Evening star., 1920-04-05
CLERKS QUESTION
RIGHT TO ASSURE
v. R. f. DIVIDEND
Employees Union Speaker at
Hearing Attacks Return
on "Past Failures"

speech by jeremiah Connolly, repre-
senting the Federal Employees Union
pubic hearing for an Increased fare
for that eoIr pany In the boardroem of
the District building today.
Mr. Connolly started shortly before
noon and concluded his address in ten
minutes. During that time he reviewed
the entire situation from the point
OF view of workers.
Il hold that the organization of this
you. although / was tipped off to 1t
several months ago. Is to be absorbed
by the Washington-Arlingt rail-
road. which will take over the entire
city system" said Mr.. Connolly. Il
doubted 1t at the time. but subsequent
developments have tended to strength
en- my belief that this will be accom-
plished.
Salary OF Omcinl.
The president of this company, am
told. receives a 50 larry of $4,000 a year,
the pay of four senator's The chair
man Of the board of directors l have
known for number of years. This
man has never been connected with
any ything that was not remunerative.
Are these men worth their salar1es1
To the man who waits on the street
corner in tho rain and then gets on Il
car. to have the breath OF life almost
crushed out Of him. the answer IS en-
phatically No."
He passed over few details and
turned to the question of receivership.
Bless your SOUL" he said. ''some of the
best companies did not begin to func-
tion properly until they went into the
hands Of receivers. Take the Seaboard
Air Line railway, the New York. New
Haven and Hartford railway and the
Washington Arlington railway. which I
claim IS the parent company to this.
and you viii see that the thesis works
nr1f 1or 1,,0 On
tators and kickers as some call them.
that we got them to function properly.
John 8. BArbour. attorney for the
company. can\e to his feet.
do I unde(stand you to agitate a
reseivershiD' o, :lr, Connollyr. he asked;
don't honestly believe you are in any
danger of a receivership: T think It's
a nightmare"
w. Mr.. Hams New Measure.
President Ham Of the Washington
Railway and Electric Company pro-
posed n new measure Tor relief dur
Ing examination hy Attorney Barbour.
: He was asked by the attorney II q
7-cent straight fare and a 1o-cent
almost do It," He declared that 1t
would yield approximately $s50.000.
and that a slight charge for transfers
might make up the difference.
Col. Kutz interrupted with a query
as. to the ;advisability Of increasing
Power Company. President Ham re-
piled:
''If you put the Potomac Electric
Power Company on per cent earn-
ing basis. you will absolutely destroy
the credit Of n company :hs: mus.
expand or cease to function"
Mr.. Ham declared that oven high
er rate for electric current might be
needed in the future. in case costs
kept rising.
Regarding the statement of Mr..
Connolly. with reference to the alb
sorption Of his company. Mr.. Ham
said in a private statement:
II don't know what he is talking
about
brotherhood Requests Raise.
II. w. Lynn. representing the Broth
erhood of Street and Electric Railway
Employees. formally requested the
commission to grant an increase in
wages to the employees of the WASH
ington Railway and Electric Company
equal to that given the Capital Trac-
tion men.
In answer to Commissioner Kutz,
Mr.. Lynn said he represented about
He said these were the older employees
of the company.
If the rate Of fare Is not made suf-
f1cient to give the employees an In
crease. Lynn said. these older men
would remain at work. He made the
charge, however, that "aEitators" are
at work among the younger men and
that they would become dissatisfied
IL they do not get an increase in pay.
He intimated that strike might re-
suit.
Lynn then attacked William NICK.
uto hot rhn
Washington Railway and Electric
Company Is running dilapidated cars
on the suburban lines.
William F. Ham, president of the
Washington Railway and Electric
Company, made the statement to the
commission that Mr.. Lynn was not
speaking for the company. Mr.. Clay
ton told the commission he would
prepare a brief for submission later,
backing up his argument that the
commission is without authority to
establish a zone system.
Would Not Urge Strike.
A. +. Jones. representing the Anal
gamated Association of Street and
Electric Railway Employees, told the
commission that the men of the
Washington Railway and Electric
Company who belong to that organi-
zation have no intention Of urging a
strike to enforce their requests for
the same rate of pay recently grant
ed the Capital Traction Company men.
I'VE do not dwell entirely on
wages. said Mr.. Jones. there being
have remedied as we'll. We are not
in a position to know what rate Of
pay is necessary to run this system
and we will not go into that"
He said that while he believed the
W. r. and f. men are entitled to the
Traction men. he did not want the
impression to go out that the men he
represents are in any sense agitators
Maj. d. S. Fletcher. as the repre-
sentative of Takoma Park, spoke
strongly against the zone fare system.
necessary the people of his section
favor a straight fare rather than Il
zone system. He said zone system
would not greatly increase the rev.
enue of the company because people
would boycott the cars by walking
past the first zone.
The hearing adjourned until 2:15,
when a petition from the employees of
the bureau engraving and printing
will be read.
frophesies Effect on Lines.
At the opening of the hearing Engi-
neer Commissioners Kutz asked Mr.
Ham what the effevt would be If a zone
system is applied to the Wisconsin and
Georgia avenue lines of his system
without applying it to the Connecticut
avenue and 18th street lines of the
Capital Traction. j. H. Hanna, general
manager of the Capital Traction, re-
ouested last week that the zone sys-
tenn be not applied to his company's
lines.
Mr. Ham replied that the distance
between Wisconsin and Connecticut
1Gontin00> >on Page 2. Column 2.