Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1912-04-05
Mr.. Henderson's Surrejoinder To
Mr.. Lamar.

Mr.. Editor II regret to have to trouble
you again with matter which is becoming
somewhat personal, but as Mr.. VIM. H.
Lamar in his article of last week, in reply
to mine of the week before, has made
several gross misrepresentation will ask
your indulgence once more.
Mr.. Lamar makes two statements in re-
gard to expressions of mine which are not
true. did not say that would assume
all responsibility for the satisfactory work.
ing of the railroad BILL and did not express
determination to have my bill passed
and not permit the one drawn by Mr..
Lamar and introduced by Mr.. Cummings
to be favorably reported. The nearest |
came to any such expressions was that
would like to have bill which appealed
to me as fair and reasonable And was
willing to submit the matter to anyone in
whom had confidence and abide by the
result
Although Mr.. Lamar is man Of great
perseverance and ingenuity in any matter
in which he is interested, do not consider
him to be the acme of political or judicial
saeacity. On the contrary. he takes such
personal view of things that | believe
anyone who follows his political advice will
ultimately come to grief. Many good citi-
zens of Montgomery county are much dis
pleased at the undue influence which he
exerts in the affairs of the county.
In his article of last week he puts many
thoughts and calculations into my mind
which were never there, and as do not care
to be sponsor for his ideas, must repudi-
ate them. am able to do some thinking
and calculating for myself.
The language of his proposed amendment
as recall it was that the company should
not charge greater Communication rates than
those at which it is now selling monthly
tickets, or words to that effect. AS we
could only legislate for Maryland and the
company was not selling any Communication
tickets entirely within the State. ! could
not see that this meant anything. The
fact that the holding company arbitrarily
credited certain proportion of the COM
mutation rates to its lines in the District
and the balance to the Maryland line did
not establish any fixed rate in Maryland,
as ii could change the proportions at any
time, and there was nothing to indicate
that the word nov" referred to the time
of introduction, the final passage or to the
time at which the bill went into effect, so
that the company could have prepared
itself to meet the change.
And if the court declared the rate of 8 IS
cents per zone to be unconstitutional, it
would even more certainly have declared
l-8 cents per zone to be so. as the con-
stitutionality of such acts depends upon
whether or not the road can be operated at
reasonable profit at the rate fixed. This is
a matter of great uncertainty, as it often
depends upon the ability and economy of
the management and the ebb and flow of
business conditions. And yet Mr.. Lamar
could not see why was willing to take a
chance on the constitutionality of 3 Is
cents per fare zone of Is miles
| and not on a rate of 1-S cents per
zone had no desire to see the cOmmu-
tatiOn rates raised. but did not wish to
render the bill unconstitutional as whole
and unfair and unreasonable by trying to
| hold the rates down to rock bottom. Some
persons wished straight fare rate of ten
cents to the District line, but could not
see the fairness of that am not sensi-
tive about the truth of my reasons and
actions in regard to the bill
The holding company is not suffering
| greatly, as its common stock has advanced
from about $40 to $8S per share during
the past year, and it has various methods
of draining the profits out of this line and
using it as a feeder for the benefit of the
city lines.
The MANAGEMENT is much more efficient
now than it was two years ago. Mr. La =
mar chides me for opposing his new bill,
but it was turned down by the Bethesda
Citizens Association and by the Town
Council of Rockville, and is condemned by
everyone who has talked to me about it,
without exception.
If he wishes TO restore the old commuta-
ton rates. why does he not introduce
simple bill to that effect without increasing
the number of zones or making unequal
division of them. and without throwing the
| decreased cost of communication tickets.
together with greater profits to the COM
pany, upon a larger portion of the general
public But the most dangerous feature of
his new bill is that the communication rates
might be held to be unconstitutional and
the law holding them down to three zones
would be repealed. Mr.. Lamar says the
company would agree to his scheme. Per-
haps they would. as il would undoubtedly
give them greater profits at somebody's
expense. but there is no telling how long
they would keep the agreement
Besides. all these matters are now under
the jurisdiction of the Public Service Com
mission and should remain there
In regard to the nconsttutionality of the
penalty provided by my BILL | did not con-
slider the penalty of 500 for each viola
ton of the law to be excessive for the
matter of a test case, although if the COM
pany operated in contempt of the law it
might pile up very heavy penalties. am
free to admit, however, that did not make
a study of this point. There is rule Of
law though that where there is any doubt
of the constitutionality Of law II should
be decided in favor Of the law. did
leave Mr.. Lamar, perhaps. little alb
ruptly late one night when he wanted to
talk to me about the bill ! was not feel
ing very well. and my recollection is | told
him so. When Mr. Lamar gets an idea into
his head it is impossible to make him see
any differently, and was sick Of talking
about the matter
/