proposition with any particular de-
gree Of exactitude. In view of the fact that
little was known about 1t.
mo one knows what it is he said.
Except In Chicago. where it was made
a part Of recent agreement, and
where the city guaranteed fair
return to investors. it has not been
tried. In connection with the dis
cussion OF the imposition of any
additional burden upon the Washington
say that fully so per cent OF the electric
roads Of the United States have been in
the hands of receivers at one time or
another during their existence"
Meaning Of the Proposition.
Here Is what the universal transfer
proposition means. It means tnat the two
here, these two unrelated roads.
shall exchange transfers. That is, one
gives the transfer and the other
receives it. One company is going to lose.
or course the idea is that the passenger
who transfers one way will even things
up by transferring the other. But we
have no guarantee that this will be the
case. And as the proposition stands. the
universal transfer law would compel one |
road OF the two to carry a passenger at
one-haif OF the regular are. less than 1t
actually costs to carry him. And this |
would certainly be illegal. No man knows [
There Is no precedent on which to make !
And as the Capital Traction Company
has forty-four miles OF line and the Wash |
lngton Railway and Electric Company |
has 143 miles. l think the latter company |
would be the loser In the universal trans
fers bargain. We would do the carrying |
and they would get the money"
Universal transfer in some instances
weuid be impracticable and impossible he !
claimed. He cited the instance of the ,
Capital Traction Company. which had
agreed to a transfer arrangement with
the Randle line. which had been tackled
way. and which later had to make sim
liar arrangement with the Great Falls and
Old Dominion company.
And at present said the general. "the