The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1921-07-07
DIVIDENDS
CAUSE Of
CAR EVILS
Race for Profits and Attendant
Results Demand Public Own
ership, Says Newman.
BY MAJOR OLIVER r. NEWMAN.
Formerly President, Board of Com
mfssIoners- District of Coiussbia-

One of the things you hear most
often about the Washington street
car problem is this:
"Well, it's mighty complicated
situation. It's hard to tell what is
best to do"
Before accepting that statement
at 100 per cent, let's take q little,
maple, spppositious case
HYpoTHETICAL CASE.
Suppose you had. $4,000 and de-
cided To open little corner grocery.
With your money suppose you bought
lot, put a mortgage on IL, built a
little store with part of the proceeds
and laid in a small stock OF goods
with the rest
All right You start business.
What is the aim and ambition Of your
life7 What makes you get up early
in the morning and sit UP late at
night? What is the hope that stands
out In front OF you all the time and
keeps you hustling?
YOU WANT TO PAY OFF THAT
MORTGAGE.
You bend every effort toward get
ting out OF debt, 80 you can stop pay
ing interest and have your property
debt free.
Now, let's connect our little corner
store UP with the street car problem.
In order 20 see where they are alike,
let's go back out to San Francisco,
where we were in yesterdays paper.
First. let's bear in mind that the
municipal street railways OF San Fran
cisco have been built in the last seven
years-during the period of highest
material and labor costs in the his
tory OF the nation. Also, during the
period of greatest capital innation
(smong private corporations) ever
known in the world.
SECRET OF MANAGEMENT.
On June Is, 1918, the bonded debt
OF the municipal railway of San Fran
cisco land that's the only capitnliza-
ton It has) was 1927 ,20T per mile.
On June 30. I92o---only Ave years
later-its bounded debt was s7l,25e
per mile.
Now, the reason for that decrease
Is exactly the same as the reason for
you to pay of your mortgage on your
little corner store-an unshakable
discrimination to get out of debt and
CUT OFF YOUR INTEREST PAY
MENTs. -
Bear in mind. too. that the munich
pal railway in San Francisco, in ad-
dition to paying off a big COB OF its
bonds, put 81 100000 OF surplus earn
ihgs met pronts) back into the prop
erty.
And on top OF that bear in mind
that II did IL on Scent fare.
L..
has happened and is happening prac-
tically everywhere in the United
States In the case Of municipality
owned and operated utilities. They
MAKE MONEY at a low rate OF
charge, keep up their properties and
REDUCE THEIR INDEBTEDNESS.
Exactly the contrary ls true in the
case privately-owned utilities.
Every year their capitalization per
mile Qf they are street car COM
panies) increases instead Of decress-
ins--becsuse they don't pay their
debts. They keep making new once.
and keep on and on and on paying
interest on their debts, which iterest
they collect from the public in in
creased charges for their service.
We have, right here in Washing
ton, one of the most perfect and sim
plest reasons for the increase in cap
italiSation per mile which Is going
on all over the country in the case
of privately-owned utilities. Take
the Capital Traction Company fne,
well-msnaged system. when the
Public Utilities Commifssion made its
valuation Of the Capital Traction. tn.
and the company came TO
an sgreement-in 1sl6--ss to what-it
would cost to reproduce the Capital
Traction as OF July 1, 1914. The COM
engineers and the com
pany's engineers-both responsible.
honest men-agreed as to what the
reproduction cost of the existing
lcontinued ON Para z co,,nr z,