Evening star., 1918-02-08
CONGRESS AROUSED
BY YCR0NDEDcARS
Situation Here So Bad SoIons
Are Planning to Take Mat
ter in Own Hands.
U. S. CONTROL SUGGESTED

Aroused over the street railway situ-
alton in Washington. which they, say
| is growing constantly more serious.
members of Congress today were plan
ming to take the matter into their own
hands, since the street car companies
and the public utilities commission
seem not to have been able to remedy
| it.
Senator Jones Of Washington, q men,
ber of the special committee which In
ton Railway and Electric Company g
| employees last spring, said today he
would frame a resolution calling upon
the public utilities commission to In
form the Senate just what Is being
done, and what. in its opinion. should
be done, to relieve the street car situa-
tion in the District of Columbia.
With the report of the commission
as a basis upon which to work Con-
gress will be able to go ahead with
any legislation that may be necessary,
Senator Jones said.
Menace to Public, He Says.
"The overcrowding of the street
cars in Washington is a menace to the
public said Senator Jones today.
1T takes an hour or an hour and a hall
to make a trip of a comparatively short
distance in the street cars during rush
hours. The passengers are packed into
the cars in way which is a menace to
health and persons are frequently injured
by reason of the crush 1t Is harder upon
the women than upon the men. and there
are thousands of women who must ride to
their offices daily.
81 know that the population of the
District has increased enormously in
the last few months. that the increase
has been conservatively estimated at
5000. and that thousands more per-
sons are coming to the District to work
for the government. Undoubtedly this
is the cause of the trouble. But some
steps must be taken to remedy it
Either there must be more street cars
| or there must be more street car lines
or both.
Pay Should Be Higher.
81 do not remember seeing any new
| cars on either of the car companies
| lines recently. I have heard it said
| that they cannot get enough men to
| operate the cars they have. But that
| is because the pay of the men Is not
! high enough. They must pay higher
| wages, if necessary. The annual re-
| ports of the companies recently sub
| mitted to Congress show that they
! have continued to pay dividends to
| their stockholders at . and 61 per
cent. 1t seems as though they must
! he making a great deal of money with
Either the street car companies them
selves must act to better conditions or the
government must act.
Either the companies must provide
| uent must take them over. perhaps only
| temporarily. just as it has taken over the
railroads of the country.
| The government could take the street
car lines of the District just as it has the
| railroads. and guarantee to the owners a
| fair return for the use of their properties
| during government control
| Senator Jones pointed out that the
problem of municipal ownership of the
| street car lines could be settled later
| The main thing now, he said. Is to OBJ.
| tain relief, just as it was the main
| thing to put an end to the freight con-
Eestion in the country when the gov
ernnent took over the railroads last
December.
For Government Ownership.
Senator Norris of Nebraska, who has
taken a keen interest in District at
! fairs and has done much to better con-
ditions for the people here, also ex-
pressed his indignation at the street
| ear condition. He vigorously advocated
| that the government take over the car
| lines. He is an outMn-out municipal
ownership man.
at may be necessary to operate a
number of large motor buses as auxili-
aries to the street car lines" said
Senator Norris, while you are building
more street car tracks and buying more
cars. Some steps should be taken with
out delay to relieve the congestion of
street car travel
plans are being made to handle the
housing problem for the thousands of
newcomers to Washington, and it is
high time that radical steps be taken
to make it possible for these people
and the people of the District to obtain
transportation from their homes to
their Offices"