The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-04-28
REAL ESTATE BOARD COMMITTEES
 REPORT ON JITNEY SITUATION

After investigating the jitney sit nation in Birmingham, the committee of the real estate board has submit ted the body it's findings, as follows
 The question of permitting the jit- neys to run or not run in the city of Birmingham should, in our opinion, be approached and reviewed upon thS broadest plane of public policy and community interest; it. therefore, be- comes necessary to weigh the sub ject on the basis of what is gained by those citizens or interests that are served to a more or less degree and for that reason are in favor of the enfranchisement of this form of public utility. Then on the other side weigh in a spirit of fairness the ultimate et- feet of this system of competition upon the city's street railway lines and the destructive effect it is hav- ing upon the efficiency of the rail- road taken as a whole and the prob able dire results that will ensue not alone to the investors who have their money in the railroad but to the great majority of citizens of Birmingham who are entirely dependent upon the street car company for transportation.
 When this subject is analysed as an economic problem and weighed in all it's details. it seems reasonably clear that the vast seriousness of the ae- cruing damages so many times out weighs the greatly over-rated benefits both to those who operate the jitneys and those who ride in them that it leaves but one answer to the question and that is that the jitney is a make shift that has grown out of the pres ent economic disarrangement of busi- ness generally, and when fairly con- sidered must be regarded as a de- structive enterprise without a proper place as an essential public utility.
 When the utter Responsibility of the jitney is considered either as unit or as an aggregation of units, any attempt to reconstruct the prop csition and present It ,n the form of responsible business enterprise is merely dealing with it in a superfi cial and intellectual manner. Under taking to legislate it out of business by oppressive ordinances Is but beg ging the question and not meeting 1t in frank, direct way, whereas the subject is one which the overwhelming majority of the citizens of Birmingham desire shall be met squarely as a busi- ness proposition.
 To try to clothe the system with a vesture of financial responsibility and make of 1t a stable enterprise pre- pared to meet It's share of just taxa ton, both as to maintenance of thor oughfares and municipal expense in line with what Is demanded of a street railroad corporation appears to this committee In the light of a physical impossibiltty.
 The question Is no longer one of how city should treat vested capital engaged In business; that phase of 1t will be increased to the ultimate con- sumer,
 And likewise the manufacturer of the east, who wants to charge an extra dol lar for his shoes. and an extra $5 for his clothes, thinks 1t preposterous that the farmer should demand protection for peanuts, The packers of Chicago rail against the efforts of Texas cattle grow CTS to secure protection for their steers. Manufacturers of woolen goods regard the sheep growers of the vest who de- sire protection for their products, just as one regards the memory of Captain Kidd.
 And, the remarkable feature of the st- ation is that just as the farmers are do- ing all other interests are doing-they are publicly stating their arguments and citing figures to prove their contentious The ultimate consumer, who will pay the cost, has no representatives in Wash ington unless they be the democrats in Congress who believe in open competi- tion with the world and that there is no fundamental reason for any tariff other than enc capable of raising sufficient revenue with which to operate the ma chiEery of government.
 The farmers, in addition to the fore going, made the following representa- tionsi
 OTHER DEMANDS
 '1. We petition Congress to repeal im- mediately the guaranty provision of the transportation act and to instruct the interstate commerce commission to make readjustment of railroad rates back to the pre-war basis.
 "2 As no better way for raising an equal amount of revenue has been devised, we oppose the repeal of the ekcess profit tax
 "3. We recommend Legislation which will make it possible for the federal farm loan banks to increase their max imum loan from s10000 to s25 GOO, and we urge all country banks to join the fed eral reserve system.
 1 "A. We announce the appointment of a committee composed of John Brown or Indiana, Chester H. Gray of Missouri and 1 w. G. Jamison of Colorado to make a | study of the Muscle Shoals nitrate prof. l est in the Tennessee river, to hire nec- essarv engineers and report it's findings