The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-26


 | pense to which they have been put by the | constant improvement in machinery and | equipment of every kind and the conse- | quent necessity of continually discarding old types and purchasing more modern ones, Is considered, together with the in- crease in value of permanent property, | such as real estate, l believe it will be found that in nearly every case replace ment value and capitalization will about | balance. But even if it assumed that In | some of these securities there Is stih water, we must not fail to remember that the man who injected it has, in the vernaeular of the day, got away with the goods For the most part these securi- ties are now in the hands of innocent purchasers for value. Then, too, in great many cases, men have taken leases of these properties, guaranteeing the pay ment of a certain rate of interest on the 1 securities previously issued, and have put their honest money into the further development of the enterprises. Now, whatever happens in the way of decreased revenue the interest guaranteed by the | leases must be paid, and the result is | that those who would suffer if this doc Urine of repudiation were carried into eff feet would be, not the guilty promoter, but those who, least of all ought to suf- | fer those whose actual cash has been in- vested in these properties.
 An Erroneous Idea
 "The idea that the public can benefit through competition between public utility companies l believe to be erroneous. If | you have one street railway company op- erating in a city and franchise be granted to another. in five years there will | be but one company, while the public will be paying in fares for the support of both. This business Is a natural monop- oly. As such 1t is properly subject to regulation, and I believe in it's regula- 1 tion by public service commissions, when these are composed of sober, thoughtful, courageous men, who will. study the needs | of the companies and the public, and | when the law defining the powers of the | commission is a sane ones By sane mean law which confers the power to supervise, as distinguished from the power | of administration. The supervision of | fundamental things, such as. capitaliza- ton and perhaps rate making, is a proper | function of such a commission, but if the 1 law goes further and turns over the ad- ministration of the companies to com | mission, you have then the worst possible | form of government ownership-govern- ment ownership without government re- | sponsibility.
 "One of the most difficult problems we have to meet in the operation of electric | railways is that growing out of the cent | fare. Our lines are being constantly ex- | tended, and the transfer system is con- | tinually widening. so that the distance ridden for nickel steadily increases and the nickel is correspongingly diluted. We receive in reality not a nickel, but only | 3h to cents. Then, too, the cost of 1 everything entering into the construction an1 equipment of electric railways is ad- | vancing. The consequence is that we are l in the position, in many cases, of selling goods below cost. Manifestly we cannot | d tl,f- lAx A must be devised of making both ends meet either by an increase of fares, as | has been permitted in Massachusetts in | cases where conditions made it equitable to do so or by the establishment of the zone system. If this system were placed 1 in operation a passenger would be en- titled to ride anywhere within the limits | of a definite zone. extending perhaps for a radius of three miles from the center of a city, for 5 cents, and for a ride be- yond the zone limits fare proportionate to the distance travelled would be charged. l In other words, the sale of transportation
 would be placed on the same basis as the sale of any other commodty-you would pay for what you got.
 .In the building up of American munich | palities there has been no more important factor than the electric railway. It has en- | abled the man of moderate means to | leave the congested part Of a city and es- | tablish his home in a pleasant and health ful suburb. It has opened up new areas for both residence and business purposes, and thus has created taxable values and | added to the municipal revenues. It has performed a great work but the task yet to be performed is even greater. Thou | sands of miles more of electric railway track are needed throughout the coun- try. We ask the cooperation of citizens i everywhere in placing this industry on a | basis which will enable us to meet our honest obligations, to maintain the high l standard of efficiency which the public | has right to expect and to obtain the | capital necessary to enable us to expand and develop these properties so as to meet the needs of the communities they serve. | Sibley Speaks
 | President John ". Sibley said, in | part:
 MT. Chairman and gentlemen of the American Electric Railway association: l The president of our commission has voiced our welcome to you in such cordial and eloquent terms that no room Is left to me to expatiate along that line, so l can only say in be- lLalf of our Chamber of Commerce, yoJ are thrice welcome to onr city and re- gret exceedingly that you cannot re- main for much longer stay, so that you might become more fully ac- iouainted with the magnitude of our natural resources and be so charmed Inv the beauty of the landscape and ;he salubriousness of our climate that many of you would decide to cast your lot in this Magic City, which, in 90 years has grown from a 'cross-roads station to the second city of the south in urban population according Itt recent census bulletin. being out ranked only by New orleans. which lhad several centuries start of us.
 Industrial Age
 We are living in an age signal lZed by organized effort in commercial land industrial life. During all time, among all peoples, men have been drawn together In response to a feel ling of common interest in given cause. We have seen this carried out i in all it's ramifications in religious. political, literary, scientific and mu- sica1 vacations. But not until the in- dustrial awakening both in Europe and | America did we see organization of labor and of employers of labor. -'Of all the public utilities it seems to.me the street railway is in posi- tion to contribute most to the pro- Lgress and improvement of the cities In which and between which it oper- ates.
 In Contact With Public
 s.No other institution comes in closer contact daily with the general pub | lie nor serves more heterogeneous population. It's management should bc haracterized by broad and liberal public spirited policy and on the other hand the public in it's attitude should