The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-08-30

there that it has become the firmly
established policy of nearly all of. the
big cities of Great Britain. The Glas-
gov municipal tramways have paid
for themselves out of earnings and
are now entirely out of debt. The
Liverpool tfamways and other NUM-
cipal systems Ia Great Britain are
following similar course. In this
country, the San Francisco municipal
railway has been in operation since
1912, almest as long as the -Cleve-
land service -at-eest plan, and the sue
cess of the San Francisco experiment
has been quite as notable. In fact
Judge Sanders, the City Street Rail-
road Commissioner of Cleveland
charged with the duty of operating
the serviee-at-eest contract there,
testified before the Commission in IA
ver of municipal ownership, and
made the principal criticisms of the
service-at-costs plan-critcisms which,
in spite of their origin in practical
experiece with the plan, the Com
mission in it's report characterizes
as more theoretical than real"
Private management shown to have
been failure in this country.
On the very record made before the
Commission and indeed upon the ba-
sis Of the Commissions own report
signed with the rest by Mr.. Gadsden
| representative Of the American Elec-
trio Railway Association, private
management of the electric railways
! In this country, taken by and large,
[ is shown to have been ruinous fall
ure. By comparison, municipal ow-
| nership and operation have absolute
| ly no apologies to make. True, the
Commission finds that public antag-
| onism, unjust public burdens and
| hostile regulation, in one form or an
| other, are in part responsible for the
! evil plight in which the electric rail-
| ways find themselves today; but the
| evidence shows that these things
| were all the inevitable result of the
| spirit in which private management
originally tackled it's job, and no mat
ter how good the companies inten-
tions may now be, it will take them
| a long time to live down their past
4, Indeed, the Commission sees that it
| would be impossible to relegate the
| industry to the status of a private
| business and permit it to save itself
through it's own initiative and eff
! ficiency.
| Instead of that the Commission rec
| ommends an intermediate, franchise
| a rate of return that will induce new
| capital to flow into the business, and
| a service-at-cost contract with a flex-
| ible fare that will practically guar
| antee the com panies against loss L
| recommends a general plan under
| which the incentives to economy an6
efficiency supposed to be characters.
| tic of private management are great
1y weakened and are expected to bt
! kept alive by the artificial stimulus
of more intimate and more persisten
public regulation. The Commission
plan is more experimental and les
| tried than public ownership and op
Grafton. 1t imposes upon the pub1i
! agencies charged with responsible.
for regulation, a task that under tn
circumstances demands wide
knowledge, a greater experience
higher courage, and more freedom
from political interference than nun
icipal operation itself. No doubt
carefully protected setv1ce-at-cos
plan has merit as an Intermediate
step toward public ownership, blu
when it is devised and put forwar
as a means of perpetuating privat
operation, it is bound to fail. Unde
such circumstances, it becomes jus
one more side-stepping device to re
lieve the community of public re
sponsibility, and to put the companie
on easy street while they continue t
conduct public business for privat
| profit.
Tom johnson, now a hero Of til
electric railways, was a municip:
ownership man.
Tom johnson, who, it would appea
has now become the hero of the cleo
: trio railway industry, had to fight tn
, traction interests in Cleveland toot
and nail for a period Of nearly tie
years before he could beat them int
a state of mind where they reluctant
accepted the service-at-cost principle
and for years after the Tayler grar
went into effect it was the subject
/ adverse criticism and ridicule by elet
trio railway men generally. TOT
s johnson believed in municipal owner
| ship, but he was unable to get it be
cause of the legal restrictions undo
: which the City of Cleveland lahore
in his day. Now that service-at-co
e has worked out so we'll for the CON
pany in Cleveland, the electric raj
i ways of the country have adopted
t as their shibboleth of salvation. Bt
S they show very little disposition
I accept the fundamental conditions 6
to the valuation of their property an
i heir rate of return which have bee
largely responsible for such degre
|, of success as the Cleveland Railwa
settlement has enjoyed. 1t shall
said however, that the Commisslo
: in its report to the President, viii
t not recommending any specific ru
| of valuation, does indirectly take
u crack at the electric railway compaI
: les pet theory that fair value
n measured by reproduction cost ne
l. at war prices.
: One other point in the Commission
e report deserves special commends
n ton 1t recommends that the ca
| tai for street railway extensions ar
o rapid transit lines be provided, whe
ever practicable, by special asses
: naents on real estate in proportion
- the benefits derived Moreover,
e takes the precaution to say that tt
amount of such special assessmen
l. should not be added to the physic
: value of the corporate property.
y would appear that this method OF a
tracing new capital into the buslne
e would SAVIOR of public ownership, tt
: Commission to the contrary notwitl
y standing.
81 Massa chusetts Testimony for Publ
Ownership.
l. The Commission certainly had b
tfore It a great deal of responsible te
YN11h