Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-06-13

Public Service Corpora
ton Returns to For
mer Conditions.
PRESIDENT MCARTER
ISSUES STATEMENT
----------
Satisfied That Officers of Cor.
p0ratiOn Cannot Be Held
Crininally Liable.

Policemen, firemen and health officers
have won a complete victory for free
trolley rides while on duty. President
Thomas n. McCarter of the Public
Service Corporation, today ordered con-
Guctors not to demand fares. Condi-
items will again be as they were before
tic Public Service acted under the
hcw public utilities law. Today's ac-
ton follows the decision Saturday Of
Supreme. Court Justice Minturn, who
fem THAT the Public Service was not
Violating the law in allowing three
cent fares to school children. The
Idhlc Service Will not appeal that de-
cIsoG.
The three-cent fare for school chill
tlren is to be continued by the
company, making general reJolc-
ihs III Newark today despite the eff
forts of the weather man to make
everything as gloomy as possible. To
appreciate the real meaning of the de-
cision, read the following statement
lrom President McCarter:
President McQ ar.cr's Statement.
Prior to the passage of the recent
publ utilities law, the company was
obligated by provisions in ordinances
to carry ;chool children TO and from
sohool at d reduced fare in thirty-three
MUNICIPALITIES. 1t haC voluntarily eN-
fenced this privilege to some seventy
other municipalities, making total
of orc than one hundred municipal
tics in the Stat in which this practise
prevailed.
Immediately after the act took
effect, on May l last. the company :
tilted the Publ Utilities Commission
that it had discontinued this practise
having been adTised by counsel that
me same constituted an Unjust discrlnl
nation, prohibited by the act, the con-
tinuance OF which would have rendered
the company Itself, and its officers anu
directors, liable to indictment for mis-
demeanor if the opinion of it's counsel
was correct. In this same communlca-
ton the company taxed TO the COM
mission that as discontlnuance Oh
this practise was tantamount to an IN
creased rate o. fare, the COMMISSION
under lAe provisions of the act, II 1t
saw fit, could make an order FORBID
ding leh increase, which would thuS
furnish a method for I! speedy ao-
Indication by the courts of the wnoie
question. The commission, acting upon
the sugge stion contained in the lettef'
thereupon made an order prohlpitlng
the said increase n the rate OF tare'
with which order the company at once
complied, but sued out a writ OF GER
tiorari to test the propriety of the COM
missions order.
Court sustnins Commission.
"The clpreme Court, acting through
a single Justice, has now sustained the
order of the commission in this respect.
AS a result thereof the company feels
that it has sufficiently protected Itself
and its directors from any criminal
rrosecution for a violation of the act
in this respect, and is entirely satisfied
TO let the, matter rest, and the order OF
the commission will be o5eyed without
further litigation on the part of the
company.
with regard to the free transporta-
ton of policemen and firemen, the
facts are these: In only eight of the
municipalities served by the company
was there any obligation, by ordinance
or otherwise, to transport policemen
and cmen in uniform free. over
long period of years custom had de-
veloped of carrying policemen and nre-
men free in many other municipalities,
where there was no obligation so to do.
including the giving of book pa 5es to
non-uniformed police officers,
I'm year 1910 the Legislature
passed a law directly prohibiting the
free transportation of all municips
officers, except policemen and firemen
I'm uniform The public utilities law OF
1911 reenacted the pre- .ibition, but
struck out the exception permitting the
carving of policemen and firemen In
uniform, and the company was ad-
vised by it's counsel that this latter
statute forbade the transportation OF
all noIicemen and firemen, whether in
uniform or not, under the same penalt.
IN the company and its officers as
avisted with regard to the transporta-
tion of school children at reduced
rates. This matter has found its way
TO the Public Utility Commission, and
that board has made pronouncement
relating thereto in the following Ian
guage:
boards Statement.
,The hoard does not regard the free
transportation. without discrimination
on behalf of municipality, OF police
men. fremen and inspectors of boards
af health in the performance of their
nublic duties as a violation of the pro-
visions of public laws, 1911 chapter ls5,
commonly called the puohc utllltss
act =
-, sound ,annot tbe finally de-
.ern1ined ,eTn,iy short of jtdicial decison'
tcOntlnued on secOAd PaTeA