Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-07-17
WHAT is FRAMED UP
MUST BE LIVED DOWN
Electric Railway Companies Generally
Are Now Reaplne What They Sowed
in Years Of Political Chicanery

in Years Of Political chicanery
E'OR corporations as for men there are
laws of retribution and days of judg-
ment. The thing has been proved.
Moneyed groups with the mantle of in
corporation over them used to find it
hard to believe that good morals and good
business could thrive together. Yet,
whether they ran railroads or pickle fac
tories, taxicabs or secret combinations of
European kings, they always ended in
trouble.
The street railways of the country, in
whose interests John H. Pardee, Guy E.
Tripp and others spoke mournfully before
the Federal Railways Commission, pre-
sent another example of the inevitable
rule
The roads sinned elaborately while the
SHINING was good. They told everything
but the truth. Now, when they have
truths to tell and when they feel an
overwhelming need to be believed, no one
will believe them. Their fiscal woes may
be authentic enough. 1t may be true that
many lines will perish miserably if they
are not granted the right to collect
higher fares. 1t doesn't matter.
Mr.. Pardee plainly is good railroad
man or he wouldn't be president Of the
American Electric Railway Association.
But his philosophy is obviously deficient.
If he knew where the trouble lies he
would not lecture a federal commission.
He would lecture the stockholders in the
lines that he represents. His recital of
the difficulties under which street railway
companies are now operating may wiring
a tear of sympathetic understanding from
an occasional statistician. But the gen
eral public, the patient, watchfuI and
silent general public, without whose CO.
operation nothing great is possible. will
smile cynically and feel convinced that
something rotten is afoot once again. 1t
remembers the sQualid record of politi-
cal corruption, of stolen franchises, Of
legislative johbery. of watered stock and
inefficient service that. justly or unjustly,
must be atoned for by any one who in
herts the responsibilities of the old
fashioned street railway magnates.
Electric street railways are one of the
newest of utilities. They opened the way
to a paradise Of high finance for all the
j. Rufus Wallngfords who were running
loose in America twenty years ago. The
habits of early spectators caused loss
and hardship for millions. Any one who
has to direct the affairs of street rail
ways now must reckon with the i'll will
and the determined dislike of almost
everybody who has to pay taxes and ride
- @J fvor, ,I-orly ~, frC11or Thoro
many lines that have to pay in financial
stress for the errors piled up by men
who are now dead or retired into
affluence.
Mr.. Pardee ought to summon all the
stockholders of his lines in great con-
venton and tell them the simple truth.
He could tell them that whatever is
framed up has to be lived down.
An intimate study of street railway
| finance and operating methods will not
convince an Unconditional outsider that
| higher rates of fare are necessary now.
! Higher fares may actually be necessary
! later along. Even then the public will
not pay six or seven or eight cents for a
trolley ride without feeling that it is
| being robbed.
Most of the trolley corporations will
have to endure long years of probation
amid difficulties and prove that they are
not the corporations of old before they
can enlist public confidence on their side.
Arguments and pleas such as Mr.. Pardee
advanced will serve them not at all.
Long experience with street-car men
4lz,,.
agencies for public service but as means
for stock exploitation has fixed the pa
irons of most trolley lines in habits of
cynical disbelief.
In some cities the men who run the
street cars have seen the light. Having
failed in every other attempt to make
money, they experimental with the for.
gotten ideals of honesty and efficient
service.
The Philadelphia Rapid Transit Com
pany has been sitting for year or tive
among the converts. The P. R. T. has ;
dark record. 1t wrung its hands anC
loudly grieved on the verge of bank
ruptcy and the people who ride over it
lines laughed ribald laughter. Driven t.
the wall at last the company--in shee
desperation - improved its service. I
improved its equipment 1t improved it
operating methods. 1t gave the city tn
better transportation that the city ha
been demanding for generation. Anc
To its own amazement, the P. R. T. bega
to make money.
A few years ago the transit compan
was paying out more than 10 per cent G
it's annual profits in damage claims base
upon preventable accidents. Throug
improved equipment and better operat
ing methods that waste has been Gu
down two-thirds. The present manage
ment has long way to go. 1t has tn
virtue Of silence and patience. When tn
watered corporations that hold the P. !