Arizona republican., 1917-02-02

against us as witnesses in this double tracking case. have long since busted" or failed in their own business venture, and left many sorrowing creditors be- hind them, and indicates that those who tried to throttle us could not sue ceed themselves in. business. Cost of Double tracking The double tracking of West Wash ington street and other necessary eA- penditures in connection herewith, will cost this company from $35000 to S40- coo to complete. and these figures are based on the costs taken year ago The cars which we purchased for the Glendale service in 1910 we still owe a balance of S7,500, and on this | balance we are threatened with suit to recover if it is not paid during the early part of this year
 The four cars purchased three years | ago, the company owes $20,261 which it is unable to pay
 Large sums of borrowed money for ! improvements, amounting to over S170.000 the company has been unable to pay principal or interest.
 During 1913 We were visited with strike that cost US large sums of money, and took many months to re- [ cover our business. We received little , or no protection from the city of Phoenix The unfair competition. in the shape of the jitney which resulted ! was allowed by the city commission and we were obliged to contend with | this competition, which paralleled our ! tracks, and served only to reduce our ! daily receipts very materially taking earnings from us which if received should have gone to improvements and other necessities.
 For two or three years previous to our strike. we were building up a nic- business on our Glendale line. This ! business was taken from us by auto stages. who were allowed to come into the city, establish their terminal at i our terminal and take from us bus mess that we were justly entitled to- l The owners of these stages were not | tax payers in the city nor were Ihcv residents of the city. They have little or no permdnoncy in their transactions and render little or no aid to the tli- building of city institutions, which we are expected to do.
 The approximate cost Of improve ments is absolutely unnecessary to us. as far as handling passengers and as far as their comfort and safety are concerned.
 ''if we are to continue to operate our present city mileage. part of this sys- ] tenn should be rebuilt in the near fu- ture. namely: the Grand Ave. line. ana other improvements made in that line To handle Fair crowds more eXpedi- tiously. This we cannot do with all these paving requirements and unnec- ] ssary trackage forced upon Us
 We have plans to change the rout- ing of the Grand Ave. cars. so as to give the citizens improved service hy giving them the benefit Of the Loop service. which has proved so satisfac- ! tory to our other patrons but the Was the paving is being pushed we cannot keep up with it. Our plan has been to l bring Grand Ave passengers ia along Van Buren Street. which would give service to those living north of Van Buren between Second Avenue and Five Points.
 We might state here, that authority has been issued from the owners 10 make application to the Arizona Cor poration Commission for the abandon ment of the Grand avenue line, and other requests of similar nature will follow this one SD as to reduce our trackage within the city limits if pay ing orders upon us continue
 The paving Of our tracks does mol add one iota to The safety and comfort in handling our passengers.
 Paving Versus Railway Service
 One question worthy Of conSidcra- ton is this: Is the paving of the tiacks of the Phoeni. Railway Co. Of more importance to the city of Phoenix than
 he retention of it's lines and servlcer
 Material costs have increased from 25 per cent to 100 per cent. The fare which was established 25 years ago foi us to charge. has not been increased We are still carrying passengers for 5c fare and giving a much loneer ride for this fare.
 Salaries of our mOtormen and con ductors should be increased but we are unable to do sO.
 Il statement. showing our revenues for the three years past. statements of operating expenses and revenues. as reported to the Interstate Commerce Commission. and the Arizona Corpora ton Commission are in your hands.
 We have put into the property and the operation of same. all the moneys received, as well as all the moneys borrowed. as shown by the statements herewith.
 We are giving as good service in the city of Phoenix as any town Of it's size
 in the United States. with perhaps q half dozen exceptions, that is. cities that stand as Phoenix does-not con nected with any large center and with no large manufacturing plants.
 Within the last four years. the de- creased operating revenues of street car systems in the country has been particularly noticeable Apparently this decrease is due principally to the increased use of private automobile motorcycle, and jitney bus It is not reasonable to presume that the owners or stockholders will long continue to operate properties in which they not only do not receive any return on their investment, but actually suffer an out of the pocket loss, in order to operate these properties
 If these unnecessary requirements and paving requirements are forced upon us. and if there is no relief foT such conditions, the inevitable is likely to happen: that is, the trolley will come down, and the rails will come up This course we hope will not be taken as we still have much pride in the lit tie system. and much pride for the city of Phoenix. and feel that we have our share in the up-building of the city of Phoenix and its suburban dis tricts: also have rendered our little part toward the assistance of the in- stitutions for the advancement of the city's interests.
 'I might mention that the owners of this road have. during the past 10 or I2 years, sold much of their personal holdings, and collected considerable rents, and during these years have taken less than 5000 out of this city. These rents and property sales have been put largely into the railway system.
 We believe that we have presented some matters to you this evening that you have not known before. although