Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-07-22
Crisis in Transit
Was Mitten Coup
Continued from PAGE One

was aware, evidently, months ago oi
the Stotesbury plan for an increase to a
seven or eight cent fat fare for every
trolley rider.
To anticipate tho Stotesbury scheme
he acted with swiftness and decision.
In other words. he beat MIR. Stotes.
bury to it,
He formulated his idea into a schcd
ule of fares which was placed before
the public without action by his board
of directors. Mr.. NTitten feared the
defeat of his plan. That is tho con .
clusion to be deduccd from subsequent
events.
One thing that forces the conclusion
that the Mittcn plan and schedule had
been long incubating. and that he was
armed for all contingencies, is the
serene and confident manner in which
ne has declared. since the abrupt with
drawal of Messrs. Stotesbury. Lloyd
ct al. from the council chambers Of
the company. that "thp Philadelphia
Rapid Transit Co. will continue to
function .as usual"
1t means, IL It means anything. that
MIR. Mitten had prepared for just the
contingency that has arisen that he
had obtained assurances from financial
interests other than those of the Nor
gan Stotesbury group of necessary sup
port and backing.
In connection with this rumor has
been busy with the names Of the Nm d.
tional City Bank Of New York and the
du Fonts as the new Napoleons in Phil
adelphia s field of traction management.
The National City seems TO be ia
yored in the betting. but until Mr..
Mitten sees fit TO reveal the facts il
must remain a surmise.
City Preparing Legal Blow
II will be seen the situation has de
veloped from mess into a mystery.
The Public Service Commission s
mandate on the Mitten plan is ed
about Monday next. His is the only
schedule Of advanced trolley fares for
Philadelphia before them. As already
has been pointed out. the commission S
decision will be merely a temporary one,
II will stand effective until the com
mission makes it permanent or other
wise changes the situation.
II is when the presentation Of this
evidence is begun that City Solicitor
Smyth will strike his blow at the under
lying companies in the attempt to break
their perpetual hold on Philadelphia s
! transit system.
.Sothing can avert this attack.
Everything is in shape to begin it. That
this is a fact is due entirely TO the
acuteness of City Solicitor Smyth n
the plan so enthusiastically indorsed
by certain members Of Council, demand
ing that the city intervene in an earlier
action against the underlying com
panies, had received Mr.. Smyth's iu =
dorsement the city would have been
hog bound and tied to a post unable to
move hand or foot by this time.
But the city solicitor avoided the pit =
fall and today the way is clear for n
test as to whether the underlying com
panies, with their rich harvest Of in :
tcrest, averaging 14la per cent. shall
on the shoulders Of the Rapid Transit
Co.
Fund for Battle Is Ready
City Council has wisely appropriated
$50, 900 for the appointment of experts
to aid the city solicitor in dealing with
the inventory of the Rapid Transit
properties which Mr.. Mitten asserts
will be ready in September.
The far sightedness Of City Solicitor
Smyth in this matter has saved the city
possibly S500.000. Yet he has been
severely criticized by those ignorant of
the facts because he did not plunge in
at what to them seemed the auspiCious
moment.
Instead Of putting the city in posi- :
tion where it would have been compelled
to make an appraisement of the transit
company's property, Mr.. Smyth clcverly
shifted the responsibility for this work
OH to the company. saving the people the
huge sum necessary for the work
tran
the necessity of preparing its own in.
ventory and it Is left to City Solicitor
Smyth and his experts to locate only
the discrepancies. OvcrCharges and errors
in that document.
There is more than II reasonable as.
sumption that after Mr. Mitten and his
new financial associates, whoever they
may be. have hand picked the new di-
rectors TO fill the places of Mr.. StoteS-
bury and his friends they will de.
eide to join with the city in an attempt
to break the leases of the underlying
companies
Messrs Shelmerdine, Sullivan and
other directors in sympathy with Mr..
StotPsbury are really the representa-
tives of the underlying companies in
the old bonrd. Rid of them, and with
new financial blood infused into the
transit company, there may develop an
independence of action in the new board
that will lead to unexpected things.
p. II. r. MIXED by Subsidiaries
With the old leases abrogated it
would bring large accretions of capital
to the support Of the company. For It
is the vast sum necessary to meet the
contractual obligations of these com
panies that has bled the Rapid Transit
Co. white.
The most casual glance reveals that
Mr.. Stotesbury and his friends cannot
break the underlying leases in face Of
the fact he favored abrogation of the
transit company's contract with the
city. made in 1907. when he proposed to
force n seven cent fare upon t1c people
regardless of that contract
As to the political side of the sit
uation 1t will develop as result Of
future action both on the part of Mr..
StOtesbury and the new hackers Of tho
Mitten management.
II is already hinted Mr.. Stotc,hury ,
relations with certain state officials nrr
Of such character they may have "A
distinct bearing upon the financial fu .
turr of state politics. SO far rs tho
city situation is concerned, it is a mat
tor of common knowledge that tho
Stotesbury interests have. politically
speaking. in the past been closely allied
with those of the Ware faction.
Whether this relationship, offensive
and defensive, is to be maintained in
the future is II question which the
bankers group alone can answer.
The history Of financial politics in
Pennsylvania, however. is not coudu
Give to the assumption that capitaI
IL in the habit Of throwing good money
after bad; in other words. retaliation
would be the only excuse for such a