Evening star., 1921-06-30
HOUSE COMMITTEE
FINISHES HEARING
0ND.C. CARL|NES
Municipal Ownership Strong.
Iy Urged by individuals and
Association.
Federation OF CITIZENS
ASKS CHARTERS REPEAL
Opposition to Independent Merger,
Profits Tax and Other Points
Stressed.

The House District committee
considering legislation to solve the
street railway problem in Washing
ton concluded it's hearings today and
deferred action until next Thursday
William B. Westlake. president of
the Federation of Citizens Associa-
tions. and William NICK Clayton, rep
resenting the same body. presented
to the full committee a summary of
the federation'sr recommendation.
Mai. Oliver ,<P. Newman. former
chairman of the board of District
Commissioners, made lengthy
statement lin support of municipal
ownership of the street car lines.
v;snise Miss har5Grie n Celeste Handler 1a5 h Of
the committee plea for public
ownership. and presented a petition
which. she said. was signed by 1000
residents of the District.
Messrs. Westlake and Clayton en-
phasized the desire of the federation
street railway companies and the
electric power company and the
granting of a new charter to a COM
pany which would embrace all of
these public utilities.
Seven Points Stressed.
The seven points stressed by the
federation are:
Opposition to an independent mer-
ger Of the Washington Railway and
companies: opposition to application of
an excess profits tax, as proposed in
the Woods bill; hostility to any mer-
ger. voluntary or involuntary. that
would make the Capital Traction
Company under the control. manage
nf hn "oS hi N,
Railway and Electric; that in the
event of failure of voluntary merger
the federation recommends repeal of
the charters of the street railways
and power company and granting of a
new charter for DEFINITE term of
under a service a, cost plan:
That, the physical valuation Of all
public service corporations having
been completed. Congress is to re-
sumo it's power of fixing fares and
charges for public service corpora
be put in operation; that. the Capital
Traction Company. having expressed
it's ability and willingness and desire
to reduce fares. hearing for lower
an Independent public utilities COM
mission. to devote it's entire time to
public service questions.
Mai. Newman's Argument.
Mai. Newman. in advocating pub
lie ownership. said, in part:
Il advocate the public ownership
of the street railways Of the Dis
trict of Columbia because. in my
opinion, it is the only practical So
luton of the present street railway
problem here.
Il believe in public ownership as
an economic and social theory, but
you gentlemen are face to face with
condition. not theory. and it is
the condition that I wish to talk
about. and not the theory.
The condition is simply this:
There are in Washington two
large street railway systems. One
runs through thickly settled sections
Of town. broadly speaking. The
other, other runs through thinly settled
"One makes a great deal of money.
The other makes much less.
Differences Pointed Out.
THE one that makes a great deal
Of money is the Capital Traction
Company. The one that makes much
less money is the Washington Rail-
way and Electric. The Capital Trac-
tion has not got one foot of unprofi-
table line. The Washington Railway
and Electric has great deal Of un-
profitable line. The Capital Traction
has a heavy business of passengers
that ride comparatively short dis
tances. The Washington Railway and
Electric has a heavy business Of
long distances. But each company
receives the same amount Of money
for each passenger carried. This
means that the cost of operation of
the Capitab Traction Company per
passenger per mile is much less than
the same cost to the Washington
Railway and Electric Company. In
other words. its net profits are great
er in proportion to it's operating
costs than the net profits of the
Washington Railway and Electric
But this is not the only difference
Capital Traction Company is much
more valuable. mile for mile Of track.
than the Washington Railway and
Electric. because it has always put in
better and more costly track con-
struction. Its rolling stock equip
ment is also better-the cars are
larger, better built and more costly.
Financial and Operating Policies.
in the financial and operating policies
which have governed the two roads
in the past. The Capital Traction
Company has always been a local
company, whose stock was locally
owned. While. in its early develop
ment, IL Was not Dy any means free
from what we know was stock water
ing it's record in this respect is COM
paratively clean, as these things go
throughout the country generally.
The Washington Railway and Elec-
trio, on the other hand, was, for
many years. conducted on a policy
of fragrant exploitation. Millions Of
watered capital was issued, and the
operating policy was such that the
building up, maintenance and physi-
cal operation Of the system were
subordinated to and neglected for a
determinations to pay dividends and
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