The Detroit times., 1910-03-29
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 to provide for a
board OF arbitration TO adjust the diff
ferences In appraisals of the Detroit
United Railway. and to reach a valua-
ton OF that property for inclusion in
the committee OF fifty traction
ordinance. now before the common
council. as the factor on which to
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. u. X. VIII
name another. and these two will ap-
point third who will practically
dominate the situation and determine
what the ID. U. Il. property In the city
zone is worth.
There Is talk OF one OF the circuit
judges-Hosmer. Murfin. Murphy or
Mandell-for the third arbitrator.
The committee of fifty accepted the
Bancroft appraisal as it's own valua-
ton, while the ID. ". X. has had three
appraisals, one OF reproduction cost,
one OF actual cost, and the third Rof
present value, allowing for deprecia-
ton. To reach any kind OF an agree
ment, hearings must be held and VI
true valuation reached by comparison
of all the figures.
The Rev Lee S. McCollester was
the committee of fifty member toHpro-
pose this arbitration plan. He de-
clared it 10 be the business-like way
OF reaching an agreement, and was
supported In this by DR.. J. II. Carstens
and Clyde l. Webster. while D4 w.
Simons ard f. A. Brown opposed!
Chairman Eddy announced that he
would name the committee OF fifty rep
resentative within a day. while General
Manager Frank w. Brooks. OF the ID.
t. r., said IL would take several days
for his company to name It's repre-
sentative The hearings will take al
least a week and will be held In pub
lie.
While these are going on, the com
Gil committee on franchises will hold
frequent meetings 10 examine into the
committee OF fifty franchise. The
various features OF this plan will be
gone into carefully, and 1t is expected
that some amendments will be made.
BY the time valuation OF the d.
u. X. property is arrived at by arbi-
tration. the council will be ready to
receive the franchise and go ahead
with 1t. a vote on the franchise by
June l does not seem improbable now.
1t is expected that the hearings on
the valuation can be held much more
expedtiously with a board of only
three men than they could be before a
In Including
bers with the gift Of eloquence I'M
checked by any governor. DR.. Car
stems expressed the belief that the
hearings might be completed within a
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.. to address the com
mittee in regard to the valuation of
the property. Brooks adopted po-
litely ironic tone in replying:
IL think that | heard someone say
that an appraisal has been made of
our property" he began. 80 far as
lily tOIHDduN 10 SOntNlhCu, VIC hhoW
nothing OF IL.
He recalled the first meetings OF the
committee OF fifty and the promise Of
the ID. u. r. TO furnish all possible In
formation In pursuance OF that prom
Use. books. lists and records were COM
piled by force of 100 men and fur
nIshed to the agents of the committee
of Atty. The d. T. r. he said had ex-
a T. a,f,. oh
section of the appraisal as 1t pro-
crossed but was astonished to find.
one morning. that the appraisal had
been completed without this being
done He then declared that the ID
IT, r. could not accept the Bancroft
figures.
In replies to queries by DR.. Car
stems and Clyde !. Webster. Brooks
declared that 20 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 $l,500000.
you have evaporated property
running into the millions" exclaimed
Brooks at one juncture. I'VE 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 to bring out the facts. Until we
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.
I'VE 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
tor and Judge"
Brooks refused to name the figure
at which the ID. L.. II. values its
property now as going concern.
stating that he wished to submit
proofs with each item.
AS a solution TO the deadlock that
arose and submitted his plan of arbl-
tration. He argued that this would
be tue fairest way TO settle the mat
ter, the committee of fifty standing by
its appraisal. the ID. u. r. by the
figures OF it's engineers and the final
decision being left 10 arbitration
Mayor Breitmeyer was called upon
and Endorsed the suggestion. and
Chairman Eddy also favored IT, r A.
Brown offered as a substitute a mo-
ton that the committee of fifty adopt
its appraisal This motion would
nave defeateh the arbitration pro-
4.