Evening journal., 1919-08-04

rates were in question-and. by the
way, telephone rates have been raised
less than any other public service
prices in the country until the other
day when the price fixing was taken
away from the loOcal political organi-
cations and the rates for service put
on a biss that might make It pos
sible for the companies to survive. In
this matter the demsgogic politician
works on a larger scale He howls
about the rates and he makes good
with the people-and he makes a po-
litical issue Of what is simply matter
Of business economy. He busters and
he bluffs the rate making body-snd
he Is generally helped cheerfully by
the yellow press.
Everybody knows that 10 is not pos
sible TO sell telephone service or
rapid transit or electricity or gas or
water at prices that were adequate
before the war-but everybody is
hoping That The company serving the
commodity willi somehow sneak
through without going to smash.
Anyway everybody is ready TO pass
the buck TO the public service com
mission or whatever The rate making
body Is called And the ratc-making
body, being always organized on pO-
litical lines and dominated by the
power that created IT, hesitates 10 fly
in the face of a thousand or a hun
dred thousand voters merely for the
sake OF saving a public service cor
poration from bankruptcy And If the
rate making body is composed OF men
big enough to ignore demagogic clamor
and raise rates, those men are brand
ed-they are corporation tools.
The telephone and rapid transit
systems of The country have suffered
more from the indifference and antag-
onism OF the people they serve than
have most OF the other utilities
though all have suffered They come
into daily even hourly, contact with
The whole body Of the public and the
man or woman who is cOnstanlv pay
ing for service is naturally disposed 10 4
be querulOus about giving up; they |
listen to reason from the dcmagogue |
with great complacency Instead Of I
being willing to pay a just price they |
demand the price 10 which they were /
used In tile day OF the old price levels. /
And those two commodities. the tele- /
'hone and the traction, are the very /
mes hardest hit by new price levels.
n each case the element OF laboor cost \
$ very highly impOrtaDt-ihe domi-
lant item Of cost Of production. 70
vas inevitable that they must pay
more for labor and for everything
Use they had 10 pay for-and you
would think that any man or woman
With common sense would know that
is impossible TO pSy present day
rlces for labor and materials and sell
. price standard fixed when beef
teak was twenty cents a pound.
In This matter OF public service rates
ne cause Of the company is generally
he cause OF the people We cannot
ct along without rapid transit Of the
alephone or electricity or water or
as, but as sure as eggs IS eggs" we
'ill have to II the people do not con
EIDE a reasonable right 10 those com
anies TO charge a higher rate-a rate
nat will free them from the menace
bankruptcy. The exercise Of little
ommou sense. the disregarding Of
)ntentions based upon figures that
m be made 10 mean anything. and
Irnins a deaf ear TO the politician
no hopes TO climb into power over
e ruin Of public service corpor-
ION will set most Of us right In
rs matter Of public service com
:
We have come to accept a. new ~
lndard Of prices for labor and for =
eat and flour and potatoes and we .
lst pay more for public service. If E
e companies are forced into bank z
ptcy through public indifference E
public will have 10 pay; II The g
urts take over the properties the E
blic will have TO pay. =
The price OF public service is not n e
liiioal issue: make this plain 10 the g
liticians and the rate making pow E
! viii be inspired TO deal Justly BY +
, owners Of the cOnmanies that serve =
2 public E