The Detroit times., 1910-03-30
To
APPRA|sE D. j. R.
"Fifty's" Chairman To Choose One,
Railway Another, and These Two
the Third Member of Board.

fifty practically passed out OF existence
with the meeting OF Monday night
Its last act was 10 provide for
board OF arbitration TO adjust the diff
ferences In appraisals OF the Detroit
United Railway, and 10 reach valua
ton of that property for inclusion In
the committee OF fifty traction
ordinance, now before the common
council, us the factor on which u
compute earnings.
Chairman Frank W. Eddy, of the
committee OF fifty. will name one OF
the members OF the arbitration board
the management of the ID. L. r. VIII
name another. and these two will ap-
point a third, who will practically
dominate the situation and determine
what the D. u. R. property in the city
zone is worth.
There is talk OF one OF the circuit
judges--Hosmer, Murfn, Murphy or
Mandell-for the third arbitrator.
The committee of fifty accepted the
Barefoot appraisal as its own Vaiua'
ton. while the d. L. K. has mad three
appraisals. one of reproduction cost
one OF actual cost, and the third oil
present value, allowing for deprecia
| ton. To reach any kind or an agree
ment, hearings must be held ana q
true valuation reached by comparison
of all the figures.
The Rev. Lee s. McCollester was
the committee OF fifty member TO pro
pose this arbitration plan He de
clared II 10 be the business-likafway
of reaching an agreement, and was
supported In this by DR.. j. II. Carstens
and Clyde l. Webster. while ID. w
Simons and E A. Brown opposed.
Chairman Eddy announced that ne
would name the committee OF nifty rep
resentative within day. while General
Manager Frank W. Brooks. OF the d.
L. r.. said il would take several days
for his company TO name its repre-
sentative. The hearings will take az
least a week and will be held IN pub
lie.
! While these are going on, the com
Gil committee on franchises viii hold
| frequent meetings TO examine into the
committee of fifty franchise. The
various features of this plan will be
gone into carefully and II is expected
that some amendments will be made
| BY the time a valuation OF the D.
L. r. property is arrived at by aroi'
tration' the council will be ready 10
receive the franchise and go ahead
with IL. A vote on the franchise by
June does not seem improbable now
Il is expected that the hearings on
the valuation can be held much more
expeditiously with board or only
three men than they could be before a
large committee. including some mem
bers with the gift of eloquence un
checked by any governor. Dr. Car
stems expressed the belief that the
hearings might be completed within
week. but this was taken as an ex
tremely optimistic view.
| The meeting OF Monday evening was
the most alert that the committee OF
fifty has had. There was no definite
program. After some communications
| had been read, Chairman Eddy called
upon General Manager F. w. Brooks
| OF the ID. L. r., 10 address the com
mittee in regard TO the valuation Oh
the property. Brooks adopted po-
/ litely ironic tone in replying:
II think that | heard someone say
| that an appraisal has been made OF
our property" he began SO FAR as
nv company is concerned, we know
nothing Of it,"
He recalled the first meetings OF the
committee Of fifty and the promise OF
the D. u X. TO furnish all possible In
formation. In pursuance of that prom
! ise books, lists and records were COM
piled bv a force Of 100 men and fur
nished 10 the agents OF the committee
of fifty. The d. u. r., he said. had ex-
pected TO be given hearing on each
section of the appraisal as 1t pro-
crossed. but was astonished TO And.
one morning, that the appraisal had
been completed without this being
done. He then declared that the ID.
! L. r. could not accept the Bancroft
figures.
In replies to queries by DR.. Car
stems and Clyde J. Webster, Brooks
declared that % miles Of franchise
had been left out in the appraisal.
that real estate had not been properly
included and that paving had been
left out OF the calculation entirely. al
though this paving cost the company
upwards OF 100000.
You have evaporated property
running into the millions" exclaimed
Brooks at one iuncture. We want TO
show these valuations TO the people
OF Detroit We do not want TO con-
ceal from the people one thing about
our property. For Is years we have
tried 20 bring out the facts Until We
I 10 that, we believe that the people
will be imposed upon
IF our property has deprecated t.
/ the insignificant figure YOU name. the
people have had the benefit OF mil
/ lions Of dollars.
we want every fact in connection
with the property put before the pub
lie In such manner that every citi-
zen of Detroit may be his own audi
ter and Judge.
Brooks refused to name the figure
at which the ID L. r values its
/ property now as going concern
stating that ne wished to submit
proofs with each item.
As n solution 70 the deadlock that
seemed imminent. Dr. McCollestef
arose and submitted his plan OF arbi
tration lie argued that this would
he the fairest way 20 aettle the mat
ter. the committee OF fifty standing by
its appraisal, the ID U. r. by the
figures OF its engineers and the final
decision being left TO arbitration
MAYOR Breitmeyer was called upor
and Endorsed the suggestion. and
Chairman Eddy also favored Il. f. A
Brown offered as a substitute q mo
tion that the committee of fifty adop