The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1911-04-06
CITY CONTROL
SURE TO COME
Mayor Whitlock Gives Out Statement
Urging Valuation as First Step
In Street Car Problem.

TOLEDO, O., April 5.-Declaring
that the street car problem will never
be settled satisfactorily until the city
has public ownership, but urging mat
the valuation question be taken up az
once and disposed or, Mayor whit
lock has given out public statement
dealing with the question In detail.
He says his administration Is pledg!
cd to three-cent fares and this prom
Use must be kept, but the fare PROPOSE
ton should be held over untll an an
alysis is made OF the receipts and ex-
penditures. Then the problem must
go To the people for solution.
Mayor Whitlock's statement says IN
part:
"The people have been so used TO
having nothing from their public ser
vice corporations, not even public Sc:
vice, that some OF them are almost
pathetically grateful for the slightest
consideration.
The traction magnate knows that
The era OF extravagant and irrespon'
sible explorations OF public iran
chises. wateTed stock, profits Tor pro-
moters through inflated bond issues
and all that, is over, and that We are
now entering upon that period III
which corporations enjoying under ~
cense or franchise a monopoly q! the
profits OF public necessities are To be
regulated by the public. in en- enort
10 have them operated not Ter private
profit alone, but really. and el last
for public service.
The traction magnate knows, too,
that the day Is past when man VIII
have to pay more for street car ride
than it Is worth; that is TO say, he
knows that the time has come when
street car service must be provided
AT cost. Now, when | have said cost,
\ hasten TO add that cost, of course,
implies a reasonable return upon the
actual investment, but II does not in
clude an inflated and unearned profit
THAT is TO say, 1t is proposed by
this system TO compel the working
man who rides downtown on n street
car at o'clock in the morning TO pay
the taxes Of the man who rides down
town in limousine at 10 O'Clock IN
the morning. OF course, passengers
or street cars ought to pay their
taxes, but they ought 10 pay them at
the court house, not on the street car
10 the treasrer, not 10 the CONDUCTOR
and surely they ought not To be made
10 pay their own taxes and then be
made TO pay somebody else's taxes,
too.
The members of the council have
studied and read on this subject, many
of them have gone TO other cities to
see what was being done there, and
thus far think they have treated the
whole subject IN a most intelligent,
unseliish. non-partisan way. Their
conclusion is that under the present
laws the businesslike thing to do Is TO
find out just what il costs to carry a
passenger and then to fix the fare at
that point, allowing, OF course for
interest and taxes, for the betterment
and extension of lines and for rea-
sonable return upon actual invest
ments. This is the meaning OF the d.
mand for Scent fare, for IL is believed
that an analysis OF the problem will
show that all this can be done at that
rate.
These discussions will not proceed
tar until the question of valuation is
reached That is the key 10 the whole
problem. And IL seems to me that we
might as wen attack that problem at
once ard dispose Of IT, The task is
one OF no small difficulty, but II has to
be performed, and it should be under
taken Immediately Ii will take weeks
of earnest study and patient. drudging