Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-06-05

way kalkS OA atH were EuSHSu al a.
might and. under cover of darkness,
hacks were laid in forbidden places
and injunctions were secured to pre-
vent them being removed. Public
hearings became a farce for If the
Public Service could not get what it
wanted from a city, borough or town
ship II would como in and take 1t
Bnyway and then ask the local author
tiles what they were going to 10
about #. Ag' eerlcnts in franchises
were ignored at the company's
pleasure and the city had no redress.
The people became very bitter as a
result Of all this and their resentment
only increased when they found their
hands were tied. 1t did not help any
to have smooth-tongued representa-
tives of the Public Service appear and
try to Jolly the crowd with a lot of
hot air."
But the change came at last. The
Public Service lost much OF its in
nuence and It began to need friends
among the people at large. Alas it
had none. The people were only too
glad of an opportunity to get back"
at the corporation hat had assumed
such a public be damned" attitude so
long.
The wal came: credits fell; capital
could not be secured; legislation was
passed holding the corporation down
while prices of everything scared.
From a bold. defiant. don't-give-a-
hang attitude the Public Service be-
came a very humble supplicant. On
its knees did 1t beg for favors-even
kind consideration, but the public was
cold and indifferent-jhst as cold and
Indifferent as the Public Service had
been only a few years before when
everything looked so rosy for the cor
poration.
In the meantime the service be-
came ~demoralized, roadbeds went to
pieces and the cars became unfit for
human beings to ride in. Then came
the jitneys. New buses that seemed
like a Pullman palace a when COM
pared with the average trolley a
were at the disposal of the people.
wheels on worn-out steel rails the rid
ing was far more comfortable and the
speedy motor with no sidings to wait
on carried one to his destination in
half the time consumed by a trolley.
No wonder the bus became popular.
1t is going to remain popular as long
as this contrast continues.
If the Public Service had given the
people of this section the kind of
trolley service the people of the Mid
die West and West have received there
never would have been the bus COM
petition that the Public Service is
fighting today. The EVENING NEWS
has urged a real fast line service be-
tween Perth Amboy and New Bruins
wick for several years, but the Public
has ignored this public neces-
sity. 1t takes anywhere from an hour
and a half to two hours to make the
trip of twelve miles by trolley now.
who do not own automobiles
use the steam railroad by way OF Rah-
way as they did before the trolley line
was established. Such rapid transit
md such accommodations as they
nave in Indiana or Southern Califor-
MIA, for instance are unknown here.
the Public Service has to offer us
Is humping along over rough rails
on fiat wheels In filthy cars wasting
time waiting on sidings. Is it
any wonder the public turned to the
swifter, more comfortable and clean
er buses? The way for the Public
to overcome this competition
is to give service that is as good or
But the Public Service cannot do
without capital, and it cannot Sc
cure capital unless 1t is earning
enough to pay dividends on It's invest
ed capital, and 1t cannot arm enough
to pay dividends without the
of the people, and this sup
port 1t has lost-thrown 1t away by
it's short-sighted policy of 'the public
be-damned." Just how the Public
is going to win back public
support we don't know. 1t can't be
done through legislation or court &C
ton. We are convinced, however. that
with decent service the trolley a
would have the preference over the
bus and there would be no necessity
for an injunction to put the bus lines
out of business.