Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-01-07
TRANSIT

T am not sufficiently informed 10 discuss
this subject intelligently In any contract
which is entered into with the company IL
Is my purpose to that the company gets
square deal as well as the people OF Phil
adelpha.--Mayor Smith.
The company wants to cooperate with
the city, but II also wants TO protect its
earnings-President Mitten
A resolution was adopted by the United
Business Mems Association asking that
plan be developed by which exchange tick
cts shall be abolished immediately and
transfers granted on 5-cent-fare basis at
intersections Of the surface lines.-News
report.
DESPITE the fact that, transit has been
- a leading issue in Philadelphia for
months, an issue concerning which columns
of matter have been printed In every city
newspaper, II is obvious that the Mayor. as
he himself admits, is poorly informed con-
cerning the situation, and is in dense ig-
norance OF many OF the most Important
features OF the comprehensive plan pro-
posed by Mr. Taylor.
This ignorance exposes itself in such re-
marks as ut is my purpose to see that the
company gets a square deal"
One of the most admirable features Of Mr.
Taylor's work was the spirit of fairness
which dominated his endeavor. Never was a
fairer, squarer plan offered an operating
company than that related in the tentative
agreement entered into by the p r. T. with
the city. An amazing feature OF the entire
transit campaign, in fact. was that no COM
plant arose from the people over the liberal
treatment accorded the company.
The p. r. r. is offered s56OOO,OOo worth of
subway and elevated lines for nothing. All
It has to do is to provide equipment and
operate the system, from which 1t is TO
derive revenue before the city gets a
t., tee 10 to
be protected, under specific guarantees.
What, then, does the Mayor mean when
he talks about seeing that the company gets
q square deal? There is an ominous sound
to the words. Is 1t in his mind to repu-
diate the tentative agreement which pro-
vides for universal free transfers, and enter
into some new agreement which also pro-
vides for such free transfers. but supplies
the p. r. r. with even more liberal terms
than those already offered It?
Or does he propose to arrange for the
operation of ne Broad Street Subway and
tho Frankie Elevated only. under par
ticular contract which ignores the operation
of tho contemplated system as a whole?
II the latter is his purpose. let the people
now that the 900 they pro-
pose to spend to free themselves from pres
ent intolerable transit conditions will simply
tlBnten Cne ChnlnS ABOUT tnem ana nanu
them over for lifetime to the p. r. T.
The transit problem must pe considered as
a whole and 1t must be solved as q whole.
Agreement for operation pust be an agree
ment for the operation OF the whole, not of
a part. The tentative agreement already
proposed and agreed to by the p. r. T. as
equitable and just is obviously tho right
sort of an agreement that any attempt to
supplant it must and ought to arouse suspi-
cion at once.
There is but one way to solve this transit
matter. and that Is the right way. And woe
he to any man or set of men who through |
ignorance or otherwise permit the subordina-
ton of the interests OF the city to those of
the transit company and betray in this wise
the great public.
The State has authorized the raising of
the amount necessary for the entire Taylor
system. Let the system in its entirety, there
fore, be built
A tentative agreement for operation of the
whole system has been entered into. Let |
the city find out whether or not the p. r. T. |
intends to stand by that agreement, without
OF its essentials To make
agreement for operation OF a part OF the
system only. not embracing the several links
as they are completed. would be a communal
The EVENING LEDGER pointed out during
the recent campaign that there were two
great essentials: first. that the system in all |
It's parts be completed, because it's success
was based on an interfeeding, which mutual
would be a prerequisite to the
quick earning of interest and operating
charges; secondly, that the new system gave
the city the whiphand over the transit COM
pany. for the first and last time. on which
account the operating agreement was OF
primary Importance. and that in many re-
spects the cty's vast investment would be
wasted If an operating agreement unfair to
the city were entered into.
The Mayor thrust the transit issue aside
with IT words in his inaugural address, He
will discover soon enough that IL is the most
important issue he has to handle. The pub
lie is mildly interested in the matter-of-fact
that the two projects under
way must be rushed to completion. 1t is
vitally interested in knowing whether or not
the Mayor intends to support the Taylor
plan whole, with the operating agree
ment included.