The evening world., 1915-02-11

expended for the roads own plant
Every year the cost Of power pur-
chased from the Interborough in.
creased until In 1912 II amounted to
SS3s.472. From 1907 when the first
big purchase Of power occurred. tho
road showed . dificit on Its books. In
1912 this deficdt amounted to $4,000.
up to Juno 80. 1918, the INTERIOR.
ough had charged the Queens road
Ia cents per kilowatt-hour. After
that the price was reduced to "a OF
Q cent. Investigation has disclosed
that the current cost the INTERIOR
ough 6-10 Of q cent.
AFTER the reduction Of charge the
purchase Of power dropped to 31S7,76e
In 1913. with the dehcit falling to
$4,000.
iNTERsoRoUoH UNLoAogD
hEAvv eTgGl Cars ON ROAD.
THE city refused to buy the Stein
way Tunnel In 1908. and the nifty cars
the Interborough had ordered for 1t
York and Queens road. They cost this
poor, forlorn child Of the INTERIOR
ough $3.50. .5S4, or about S13.so0 apiece.
'President Wood Of the Queens road
explained. to the Public Service Com
mission that the reason the road could
not give better service was that tho
steel tunnel cars were utterly unsuited
to street trafiic and that another pur-
chase would bankrupt the road.
Formerly cars for this company
cost s4.7oo each. Now. Mr.. Cram,
don't you suppose that the courts. Of
whose action you seem to be afraid.
would have taken judicial cognisance
Of these facts II the Public Service
Commission had instituted an order
to compel obedience to Its require
ments?"
"T'm not afraid Of the courts" Mr..
Cram promptly replied. I'm not
afraid OF anything, thank God. And
/ won't answer hypothetical ques-
tions based on false premises Of my
fear"
CRAM DECLARES FOR MUNICH.
PAL OWNERSHIP.
The condition Of the New York and
Queens road having thus been called
to Commissioner Grams attention, he
crossed his knees carefully. clutched
the arms Of the witness chair and
.Ths people will never oct ads.
quats service In the suburbs until
pally owned"
MI. Clark, counsel to the Flushing
Association, sat beside Col. Hay
wards table during all the examina-
tion and at this juncture Mr.. Cram,
In answering Col. Hayward, referred
to Mr.. Clark as your assistant
counsel"
This stirred up Senator Foley. who.
In turn, referred to Mr.. Clark as "a
disappointed litigant" and said: III
he has any complaint here. let him 60
to the Supreme Court with It."
WHY COMMISSIONING SHOULD
De PERMANENT.
Before leaving the stand Mr.. Cram
said to the committee:
IT want to call attention to one
phase Of the work Of the commission
which Is Of great value. II 10 the pro-
lection of the public against watered
securities. Practically no stock can
be listed on the New York Stock Ex-
change without the approval OF the
Public Service Commission. That is
a great protection to the public and
that's another reason for perma-
nent Public Service Commission In
New York"
Chairman Thompson-In the last
six years 5000 complaints have been
filed with the Public Service Com
mission. Less than 1000 have come
to the attention of any commissioner
How do you account for that? A
Most Of the complaints are frivolous
The serious ones are always investi.
gated.
Q. chairman ThOmpson) Coult
not the Board of Estimate take ovel
the construction Of the new subway.
without delay? A. Yes. l believe i
could, but the Board Is overworket
as II is.
Q. Do you believe the Public Ser
vice Commission could be admins
tered at less than II now costs? A
Yes, probably some OF the employees
could be eliminated.
@. Do you believe the law depart
ment was worth $4,000 a year to the
| estatef A. Well. when ! went to the
commission We were employing the
most expensive lawyers In New York
but I'd rather not answer that ques-
tion The present law department
v faithful and efficient. II not overly
virile.
Commissioner George Van 8. will
iams took the witness stand At 3.6e
o'cioch.
-. Qpsy Ca = On. ~