The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1920-08-27
Street Railways
to Serve Public
at Actual Cost
By WILLIAM PHILIP SIMS

Qnternationa, News Service Staff
Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Aug. 24.-Recom-
mendations for drastic changes in
the operation of street railway sys-
TENS doing business in cities
throughout the United States were
made in the report of the federal
electric railways commission to
President Wilson, made public here
| today.
The commission appointed by the
president about year ago at the
| request Of the secretaries of COM
merce and labor on the grounds that
the industry as a whole is virtually
bankrupt" and that the continued
shrinkage in the hundreds of mil
lions of electric railway securities
threatened ito embarrass the ma
tons financial operations" unani-
mously recommended that:
street railways everywhere
should serve the public at cost, pat
terning themselves in this respect
after lines in Cleveland, Cincinnati,
Dallas, Montreal and other cities.
diminishing rides at cost, OPP
Grating companies should be allowed
fixed return on their investment,
the value of which to be determined
by agreement.
Street railway arrangements,
employees and the public each have
solemn duty to perform, each to-
wards the other.
At is intolerable that the trans
portation service of a city should be
subject to occasional paralysis
whether by strikes or lockouts. All
labor disputes should be settled vol
unfairly or by arbitration and the
award of such board should be fl
nal and binding on both parties.
5-Public ownership and opera
tion are undesireab BILE save where pri-
vate operation has failed to give
the public service it demands, How
ever, the right of the public to own
and operate not only their car lines
but all public utilities should be
plainly recognized.
6-Whenever car lines are ex-
tended into outlying territory in
way to benefit private property the
cost should be borne by the private
interests to the extent of the benefit
acquired and should not be included
in the total valuation of the rail-
road system upon which fair profit
is guaranteed.
= Street railway franchises
should not be for specified time or
the fare charged fixed. Conditions
should govern both.
The whole electric railway enter
prise, the report stated, is in dire
straits. The letter to the president
signed by Secretary of Labor Will
son and the then Secretary of Com
merce William G. Redfield, calling
for the appointment of the commits
sion, stated that already fifty or
more urban systems, representing
considerable percentage of the total
electric railroad mileage of the coun-'
try are in the hands of receivers.
The communities affected are among
the most important, New York, Pro-
violence, Buffalo, New Orleans, Den
yer, st. Louis, Birmingham, Mont
gomery, Pittsburg, Memphis, Fort
Wayne, Des Moines, St. Paul, Spo-
kane and Chattanooga.
The report estimates that from
SITS, 100000 to 100000 an
nually will be necessary If the flu
ture needs Of the industry are to
be met properly. Restored conf
dence on the part Of the public, it
stated, is one of the vital necessities
of restored credit.
The plan of the commission is that
rides shall be furnished to the pub
lie at the lowest possible cost which
the investor shall be guaranteed
fixed return on his holdings.
On the subject of fares, the re-
port declared the fixed, uniform fare
is "a broken reed," and that pub
lie control must be flexible enough
to enable them (the street railways)
to secure sufficient revenue to pay
the entire cost of service rendered,
issuing the necessary cost of both
capital and labor"
When a given fare is found to pro-
duce profits above fair return, it
is explained, the money should go
neither to the company nor to the
city, but be reflected back into the
pockets of the public by an automatic
reduction in the fare paid by the
rider. The elimination of special
assessments for sprinkling, paving,
bridges, ETC., is recommended by the
commission on the ground that the
entire community and particularly
the automobile owner gets more ben
eft from these things than the
street car rider.
The lowly "jitney," the report
urges, should be regarded as a COM
mon carrier and placed under pub
lie regulation.