Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-02-20
TWINTNG ASKS PEOPLE
TO PROTECT INTERESTS
Can Force Fair Agreement on
Lease From p. r. T., De-
clares Director

| willing to stand up ana ISuN lOI NHoi'
rights and show that they are really IN
dead earnest can obtain fair and equitable
lease Of The high-spced system to the Phil
adclphia Rapid Transit Company If they
are unwilling to do this they will get noNl-
ing and the company will get everything
Transit Director Twini'g expressed that
view today a brief summary of the con-
dtion he believes the city is in in the con-
troversy over the company's proposal of
an operating lease.
"The company" he continued. believes
that it has an advantage in the present
ncgotationss Its proposal represents what
It wants without consideration of what the
people should have. And in that view of a
corporation engaged in business for profit
it is quite justified.
But we intend to show what we think
the city and the people should have as their
part Of the bargain and our effort now is
to determine what is fair and equitable,
legally and financially. This department
viii make every effort TO set forth the
situation clearly, and then it rests with
the people
PEOPLE TOO INDIFFERENT
THE one great trouble with the people
of Philadelphia is that they have been and
are still too lax in protecting their own
interests. They shift the burden to some
one else and they follow willingly"
The Director then went on to say that the
experts engaged by the Mayor to analyzc
the transit lease, with his own report was
virtually completed with the exception Of
Il few tabulatiOns of figures. lie expects,
however. to have the full report on the
Mayors desk when the latter returns from
Florida
In discussing the negotiations between
the city and the transit company in 1914,
which resulted in the 1914 tentative agree
ment the Director declared he believed
tl,.,Y
lures as favorable to the transit company as
does the present lease draft it would have
been approved by them without delay.
The remedies for the defects in the pres
cnt lease, which will be presented in his
report to the Mayor, the Director said to-
day, will all be open to legal question and
will have to be passed upon by the city's
legal advisers before any positive step can
be taken along the lines suggested.
These questions Of legality, he said, would
not be taken up until after tho report in its
present form has been laid before the
Mayor and Councils for their consideration.
Following the attack of Director Twning
upon the proposed lease a new factor has
been injected into the transit muddle today
by the assertion that the Public Service
Commission has no legal or constitutional
right to withhold for one single day the GER
tifCateS Of public convenience asked by the
city for the various subways and elevated
lines
by Henry $. 8orncman, an attorney, with
offices i'm the Liberty Building. at a banquet
of the FrankfOrd Board Of Trade last night
Mr. Borneman has constructed careful
legal case against the commission and he
urged that steps be taken by the taxpayers
at once to demonstrate to the commission
that it has no further jurisdiction over the
construction phase of the transit question.
WHERE POWER ENDED
Service Commissions jurisdiction ended
when it had given to the Philadelphia Rapid
Transit Company and other competing COM
panieS the right to object to the cOnstruc-
tion of the high-speed' system. After an
analysis of the public service act creating
the commission and the later constitutional
amendment which gave to the city addi-
tional borrowing capacity for transit and
port development he declared that the
commission had already exceeded it's con-
stitutionai authority by Withholding the GER
tifc2tes as long as it had
The present condition, he explained, is
ole where body of seven men is refusing
to permit the city to proceed with work
which has been authorized by Councils
which has been made possible by an amend
ment to the State Constitution, approved
by the voters of the entire State. and which
has received the overwhelming Endorsement
of the citizens of Philadelphia at the polls
such cases, he continued, is limited by the
public service law to cases where the
municipality is about to enter into COM
petition with existing companies and where
the existing companies offer no objections
to the proposals the commission again has
no further authority.
Mr. Bornemans argument, it was made
clear, was not a political attack upon the
commission and was nyno wise an indorse-
ment Of Senator Penroses program for rip
ping the service board out of office.
TO RAISE MANY QUESTIONS
Transit Director Twining's report to the
Mayor upon the P> r. II. proposed lease it
was learned today, will raise several ques-
tions as to the legality of the present draft
of the lease. The right of the city to guar
antee dividends upon stock which has been
admitted to contain a large percentage of
water will be questioned, with several
other features of the proposed lease
Mr. Twining also believes that since the
city must provide annual sinking fund pay
ments TO cover the cost of the construction
of the lines, the operator should likewise
be compelled to have a similar sinking fund
to cover the equipment cost.