New-York tribune., 1918-07-21
Higher Fares
Only Traction
Service Salvation
Labor Leader Says 1t Is Either
Increase or Break
Down
BY John J. Leary, Jr.

BY John J. Leary, Jr.
<<r OOKED at from any angle, the
position Of the traction com.
- panies from one end of the
country to the other is serious. They
have got to get more money. The only
way they can get it is through permission
to charge higher fares. 1t is. not asques-
tion of paying dividends; it is ques-
tion of keeping the companies going
and paying the necessary operating
costs 1t is not a question Of caring
for the stockholders; it is a question
of protecting the public"
So William D. Mahon, international
president of the Amalgamated Associa,
tion of Street and Electric Railway En-
ployes, speaking as one who has been
lifetime in the street railway bust
ness, sizes up the situation confronting
the traction managers of the country.
"I am not speaking now of the stu.
alton here in New York. How the local
companies get away with the service
they provide is beyond me-" he went
on to say. "But I am speaking of the
situation generally. 1t is bad.
ut is no longer with us a question
of striking to get more wages for our
men. The big question has been to get
the men to stay in traction work. In
some of the larger cities--ssy Buffalo
men with twenty years service in
streetcar work have left in droves ia
work in other lines. 1t is not ques-
tion of choice with them--it is a ques-
tion of getting enough to live on.
"The best that we have been able to
do is to refer all the cases as they
come up to the War Labor Board, of
which Mr.. Taft and Frank Walsh are
the chairmen. Otherwise there would
have been strikes all over the coun-
try.
"When we ask more money for the
men, the companies come back at us
and say they have not got the money
that they are not getting the revenues.
In the majority of cases we know this
to be the exact truth. And the ques-
tion comes up, What are they going to
do about it?
Strikes Not a Remedy
I'VE can call strikes or permit the
men to strike-yes. That will not rem
edy the situation. We can allow the
men to drift into other lines of work
That will not remedy the situation. You
cannot make streetcar man by put
ting a uniform on him. 1t takes time,
even if the man be of the high grade
needed in the work. Well, then, what
are you going to do?
"If you dig into the situation you
find that the companies, paying more
for fuel and all that they use, are
actually cramped for money. They are
in the same position as the men-their
cost of living has increased enormous
ly. They ask for more money, for per-
mission to charge higher fares, and
there they stop.
"Take the case in Buffalo as an ex-
ample. There, where it was case of
holding men in the business and not
of striking-of keeping them from 60
ing to work in other industries---the
council sent the question to the Public
Service Commission. The Public Service
Commission passed the buck back to
the council, and now the court has held
that the question must be decided by a
referendum vote. Can you imagine
people voting to pay more carfare?
IF, however, they want to ride they
will have to. Whether these proper
ties are forced into the hands of re-
ceivers or not, in the end the higher
rates will have to be granted.
"This is true of the stronger com
panies. 1t is more than true of lot
of smaller ones. There are roads, as
we all know, that from the day thew
were opened have not paid their way,
You remember, of course, the craze for
electric roads that swept over the coun-
try some years ago. That resulted in
the building of roads that never should
have been built. refer to the specu.
lative roads and to roads built as part
of speculative scheme to develop real
estate properties. These roads operated d
at loss from the start in MANY cases
In some the loss was not apparent, as
proper charges were not made for de-
probation and for new equipment, but
they were losing propositions, just the
same. Just because the people who
have used these roads have had some
thing for nothing-have been carried
for less than the cost of carrying them
does not, in my opinion, give them a
vested right to be carried at all times
irrespective of cost.
Must Be Fair With Roads
"My primary interest in the matter
is that of the men. But we have got to
be fair with the owners of these prop
critics. They are entitled to some con-
sideration. We have got to look out
for the public interest. The public
needs the services of the traction COM
panies. That is the main considera-
ton.
"Whatever our relations with the
companies have been in the past, we
find ourselves to-day in the position
where We must, as matter of justice