Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-05-22
CARME Ms PAY RAISE
AND 6-CENT FARES
AWAIT EXPERT SAY
Manufacturers, Employers and
Citizens Tell Utility Commis-
sioners New Rate is Necessary.
OUTLOOK is FAVORABLE

Two hours and more the board oi the
Public tility Commissioners sat m the
mavor's office. in the Public building
Yesterday afternoon and thumbcd over
the troubles the Wilmington N Ph'tadci-
mia Traction Go. can lay 'ncontestanie
clam To as It's very own the admittedly
INST demands of IS trollevmcn for more
nav. tho need to convert some council
mon and others to the 'dca OF a s'x-cent
fare the prost~cct Of ultimate insolvency
f i Cafnot Increase is income and the
living nf an almost hand-to-mouth ex's.
tcncc with fuel supply made mp ot cqhai
parts cxccrat'on, sand, hops and coal
And the thumbug-ovor process d'u
the SITUATION good, d'scourag'nE as the
outlook would seem from glance at the
comuauys collection ~ woes, because
al the end nf the SESSION the atmosphere
nf the mavors office wns hglratVeiN
most hopeful and encouraging that tho
fare rase would 20 through whatever
1 might have been actually n tep'd'ty
and stutIincss
Il was not due however, to anything
definite N the way of acton tnward
granting the company's pctton tor per
m,ss,on to ra'se the fare tn s'N cents
because nothing VAS done. hut ~ thc
apparent Willingness Of the majority oi
the interests present 70 concode thc
ust'cc of the company 5 rqucSt MS
oven took the shape ot . suggestion lFfh
Comm .Ss'onpr GarrctSan that temporary
order he made allowing the 'ncreAse
10 bc made permanent later or re9c'nd"d
rs events night mako necessary or ad~
v'sahle The suggestion was ~ GrdeF
10 provide for the ra'se n the trolley
mems pay. but when 4 was shown tfa'
the mon were protected whichever way
the company cat jumped nothing was
done about a.
EXPERT To MAZE EXAMINATION.
Decision was reached that m expert
engineer should be engaged to exam ne
the campanvs plant and methods ot
opcrat;ons. and this man, one OF the
WESTINGHOUSE staff. ) scheduled To- heg n
his work today and 20 finish T and make
rcport within a week The Job VII cost
$500 but i : expected that + WI settle
whether or not the company SITUATION
= such that ID must have the increased
nc0mc I seeks and whether t 5 possible
or 'mpoSS hlc to operate the system more
cconom'caliv The company wants 20
put the farc-'ncresAse INTO elect june j.
# t IS granted. and there $ fttle doubt
that t can he done, 4 the comm 'ss'on
50 decides. on hearing the expert report.
One of the high fights q the S''ss'on
was the preppnderance Of Op'n'on among
those present that the company should
he allowed u ra'sc IS fares. Not only
was the thought gwen vo'ce but there
was p:le Of letters from firms. corpora
tons and c'tzens g'v'ng paper express
SON IL the same v'cw. Ths testing of
favor toward the company made those
who r-rreseuted L look nightly pleased
and caused mods Of appreciation among
the deputat'on of troleyrnen there on
behalf az themselves and the'r fellow
workers.
No sooner was the meeting opened
and the op'n'on of City Solicitor Bayard
to the effect that the comm 'ss'oners have
the right TO grant the traction company
request read than the sense ot tnoSo N
attendance became man fest Speaking
on behalf of the Manufacturers Assoc'a-
ton. Willard A Speakman, Of the speak
man Supply & P;pe Co, sad the requested
'ncreasf. was heartily favored by the
ASSOCIATION and that really no statistics
were needed from the company u prove
is case
Mor,soyer t was thc manufacturers
unanimous wish that the Increase he made
operative as soon as possible and that
the comm 'ss'oners expedite the matter
MIR. Speakman thought personally that as
pretty much everything has gone up
g;nce the war started there was no reason
why the TRACTION company should not
have It's prce rs well as the other fellow
and that as the s'x-cent fare was bound
70 come sooner or later because OF the
times, i might as well come now. The
Continued on page }