The sun., 1919-09-23
FARES UP AGAIN ON
MONTREAL TRAINS
Increase Of q Cent on Each
Passage viii Bring in
S1,900,000 Yearly.

Special Correspondence to the Cdnddtcn
Section OF THE SUN.
MONTREAL, Sept, 22.-The Montreal
Tramways Company, whose stock is sell
dom quoted on the market, being almost
entirely held by Montreal Tramways and
Power. recently received authority
from the Montreal Tramways Com
mission to increase its fares from
G cents cash to cents cash,
from five tickets for quarter
to four tickets for a quarter. and
from six tickets for a quarter in work
insmen's hours" to Ave tickets for
quarter.
This amounts virtually to an increase
Of cent for every passage. applied to
traffic estimated at 1so, ooo, 900, as COM
pared with 100000 during the year
lust expired, II will thus represent an
Increase of 1890, 900 in the revenue for
the year. The new fares became af-
fective one week from the PRONUNCIATION
Of official notice.
The commission, which is a quasi
judicial body appointed by the Provir-
cial Government, Is empowered to raise
or lower fares in accordance with the
requirements of the system. Whenever
the prevailing scale of fares produces
revenue above the amount allotted by
the franchise as a proper revenue Tor
the company--namely, s per cent on the
capital valuation of the property and
very small fraction as bonus for EN-
cient management-the commission Is
required to apportion the surplus among
various reserves for the improvement of
Ar fo,- he n
and to effect reduction In the fare
schedule as soon as 1t appears justified.
This franchise has been in operation
only for the last two years, period
| Of constantly rising costs. and the COM
mission he's had nothing to do but raise
fares ever since 1t began to sit. Owing
| to the manner in which the earnings OF
the company are regulated and re-
stricted there has been little popular
resentment over the increases, the pro-
ceeds of which have gone largely into
| increased wages for employees.
The one defect that critical observers
believe they see in the new franchise
Is one which is to be found In an even
more serious form In any public owner
ship system for the operation OF utili-
ties. It is the lack of competent and
sufficiently interested body to resist I'M
reasonable demands on the part of labor.
in the cost of living in the course Of the
next three or four years it would justify
n reduction in the wages Of the tram
ways workers.
However, the company has no interest
| in enforcing such reduction, for 1t has
nothing to gain by it-and. indeed, the
same arguments that could be advanced
for justifying a reduction on account of
lessened living costs might be brought
forward by somebody else as a reason
for reducing the salaries of the COM
pany's own high officials so as to assist
toward a reduction of fares in the pub
| lie interest The commission might take
strong ground for reducing fares by re-
ducing wages, but, too, 1t might not; and
the prevailing impression is that 1t would
| not.
| There Is every reason to expect that
the people of Montreal will continue to
pay their new fares of four tickets for a
| quarter for the next twenty-five years
or so, and that the employees of the
Tramways Company will continue to
draw their present wages irrespective OF
what becomes of the cost of living The
poor public has not much chance against
| a strong labor body and a wage schedule
established by long precedent.