Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-07-03
CR0SSER'S PARADOX
IN CITY OWNERSHIP
CONTINUED from First Page.1

! Continued from First Page)
! be thereby avoided. some gigantic evil
| corrected or some supreme benefit
gained
| What special conditions exist which
| demonstrate the necessity of municipal
| ownership at the capital and of the
mourning Of this debt as logical con-
sequence?
| Either by government ownership as
last resort or by stringent govern
and eiectric) the sound doctrine must
| be enforced that franchises to public
utilities corporations are not gifts. but
| grants for which compensation must be
porary use of the streets should be
| accompanied by compensation to the
| public for such use and by retention of
power by the government to regulate
such use in the public interest.
| Some of these corporations have
| ciamored that ownership ard control are
| lnsepa bic, that the government
should not exercise control unless it
acquires ownership. But this argu-
| ment has been properly disregarded. 1t
! has been held that the rights. powers
and privileges given to common car
| rie- corporation by the public furnish
the necessary considerable for the re-
tention by the public of certain con-
l
created and in effect endowed.
| If adequate compensation directly in
| rentals or indirectly in especially good
service at cheap rates can be secured
| regulation without assumption by the
community of the responsibilities and
| risks of actual ownership, such regu-
! lation is the wisest and safest pro-
cedure.
| #, however, thorough testing
|
public ownership can In a given case
safeguard the public interest, then the
| people of the community must take
control into their own hands, whatever
responsibilities and risks may be thus
assumed.
Municipal ownership Of Washington
street railways should not now be con-
Sidercd; for the reason that govern
ent and impartial public utilities COM
mission, which has recently been wisely
created by Congress. has not yet been
thoroughly tested; and resort to munic-
the event TINT government regulation
through commission proves a failure.
While regulation by utilities COM
mission Is thus under earnest and
searching test, municipal ownership.
with it's respOn sibiIfties and dangers OF
LOSE, il premature and unnecessary.
Regulation in Washington.
| The records of Washington show that
government regulation of public serv-
! ice corporations at the capital has not
been a failure and should not be aban
doned. IN editorial correspondence Of
| The Star in 1913. discussing municipal
ownership in New Zealand, I said con-
| corning railway development in WASH
| ington under government regulation:
The United States has been under OBJ
y-nt i0y, ha To- n nf
steam and tram railways in Washing
! ton, the national city. In this District
under the exclusive control of Congress
the national Legislature in direct legis-
| iation concerning common carriers at
the capital has exercised effectively its
| reserve power of control and its
exclusive power of legislation. In re-
Spouse to The Stars long and vigorous
ings and the discreditable local steam
railroad stations and terminal facili-
| ties. Congress finally abolished the
grade crossings, and in cooperation
President Cassatt of the Pennsylvania
| Railroad Company and with the assist
ance of Architect Burnham Zone of
Washineton's greatest benefactors),
of the past as beautiful and useful a
| railroad station can be found any
! where in the world. So in response to
The Stars campaign against overhead
!
the overhead trolley for urban use
Congress baffled the overhead trolley
| Synd1cate's desperate effort to get the
capital into it's clutches. and ON the
strength of The Stars representation
concerning the underground trolley in
Budapest it In effect compelled the use
of that system In Washington, with the
| result that it is now in successful Oper-
| alton throughout practically the entire
| urban area.
/ or;c Of md
ditions affecting Washington's railways
| and tramways will bring even to the
! Washingtonian q keener realization OF
| what has been accomplished in beneficial
development by the government.
| I'm 1888 said in The Star of the situa-
J ton in Washington:
| IAN urgent grievance of the present
| which grows more unbearable year after
year with the attempts at growth of the
| sections of the city specially injured Is
railroads entering Washington. Their Il
! Legal occupation of streets and reserva-
tions and the damage and Disagreement
which they unnecessarily inf1ict are
| known to every reader Of The Star.
| "a wise statesmanlike plan Of regu-
| lating the steam railroads Of the city
will be devised and enforced which shall
| clear away surface tracks. check the
illegal acts of these squatters upon gov
| eminent property, free the public reser-
| vat:ons and relieve two sections Of the
| city from burden which th:ottles like
| the old man of the sea upon the Shout
| ders of Sinbad.
I'm connection with the broad plan of
remedying railroad evils which will place
| a Union station at the nearest point to
| the business center Of the city that can
| be reached by tunneling or with small in
| jury to public and private interests a
| comprehensive system of local rapid
| transit by electric or cable railways
! will he provided which shall give all
| parts of the District quick and easy
! access to such station stations. 1t La
| evident that In the improved street
| railways of the future horses must
| give way to more rapid and less OBJ
lection able mOtOrs, that grOOved rails
must take the place of the present
| abOminatfOns. and that the franchises
| to these corporations NO longer gifts
| must become n source of public reve-
| nue. outside of that which is derived
| from them through just taxation of
| their tangible property
| Ten years later 1s9s). / said as pres!-
| dent of the Board of Trade:
| 1.-The present terminal conditions Of
our local roads are injurious and dis
| graceful to the capital of the Ameri-
| can republic. The stations compared
! with similar structures in Europe are.
/ Inadequate in size, aWkwardly ar
| ranged and ugly. Both roads sustain L
series of death trap grade crossings. at
| which losses of life and injuries to men
| pc -iodicaIly occur and which cause
/ financial loss to the city through the
obstruction to traffic and travel which