The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1920-08-13

''Tho payroll for July. which was a
Representative month, was $40, 0,O9T,'
Mr.. McGrnth said, and 10 per cent
additional. which the employees now
demand, will make an increase In
che payroll OF over 81 900 n month.
This will have n corresponding effect
In the loss.
"By putting on flvc-minutc service
20 tho end OF First street, we en-
dcRvored to eliminate Admiral Jit-
ueyB by competitive service. We had
our doubts az to whether this could
be accomplished, and the above fig-
urcs show that gs has been the cN-
perience wherever tried. that the
only way TO stop Jitneys is by logis-
lation. That, puts an equality Of
burdens on. the jitneys somewhat
comparabloNO that OF the street rail
ways, Even with the additional ser
vice, our receipts for July were less
than those for June.
we realize that with an in
creased fare, the short haul fares
will likely be inclined TO desert us,
that has been the case In other cities.
And that is one reason we have de-
lsysd asking for tho increase as long
as possible.
Last November We were visited
by a committee representing the
Admiral jitneys and asked to raise
our fares to seven cents. They said
if\we would do this they would
charge ten cents We refused Stat
ing that we DID not consider Jltneys
legitimate competition, and that we
did not intend TO enter into collu-
sion with them.
10 IL ~
the previous ten per cent increase
in our payroll. the suggestion was
made TO us that we Immediately ask
for fare increase. We put II OFF.
hoping that there would be IA fnvor-
able change in labor and market
conditional But our hopes have been
shattered, The price OF both labor
and materials liz rising steadily; we
have waited as long as we can
Our application will be for seven
cents cash fare. with four tickets for
25 cents, So the fare will really be
elk and n quarter cents. We will
want everyone to use tickets, and will
urge them to do So We don't want
bother with pennies any more than
our patrons do"
Street car fares In Boston, Pitts
burgh, Portland and several other
large cities are now ten cents. Kan
sas City's rate Ia eight cents, as is
that OF ST. Louis, oklahoma City's
application for "A seven cent fare ~
now pending. The plan there is the
same as that of the Tulsa Street
Railway company---to sell four
tickets for 10 cents. IL Is Under
n .ood that Muskogee's request for
an oight-cent fare has been approved
hy the corporation commission. leav-
ing Tulsa as the only large city In
the state that has not already raised
the fare or which has It's application
before the corporation commission,
people must remember that
nickel. as far as purchasing power Is
concerned, Is almost "a curiosity
now" MIR. McGrath declared. The
average person known that dollar
nowadays will buy about 40 coats
worth of merchandise, II is the
same with nickel, Today II has a
purchasing power ot about two cents.
This statement may give an idea of
what we are up against. And the
purchasing power OF our particular
nickels Will deteriorate ten per cent
more when we grant the ten per cent
increase demanded by our employees.
While the chamber of commerce
has taken no active part either for
or against the proposed Increase, 1t
II understood that several directors
in that organization have declared
they could not understand how the
street railway remains In business
with only five-ccnt fare