Omaha daily bee., 1909-12-25
Nebraska
TRACTION EXPERT TESIltlES
Prof. Bemis of Cleveland Says Water
in Lincoln Company.
ATTORNEYS FILE OBJECTIONS
Woman waitiBE Long for Car
Elected Because Transfer Had Ex-
pired in Meantime-Junkin
Gets New Law.
(From a Sax Correspondent.l

From a staff Correspondent
LINCOLN, Dec. A-(Specisl)-The hear
ing before the railway commission on the
application Of County Attorney General
Tyrrell for en- order to dissolve the street
car merger Of this city and to squeeze
the water out OF the stock Of the merged
Company was on again today. the county
attorney putting on several witnesses to
prove his contention. Prof. Bemis Of
Cleveland testified as to the value OF the
property and to the amount Of stock which
had been issued.
The testimony showed that April, 1905,
the value Of the Citizens railway was
S276,147.I9. This amount was raised By
stock subscriptions amounting to $685.
7S7.R: net earnings devoted to construc-
ton. S1T,ss46s; paving donations, A,S65.S9.
To this was added 145.OO for promotion
cost. or 20 per cent. This was added be-
cause the officers had charged nothing for
this work. The investment then would be
Szi, 147.19.
Investment at Consolidation.
I'D to the time OF the consolidation there
had been spent on construction from April,
1905, so, Of SO. This, the witness said,
would bring the total investment up to
1851, $500 at the time Of the consolidation.
Inc company ran DelWttn Il0St udACH w.
= car miles and should have spent or &C
Gu ulated for maintenance at least IS
cen per car mile. or SIC, PASS. instead Of
whit it actually spent s2,7rL5O. The wit
ness cid there must lave been a deprecia-
ton S12,47s, or t1.7S2 a mont The same
rati would apply, said the witness, for
the Tree months. April, May and June,
our : tine entire twelve months and there
she have been set aside $24,157 for main
ter tce, and only Sl0S14 was set aside.
tn depreciation for the ten months should
ha been 81, $40. This would make the
tot Investment January 81. 1909. S3H,O29.
Te over this investment the company had
Iss ed stock to the amount of $415,O O0, just
pr r to the merger.
water in New Company.
When the companies merged this stock
WIS traded in for $415.O 900 preferred stock
az d sSs2, 900 common stock or a total Of
EH.OO0. The ompany Is paying s per cent
Oh the $4,000 and 4 per cent is expected
soon on the common stock. The witness
figures there was $34s,O0O water in the new
company.
The witness gave in detail the invest
ment in the traction company and figured
that in the reorganization of the company,
the total valuation was inflated to the
amount OF 81, IO,OO
Attorneys Object.
When the hearing began this morning
c. f. Allen, attorney for the traction com
pany, objected to Mr.. Bemis tsstifying as
an expert which was overruled. Then he
questioned the witness regarding who had
employed him. 1t was brought out that
the county attorney had brought the wit
ness to Lincoln, The other side attempted
10 show was the lincoln Gas COM
pany and not the people who were inter-
ested in the suit and Mr.. Allen explained
that the city council had been energetic
in trying to work out a plan, which would
settle all the controversy regarding the
traction company.
In answer to this Mr.. TyrreI said the
council doing nothing. while/as a matter
of fact, It had after he had filed his suit,
begun to hold various meetings in private
with the attorneys for the traction com
pany present.
While Mr.. Allen was replying to this
Chairman Clarke informed the attorneys
they were gettir% away from the main
question. SO the taking = testimony pro-
ceeded.
Conductor Fleets Woman.
n Lincoln Traction company, which for
some weeks has been running apparently
without a schedule and at the same time
asking people TO be patient, today. through
a conductor, put off the car in a binding