Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-10-18
PUBLIC SERVICE BOARD Is
ON TRIAL BEFORE PEOPLE
Upon Its Own Decision In carfare Case
and Superior Courts Decree on
Underlying Companies viii
Rest the Greater Verdict

10 VII t0c DpOUlt.
1t is on trial in two ways.
Its right to assume jurisdiction over the
rentals paid to the voracious underlying
companies by the =. II. 7. is under attack
before the Superior Court today. Such
power is fundamental in it's structure, and
IL it should be denied the commission might
as well be disbanded.
But the greater issue will be determined
by the manner in which the commission itself
determines the question Of fare readjust-
ment for this city. Upon this point hang
the most momentous concerns Of the p r. T.
and the people OF the city at large.
Those who have been closely following the
affairs Of street transportation in Philadel-
phia have just reason to be pcrturbcd over
the present posture Of events There is a
sinister look about the way various factors
have developed in the last few weeks.
An organized propaganda, largely below
the surface, it is true, but still easily identi-
fable, is under way to force carfares up from
five cents to six. seven or eight cents, in
face Of the fact that the management of the
company is content to ask for only FIVE.
If the shaping Of events were wholly in
the hands of what Mr.. Mtten has desig-
mated rs "the bankers group" which means
Mr.. Stotesbury and his financial associates,
they could hardly have been directed more
definitely toward the humiliation and re-
pudation Of the present management of the
=. r. T.
The disingenuous way in which various
members of Council acted on the subject Of
Mr.. Mitten's plea for fat five cent fare
is Indicative of forces moving behind the
scenes rather than any virtuous desire for
the protection of the interests of the public
of which these men are supposed to be the
servants in office.
\ study in deadly parallels Of the different
propositions submitted by these men in the
farcicnl hearing before Commissioners Benu
and Clement last week leads only to the
conclusion that there was deliberate at
tempt to muddle the situation and confuse
the mind of the people.
Instead Of giving decisive "yes'' or mo
on a perfectly simple and straightforward
request by Mr.. Mitten. Council as a body
sidestepped and ducked responsibility with
the sinuosity of invertebrates. But when
it came to constructive suggestions to afford
a substitute for the P. r. T.'s proposal
the least Objectionable to the public and the
most favorable to the preservation Of the
present management that has been offered
what a rush Of half baked and superficial
ideas to the surface
OF course. any OF these gentlemen who
have been intimately associated with some
OF the interests which are now loudly de-
manding seven and even ten cents as the
right fare basis would Indignantly resent
the intimation that they were acting other
than for the best interests Of the car rider,
even though 1t would not be hard to point
out that they owe their political position to
these self same factors. The hypocrisy Of
the situation is actually nauseating.
But the most disturbing development was
the sudden emergence of rumors, apparently
inspired, insinuating that the Public Service
Commission was going to do the unheard Of
thing by ordering the p r. T. to charge a
fiat increase of one or two cents more for
each of the billion individual fares now col
lected annually by the p. r. T. It Is in
conceivable that this will be done. 1t would
mean, at the lowest estimate, from S10,-
900, 900 to 800, ,0o0, 900 more every year out
of the pockets of the car riders, and would
be far in excess Of the request of Mitten and
Of all estimates Of what is necessary.
1t is all very we'll for Mr.. Vauclain, head
Of Baldwin's, where Mr.. Stotesbury Is a
controlling stockholder to talk about the
need Of a ten-ce fare. But how will it
appeal to the thousands Of workers In the
Baldwin shops who use the cars daily to
pay twice az much for carfare?
Likewise David II. Lane, whose long
connection with the old traction interests
in and out Of politics is notorious. can
glibly insist that the p. r. T. should charge
two cents more. But how about the hun
dreds of plain folk who live in his Twentieth
ward dukedom and have to ride in the cars
every day?
The duty Of the Public Service Comms-
sion cannot consistently carry II beyond
granting the request of the p. r. T. man
agement at this time that Is, II it's members
do not wish to stultify themselves and the
state governmental influences behind them
in the eyes of the people of Philadelphia
While counsel for the commission is ap.
pearing today in the Superior Court at the
argument on its jurisdiction over the under
lying companies, an argument which, as we
have repeatedly pointed out, touches the
very vitals of the commissions authority to
protect the public from corporate greed, how
yitiating il would be to the whole question
Of the states right to regulate public utilities
to have that body overreach itself by grant
ing much more than is asked for in formal
petition
If there is a conspiracy among selfish in
terests in this community to extract the last
ounce of flesh from the car riding public,
and at the same time discredt the ability
and punish the courage of a management
which has kept peace with It's employees
during the most difficult and trying period
in the history of the country since Civil War
days. then the sooner that fact can be estab-
IoLod and revealed the better for the UboIe