Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-01-25
TRACTION MERGER
PR0P0SALFAVORED
BY G. f. HAMILTON
Declares Unification of Lines
Has Obstacles Which
Can Be Overcome.

VdT 6c OvCICUIIlEs
President George f. Hamilton of the
Capital Traction Company Endorsed the
merger of the two local street railway
companies in a letter which was read
at the conference Of the public utilities
committee of the thirty-five citizens as
sociations, held at the District building
last night under auspices of the Fed
Grafton of Citizens Associations.
1.-The difficulties in reaching a fair
basis of merger are many and great"
Mr.. Hamilton declared in his letter
read to the conference by William NICK.
Clayton, chairman of the utility COM
mittee Of the federation, who presided.
They are. however. in my opinion.
difficulties that may be overcome"
President Hamilton's letter concluded.
1.-THE question of the uniffcation or
merger of the street railroad COM
panies of Washington is one of inter-
est and Importance to the public and
to the. security. holders Of the COM
panies." declared the president OF the
Capital Traction Company. THE man.
agement of the Capital Traction Com
pany has never opposed, but, on the
contrary, is on record in the express
sion of a view favorable to a merger
its security holders and to the public
and providing sound and safe direc-
ton"
Mr.. Ham at Conference.
President William F. Ham of the
Washington Railway and Electric
Company, who recently favored the
plan for a merger in his annual re-
port, was present at the conference
and explained to the citizens the diff
:ol, tt,
today. He strongly urged that under
a merger all street railway proper
ties which run into Maryland should
be included.
President Ham spoke at length. fol-
lowing the reading by Chairman Clay
ton of the merger bill presented to
Congress at the request of the Com
missioners. the Romjue merger bill
and the proposed bill which is being
drawn up by the Federation of Citi-
zens' Associations.
In a frank address President Ham
told his hearers that the business of
his company recently has been Ito
keep its head above water" and that
frankly. we are in danger of sink
ing. Our problem" he continued, lis
to get enough revenues to pay our
bills with.
Service Below Cost.
"I don't believe the citizens of
Washington want to get their street
car service below COST" Mr.. Ham said.
And yet the people of Washington.
as regards our company. have been
getting their street car service for
the past eighteen months below cost.
The citizens of Washington have got
ten this services at 100000 below
cost"
First and foremost. Mr.. Ham de-
clared, the Washington Railway and
Electric Company needs immediate
relief. The property. he asserted, is
various merger bills Mr.. Ham said
the Romjue bill is a bill where. re-
garllless of cost, there shall be fixed
rate of fare. The bill calls for a
5 cent fare, with tickets to sell at
six for a quarter.
The Commissioners bill. Mr.. Ham
continued. is in essence a bill which
changes the form of taxation in order
to eQualize conditions in the two sys-
TENS. The speaker asserted that there
is no city in the United States ex-
cept Washington where the street
car companies have to pay for the
service of traffic policemen, which ex-
pense Indirectly falls upon the street
car rider"
Q Per Cent Insufficient.
1.-THE Commissioners" Mr.. Ham
stated, "have got to get away from
this idea of per cent. for per cent
is not a reasonable return on invest
ment at this time. Street railway
companies have got to have more than
s per cent return"
The president of the Washington
Railway and Electric Company out
lined several primary Thoughts" as
he termed them, for the consideration
of the citizens He said:
First, you have got to have street
car service. Second. what kind of
service do you want? Washington is
York-that adopted the underground
system. which is higher class sys-
tenn than the overhead. and which
costs three times as much to con-
struct and more to operate.
Washington wants a high-class
syst en- The question is, how are you
going to get it?"
President Ham admitted that the
government, either federal or munich
pal. might take over the roads. and
to take the properties it should have
that right. The only other alternative,
he said. is private ownership, and if
that. then capital must be attracted
I'm building for the Washington Of a
million Inhabitants" said Mr.. Ham.
"let us build safely and wisely, so that
we can have company that can give
the service.
Mr.. Ham pointed out that from 1914
to 1919 the annual revenues of his
company increased from 81, 900, 900 to
S5,400, 900, an increase of 70 per cent,
but that in the same time the operat-
ing expenses of the road had increased
1873 per cent.
The service of the Washington Rail-
way and Electric Company has increased
in efficiency recently, President Ham
said, detentions having decreased 80
per cent last December oven the De-
cember previous. and accidents de-
creased 30 per cent.
Edward r. Williams. representing
the trade organizations OF the bureau
of engraving and printing, presented
a communication strongly indorsing
the Romjue bill.