The Washington herald., 1914-06-05
BOUGHT STOCK
TO BE SLEUTH
Witness at Crosser Hearing
Says He Wanted to Be
"On the Inside"
FOR COMMON PEOPLE"
Julian Pierce Gave Up Shares When
Things Went on Bum"-Vote
Tomorrow.
FOR COMMON PEOPLE"

The Crosser bill. providing that the
District of Columbia shall take over the
local street railways and operate them
will be voted upon by the House District
Committee tomorrow morning.
At the-eonclusion of yesterdays hear
ing the committee unanimously agreed
to make the bill the special order for q
| meeting at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning
While other requests for hearing have
been made, 1t is unlikely that the commit
tee will further delay a vote upon the
measure.
Representative Crosser. author of the
bill. told the committee yesterday that
! he desired to leave the city Saturday and
thought that the committee had already
heard enough on the subject. The COM
mittee agreed.
Julian Pierce. chairman OF the public
utilities committee of the Study Club in
Economics, who also described himself
as farmer. writer and lecturer on
economic subjects, "a man who has al
way lived with the common people" and
yet who had made some investments in
local and other corporations. was the
last and only witness before the COM
mittee yesterday.
As to Common" People.
Chairman Ben Johnson inquired as to
what the witness meant by common"
people. DO you mean in contradistinc-
ton to the high-brows referred to by
Mr.. Welliver yesterday" he asked.
The distinction was not clearly drawn.
On the point of investments the chair
man of the committee brought the frank
admission from the witness that he had
become a small holder of stock in the
local public utility corporations in order
tc qualify as a sleuth." He was pressed
for the number of shares he had pur-
chased and said it had been one in each.
''in order that he might get on the in
side and learn the game"
Mr.. Pierce later admitted that he had
subsequently sold his stock at a loss
because of the slump that followed the
introduction and passage of the tariff
and some other bills which you gentle
men here brought in. Things then went
on the bum," he added. much TO the
amusement of Congressman Winslow, a
Massachusetts, Republican.
The Crosser bill presented local
problem, the witness declared. though he
was in favor of the general proposition
of municipal ownership. Asked whether
he would include such public utilities as
food. clothing, and shelter. Mr.. Pierce re-
piled that he would. eff the people
in the majesty of the democracy SO de-
manded."
There Is a Limit
Municipal fish boats. which should go
down the river and out into the bay to
catch the fish now used for fertilizer raw
material. and bring them to the people of
Washington, was also advocated by the
member OF the Study Club. but he baked
at the suggestion of Representative
johnson that the District operate fiu-
nicipal watermelon boats.
The witness gave as his reasons for
municipalizing the street railways that
he was opposed to despotism in all forms;
that there is absolute political despotism
in the District; that the service of the
street railways is unsatisfactory: that the
people rebuild the properties and make
presents of them to the corporations:
that municipal ownership will electro
cute the power of the stockholders and
will ultimately result in a 2-cent fare.
Mr.. Pierce added that the companies
pack the people into the aisles of the
cars, don't give enough transfers and
handle their accident claims improperly.
Representatives Prouty and Johnson
wanted to know whether the witness
thought the government handled claims
against it in a more expeditions or salts
factory manner, and the latter replied by
discriminating between the general and
the municipal governments.
Crosser becomes Restive.
Members of the committee wanted to
know how the money for taking over the
street railways was to be raised. The
witness favored the issuance of bonds "as
far as necessary"
Representative Crosser became restive
under the continued questioning of the
witness by other members of the COM
mittee. and remarked that much of what
the witness was saying was repetition of
what had been testified by previous wit
nesses, to which chairman Johnson re
piled:
WELL there is much of this that I
never heard before in my life"
But the committee acquiesced in the de-
sire of Mrs. Crosser to suspend. and
voted to make the bill the special order
for Saturday morning.