New-York tribune., 1919-01-07
Protocol Reveals Deal With
the marlborough to Let
the City Run All Systems
Eight-Cent Fare Proposed
NEcEariane. Writer for
Hearst. Drafted Pact, Pub
lie Service Board Is Told

testimony tnat secret conferences
had been in progress between repre-
sentativcs OF Mayor Hylan and officials
q the lnterborough companies. looking
80. the munic;pa ownership and opera
ton of all subway. elevated and sur
face lines in the city outside OF Staten
Island was given before the Public
Service Commission yesterday by James
L. QuaCkenbush, general counsel for
the lnterborough.
Mr.. Quackenbush produced at the
direction of Travis Whitney, acting
chairman OF the Commission, copy
of tentative agreement by which the
lines were 10 be taken over by the
city. This, ne testified, had been pre-
pared by him after /. long series of
meetings with Grenvile S. McFarlane,
. lawyer, who at other times repre-
sented William Randolph Hearst, and
with William p Burr. Corporation
Counsel of the city.
Mr.. Quackenbush said that Theodore
T. Shonts. president os the Inter
borough, had been introduced to Nc
dllduc ny MAY VI llS IAN III eAS io$|SA y
Office at City Hall, where Shonts had
been summoned by the Mayor During
al the conferences which followed, eX-
lending over period of five months,
Quackenbush said he regarded McFar-
ane as q representative OF the city.
Mr.. Shonts will appear before the
Public Service Commission at 10:30
this morning 10 give in detail his
par, in the negotiations between the
city and the traction companies.
Burr Criticised "Protocol'
Iarly in October. Quackenbush said,
ie sent a copy of tho tentative agree
mcnt or protocol to Corporation
Counsel Burr for criticism. Six weeks
l.-ter Burr filed report en- the proto
col with Mayor Hvlan, in which he
objected, on legal grounds, to certain
Of the features OF the agreement.
Conferences between Burr and Quack-
snbush continued up to December 80,
week ago.
Quackenbush told about three -oc
easions on which Mayor Hylan and
sion o. raising fares or taking over the
transportation lines of the city. The
first was on August ! at the time of
;Ao opening of the Lexington Avenue
ubway.
The second meeting occurred few
days later, when Hylan summoned
Shonts to the City Hall and introduced
Alm to McFarlane, the Hearst lawyer
md publicist, as an authority or mu-
pIclO3l oWnPrchIO VVOrE pt
Boston and Chicago.
In the early part of October Shonts
again visited the Mayor at the City
hail. Quackenbush testified, after which
meeting Corporation Counsel Burr
s.arted conferring with Quackenbush.
Trustee" Operation Proposed
The protocol" by which the lines
we're to be taken over by the city,
was said by Quackenbush to be the
incorporation of the ideas set forth
gy McFarlanc. the Hearst -Hyan repre-
.entativc, in their Interviews
The plan called for the operation
of all the subway, elevated and street
railroad lines in the city excluding
the Borough of Richmond) by trus-
ICES selected by the public authorities,
Who should have charge Of all the
finances of the individual lines
Since this could not be done without
~ amendment TO the state conStitu-
ilon. 1t was to be agreed that a pcti-
ton should be presented to the Leris
iature IN 1919 and again in 1921 to
dont for submission to the people a
change IN the laws which would per-
mt trust agreement between the citv
and the traction corporations. on the
order Of the Massachusetts law in re.
fsrd to Boston.
Petitions were also to be made to
"o legislature to permit unified con-
ifoi Of the lines By the trustees. fol
loving the plan in operation in TIC
tN Of Chicago
Fare Increase Agreed Upon
During the time that such efforts 10
amcnd the law we've being made tho
protocol called for an increase of fare
- an ne city lines to eight cents.
flth fhroc cents for transfers. If this
increased rare resulted in a surplus.
or "diTisiblc profit" the tentative
"gI'eiocut provided it was TO he d.
N'ded INTO two parts, one to go to the
~. the ether TO the CORPORATION
Iocted
II Tie corporation. after this period
o. increased fares, did not have a sufIi
'oht reserve fund to carry on it's opcr-
leh ne protocol provides that the
snail make up this amount. raIso
's INC funds by temporary loans. 80
.fiiHDnrScd ny annual taxation.
7ls stimulation was made to apply az
veil 10 the street railways. which ha,e
necu in annncial straits for a lon,,
iinic
lhe management b. trustees was To
soHtnpc Until the termination Of thc
icss"s Of the rapid transit lines. or
December -. 1857. unless. before that
time. the city should have acquired the
traction properties by outright pur
Cha>e.
Corporations Willing to Sell
The trans portaton corporations. ac
e"rdiag to the agreement. we're pre-
pared 10 sci, thcir properties md fran.
ti''ses, all together, but not scDarateiy
during the reriod of the trugt ayrce
vent, a. net purchase pricc which
ffey were to set on their assets "a,
gong concerns II they could not agree
On the PRICE, Al impartial asscssnoeu,
vas - ne made Of the properties.
II The Legislature failed to pass the
teee~@ary legislation sor me trust
agreement. or the people failed 10 rat.
~ The constitutional amendment she
csDDpanie1 a.rccd nevertheless to sci
fse eysferns 10 the city and to cor.
ilnuc operating them until the citv va,
able 10 take them oyer entirely.
In Corporation Counsel Burr re-
port 10 Mayor Hylan on the propozcd
agreement, he said that Eve induce