Evening star., 1919-09-18
v. R. & F. PLEADS
FOR FINANCIAL AID
Tells Utilities Commission 1t
Will Be $150,0OO Short
of Any Earnings.
PUBLIC IS REPRESENTED

Claiming it will fall short this year
by $15o.000 of earning any return
whatever on its investment. the
Washington Railway and Electric
Company this morning went before
the Public Utilities Commission in a
final effort to obtain from that body
immediate fpancial aid.
at th& &-heaffne weF President Ham
and most Of the operating officials Of
the corpofatfen.s The public also was
well represented. Chairman Kutz was
1ne conss,osr % ns Bon
ing in attendance at a Senate COM
mittee hearing and Mr.. Gardiner be-
ing out of the city.
ticipated as to whether the needs Of
the company were to be considered
from the standpoint Of the separate
lines composing the system or the
system as whole.
Disintegration Threatened.
This was brought on by statements
previously made by the traction off,
cials that unless the company is given
sufficient revenues to enable it to
! of the system necessarily will follow.
William NICK. Clayton. chairman Of
the public utilities committee of the
Federation of Citizens Associations;
George A. Ward of the Columbia
Armstrong of the Rhode Island Ave-
nut Citizens Suburban Association,
w. w. Price of the Congress Heights
Public Improvement Association and
other citizens representatives partic-
ipated in the discussion.
MIR. Clayton thought the petitions OF
| the separate lines should be dis
missed and only the petition Of the
company as a whole considered.
Another suggestion was that the COM
pany announce now whether it de-
sired separate rates for the individual
lines or one rate for all of them.
Attorney John S. Barbour, for the
company, then suggested to the COM
mission that the process of unscram-
bling the corporation really had been
begun by the commission itself when
it refused to treat the Potomac Elec-
trio Power Company, subsidiary in
terest, as part of the corporation in
the valuation proceedings.
Says Company's Fate Uncertain.
President Ham sought to clarity the
situation by saying that conditions
have become SO bad there is now un-
certainty as to whether there will be
any Washington Railway and Elec-
trio Company at all. Expenses have
been saddled upon the corporation be-
yond its ability to meet them. he said
"It has been and is our policy to
maintain integrity of the system" he
| declared. but revenues must be pro-
vided to make the carrying out of
the policy possible"
Chairman Kutz finally disposed of
the argument by announcing:
Now that the preliminaries are
over, we will proceed with the testi-
mony in the case"
Chief Engineer Witness.
The first witness called was Charles
/. Kimball. chief engineer of the rail-
way system. He gave some figures
about the increased cost of street rail-
way operation which appeared to sur
prise Chairman kutz and brought
forth considerable detailed question
Mr., Kimball declared the cost of
common labor has advanced 900 Der
cent over 1914, and Of materials ali
the way from 36 to 333 per cent.
The chairman Of the commission
wanted more specific facts and Mr..
Kimball replied by saying that COM
cents an hour, when at the present
Is ime they make 42 cents an hour. He
gave similar wage comparisons for
other classes of labor.
Comparative prices for materials
used in railway construction and
maintenance also were given.
Mr.. Kimball expressed the belief
that laborers give only about two
thirds as much work under the pres
ent high prices as they did under q
much lower scale in 1914.
1t is a case, he said, Of more men
and more time being required for the
same amount of work.
Limited to District.
Mr.. Kimball was interrupted early
in his testimony by Chairman KutZ.
when he sought to give figures as to
the operating expenses of Maryland
portions of the Washington Railway
and Electric Company lines. The
chairman ruled that only the business.
done by the lines located in the Dis
trict would be considered. Later, un-
der modification of this ruling. GER
tain testimony concerning the out
side lines was permitted to be given
In addition to Mr.. Barbour, Attor-
ney J. ]. Darlington represented the
company at the hearing. The commits
sion was represented BY Corporation