The Washington herald., 1920-04-19
Scent FARES
|. ONLY SOLUTION
BOARD INSISTS
Utilities Commission Sticks
To Decision Despite Uni
fled Opposition.
JONES TO RUSH BILL
Will Ask Senate to Order
6N-Cent Rate This
Week.

District Commissioners Brownlow
and kutz last night stood firm in
their determination 20 raise car
fares in the Distric. of Columbia to
s cents, and Senator Wesley l..
Jones. of Washington. author of a
bill to fix all car fares in the Dis
trict at a maximum of 6A cents.
said last night that he would de-
mand consideration Of his bill as
soon as possible this week.
Il am convinced" said Senator
Jones, that the proper way and
probably the only effective way to
give people of the District RELIEF
from the present obnoxious traction
conditions is through Congressional
action. l intend to urge consolida-
tion of the principal traction sys-
TENS under one management. and L
am sure that under proper manage
ment a maximum fare of Ga CENTS
as provided in my bill. will be SUI
ficient to maintain the service.
Thinks New Start Needed.
In any case the present service
is SO bad that something must De
done to remedy it, and l don't be-
lieye anything less than thorough
overhauling of the traction tangle
and a fair start on a new basis VIII
suffice to improve the service
Senator Sherman. chairman OF the
Senate District Committee. TO
which the Jones bill was referred
is absent, and until he returns no
further action in the Senate is ex-
pected He probably will return
the latter part of the week, when
the Jones bill will be taken mp
The majority of members of the
Senate District Committee are
known to be opposed to the pro-
posed Scent fare. and several have
declared their intention to support
the Jones bill. senator Thomas, OF
Colorado. in n recent speech, ar
raigned this Washington Railway
and Electric Company in a most
unsparing manner. declaring 1T
"dropsical with overcapitaliZaton.
and trying to save itself by adding
further burdens to the public purse,
when the proper action is to de-
clare itself bankrupt and so into
the hands of a receiver.
Board Defends Action.
In the face OF an ATTACK on tneir
decision from both Houses of Con-
gress. and almost unanimous op-
position on the part of the public.
District Commissioners Brownlow
and Kutz declared yesterday that
they lad done all they could do"
and performed their duty under
law enacted by Congress" They
expressed determination to abide by
their decision to raise carfares to
s cents.
They reiterated this stand when
confronted with the statement of
Chairman Mapes, of the House Dis
trict Committee, that the Commits
sioners' bill was an attempt to put
all responsibility for a raise in
fares on Congress.
The Commissioners refused to
discuss statements by Congressmen n
that the increase in rates to the
Washington Hallway and Electric
Company gave more than a fair re-
turn upon the combined property
of both companies.
Kutx Approves Merger.
A petition by the Federation of
Citizens Associations for a rehear-
ing before the Public Utilities Com
mission had not been received by
the Commissioners. and they re-
fused to discuss the matter in ad-
vance. Commissioner Kutz, in dis
cussing the proposed merger of
traction lines, now before Congress,
said he had. from the first. been
strongly in favor of such a solu-
ton of traction difficulties.