The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-07
GEO. 3. WARD TALKS
 ON T|DEWATER ISSUE
Makes Suggestions for Amend
 ing the Franchise
OUTLINES A NEW ROUTE
Would Limit Franchise to Thirty Years and Have Specific Agreement on Types of Cars to Be oper-
 ated Through City

Ex-Mayor George B. Ward who for merly as mayor had occasion to make a study of the proposed Tidewater fran chise, when asked for statement as to his views on the question yesterday ex- pressed himself freely.
 As he always does. he talked from the viewpoint of his besb opinion.
 T don't know that either faction will agree with me-" said he. Perhaps both factions will criticise me, but I have writ ten out my best opinion of the best way to settle this matter. Here it is:
 "As a property owner 1t seems to me that the Tidewater controversy should be settled by making the interest of the city of Birmingham the pivot around which all plans and arguments should revolve. and not the interests of the Tidewater company or of the Birmingham Railway, Light and Power company-if it has any
 Birmingham is the foundation of the whole enterprise inasmuch as 90 per cent of any value the Tidewater can attain must come from rights and property the city gives it and from the trade flowing to and from this center
 Therefore. let the Tidewater company give the city 25 per cent of all capitaf stock it may authorize with all right per- taining thereto. This would make the city a special partner in the enterprise. I. would make every man, woman' and child in Birmingham directly interested in it's welfare and jealous of it's future. It would give the Tidewater franchise a stability-an avaiability-a bonding ca paeity that could not be obtained other wise-therefore a monetary value greater than any lease on Fifth avenue could pos sibly give.
 Let the Tidewater give the city the privilege of naming one fifth of it's board of directors This would give the city an insight into the inner workings of the corporation It would guarantee the ne- cessary publicity if at any time the enter prise should become speculative and not for the public good
 Let the Tidewater place a reasonable cash forfeit in the city treasury as a guarantee that at least one-half of the entire line will be built and operated within a period to be agreed upon as reasonable. This will place the city in position where it will gain rather than lose even should the line not materialize. It will also evidence the fact, in a tan gible way, that the company means to carry out it's promises
 Let it be agreed in specific terms that the traffic should be confined to regula- tion interurban passenger electric cars except on sdch streets as the city may from time to time agree that freight can he handled.
 This will remove fears that through pr local freight trains belonging to steam Failroads will be operated over the line. Vt also is elastic so the city can modify br change it's rulings as to freight routes based on changing conditions of the fu- ture.
 Tn return let the city grant 30-year franchise as applied for, except over Fifth avenue from Smith park to Thirtieth street. This would give it that opposition to the general project which comes from the general antipathy to any perpetual grant to a public service cor