Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-08-18
THE SMITH-MITTEN GRAB

THE SMITH-MITTEN GRAB
ITO UNDERSTAND the Infamous char
acter of the Smith -Mitten transit lease
proposed to Councils yesterday it is only
Necessary to compare it with the lease
put forward by Mr. Taylor and bitterly
denounced by the very men who stand
sponsor now for this latest and utterly
damnable suggestion.
In simple. frank language which any
body could understand Mr.. Taylor pro.
posed that the company should he allowed
t1,500,000 a year, or per cent dividends
on It's stock, out Of earnings The one GER
tain thing under the Taylor lease was a
fve-cent fare with universal free trans
fers, as repeatedly promised by the former
Director. The condition precedent to an
increased rate was a condition so re-
motely likely as to be of academic i'm.
portance only. But Smith, Twinng and
LtWlS SIOutBu ITO1n tne HOuStlODS llldl
there must be no guarantee, and they pro-
claimed a statement of principles under
which any proper lease should be drawn
Mr.. Lewis in particular drawing a roseate
picture Of an agreement in which all past
In a position unassailably strong. Where
upon, these gentlemen having assumed to
draw a lease of their own, and having
heralded it during the progress OF negor
tiations as a master instrument, the
optimistic public anticipated more or
less perfect agreement, protecting the
city's interests throughout and giving it
forever the whphand
cent guarantee for the company, with
every probability that it would amount to
6 per cent! Nay more. after the set pay
ments are made. all subsequent profits
are to be divided half and half, an ar.
rangement which in the later years of the
lease would deprive the city Of millions
The exchange tickets are not to be abol-
ished until political board dominated by
the company, is ready to have them abol.
ished. Moreover. piling it on, such a load
of fixed charges is to be put on the com
bined system that six, seven or even eight
cent fares would be required to carry it,
with all preferred payments cumulative in
character and the citys credit transferred
lock stock and barrel to the books of the |
p. r. r. May, more. The Taylor system !
need not even be built for the proposed !
political and and-picked transit board /
may take the jurisdiction of Councils into |
It's own hands. curtail old plans or make
new ones, and assert complete mastery
over the whole situation.
OUITE aside from the absolute assur-
~ ance of six-cent or even higher fares,
sutficient In itself to stamp the proposal as
utterly impossible, the public cannot for
get'that there lie against It every one of
the major objections made by Mr.. Twi.
ming to the Taylor lease. Mr. Twining then
said "Shorn OF complex technicalities. |
ctty's property to the company, but to |
lease the company's property TO the city. |
et a fixed rental of sl,5OO.OOO per year. !
the company remaining in charge without |
proper degree of responsibility" Yet |
the present lease undertakes to assure |
full payment on all the stock, watered |
and unwatered, of the underlying com
psnies, the city doing the very thing Mr.. |
Twining said it ought not to do. The So /
called board of supervising experts is |
handcuffed before 1t is ever organized, as
Stunning that the formation of IL would be
legal The greatest objection is in the
guarantee itself, not in the amount" ar.
gued Mr.. Twining. But he proceeds to
sanction an arrangement which is a guar
antee, pure and simple, whatever the at
tempt TO conceal 1t, and II is a guarantee
that is watermelon for the company.
ME CAN understand the position of Mr..
Lewis, IL he is appearing as the attor-
ney for the Mayor and therefore wants
to present the Mayors plans in the best
light possible. IL he has acted. however,
~ an attorney for the people. bearing on
his shoulders the burden of their protec-
ion, we are at loss to comprehend how
The man who took the position he aid in
hs rprins can somersault into the stti-