The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-03-15
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information, Bureau
FREDERIC J. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington, d. c.
WHERE THE JIrNEYs WON OUT

jitney service which is said by widely
travelled persons to be one of the best
! in the United States. But this jitney
service has a greater distinction than
that. 1t has fought two corporations
and the city council and licked them
all. 1t now parks its cars on the street
car tracks which are mere mementos
of a dead enterprise, and it has also
put bus line out of business. These
/ giant-killing feats it accomplished in
| a dramatic struggle by reason of hav-
! ing the people back of it. The Miami
I ans liked their little jitney service
and they refused to let it die.
This battle between the independent
! iitney operators and the street car and
other corporations is of course an old
story. The same fight has been fought
/ in scores of cities But almost II not
quite everywhere else the corporations
/ have Won out. In these United yates,
for some reason, corporations almost
! Invariably win out against lndepen-
dent operators of any kind. Organ
I lied money seems to command the
/ sympathy of judges and legislators
/ to an almost incredible extent, and
| the public seldom has nerve enough
I to take a hand in the game. Here
! the legislators sympathized with the
hcorporations, too, but the public made
its wishes in the matter most clearly
known, literally taking both law and
! equity into their own hands. 1t is
/ refreshing to discover one instance
in which the little fellows won out.
! It would appear that the street car
/ service in Miami, however, was never
/ very big fellow and certainly not
very efficient one. 1t is said that the
! people used to run to their doors to
, watch the street cars go by, 1t hap
| pened so seldom None-the-less, old
citizens remember that way back about
! 1917 the street car company made
! some kind of an attempt to have the
/ jitneys put out of business and that
| the attempt failed. Then the car barn
and all of the street cars burned up,
and the car company was out OF the
running.
1t was then that the real enemy of
the jitney drivers was organized in the
form of a bus company which pro-
posed to operate large motor buses
over the same routes the jitneyS tray
eled It is said that they intended to
charge ten cents for exactly the same
trips that were costing the citizens a
nickel in the jitneys. 1t is also said
that they had signs all painted and
ready for use, charging quarter for
trip that could be made in jitney
for dime. But it never got chance
to use these signs.
NAbdut the time the bus company
was organized, the town council passed
a law which placed a variety of limi-
I
The most formidable of these made it
necessary for each driver of a jitney
to furnish bond for the good be-
havior of himself and his car in the
sum of several thousand. dollars. 1t
was a sum which no jitney driver
could pay. 1t was intended and ex-
pected. by some people, to be the
death of the Miami jitney service.
Protected by this law, the bus line
put eight buses into operation with
Z -, H. tINR
jitneys charged a nickel. But the
buses Immediately encountered the
formidable difficulty that almost no.
body would ride in them. They made
their regular and scheduled trips in
lonely and empty state.
Meantime, all of the jtineys reap
peared on the street. 1t was against
the law for them to operate for hire
without having put up that prohibitive
bond, SO they did not operate for hire.
Instead, each of them carried a sign
saying, Free Union Jitney,' and a
general invitation was extended TO all
the good people of Miami to ride
wherever they wanted to go for moth
ing.
The jitneys had already commanded
a good deal of popular sympathy, and
now they won the town folk over COM
pletely. Every one rode in the free
union jitneys. and no one rode in the
buses. When he got out of a jitney.
the passenger threw his fare on the
seat, and in order to show that he was
on the side of the Independent oper-
ator and the five-cent ride, he often
left a quarter or fifty-cent piece in
stead of a nickel. The jitneK opera
tors made more money giving free
rides than they ever did charging a
regular scale of fares.
Meantime the jitney operators. who
had organized themselves into Local
No. 494 of the International Brother
hood of Transfers. Chauffeurs, Sta
blemen and helpers. went into court
and found a judge who declared that
the ordinance compelling them to put
up a bond was unconstitutional. They
then resumed operation at the usual
fares. The buses, in order to meet
this competition, came down in fare to
five cents. but even at that price they
could not get any business. The Glt-
neys had. it all. The bus line got an
other ordinance, just like the first one,
passed, and the jitney drivers again
went into court and had it declared
unconstitutional. That finished the
bus line as a means of conveyance
within the city. The jitneys are now
absolutely supreme, and they nave
remarkably secure place in the affec-
tons of the people.
This jitney service is good example
of very loose organization in which
every individual is a free operator,
but which serves its purpose very well.
The union has president, and lodge
room. 1t costs ten dollars to join il.
and a dollar a month dues. The union
has a business agent on the street,
who looks out for its interests. Each
driver, however, is free to drive where
and when he pleases. Supply and de-
mand is relied upon to regulate the
number of jitneys operating on each
street, and this laissez-faire policy
seems to work very well, as you never
have to wait long for a car anywhere.
Tho driver may leave his route where
ever he pleases. If he has time he will
often take you to your door for
dime or nickel extra. but in the rush
hours he will usually refuse to do this.
The only hard and fast regulations
have to do with the fares. Each OPP
orator carries a card on the windshield
which announces on the outside that
it is union jitney. and on the reverse
carries a statement of the fares to all