Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1921-01-19

nArTz7Av high Wages have kept pace with!
hAiLV Al commodities if you choose to-
pATCE to classify them separately That
lefai0I is to say, in 1919 and 1920 raw ma
terias and manufactured goods, and labor as well cost
more than in ordinary times But at the end OF 1871 oW
ing to the nsstent demand Of the consumer to the uni
versa caor of the newspapers and to other causes as
well the organic law Of supply and demand began to fnc
tion again as in normal periods Prices everywhere TOOK
Ia downward trend labor modified its demands and vol
unfairly accepted reductions in wages in order that tne
wheeis of industry might be kept turning Now at tS
livery time when every manufacturer ana merchant IN the
Hand is getting rid Of his surplus stock at lower prices
than for years. when the people are beginning TO breathe
more freely and to spend more freely as price begins TO
conform to inconeat this very time comes the wash
ngton- Virginia Railway Company and petitions the IN
tterstate Commerce Commission for raise IN its rates
ito be wrung from the unwilling and ucess passengers
upon its line Most of these daily and weekly travellers
are persons of modest incomes 10 pay the new tafes
sought, either heavy expense IN moving to WASH
Iingon where quarters almost impossible to obtain,
and where living is much higher than in Alexandria and
Its suburban adtions-or, where possible curtament
in the number Of trips To the daily commuter whose en-
)ployment is in Washington this last IS Impossible ne
must 90 to Washington to live. He must his fam
y and his furniture He pay the exorbant rates
Enow sought be imposed by the Railway Company He
has choice but to Many of these people have
bought their unpretentous homes the nsalnen plan
They have scmped and pinched and saved and denied
themselves and gone without for months years that
they might satisfy that hunger OF the average American
to own his home But along comes the Railway Company
with the arrogance sometimes begotten of monopoly and
avaIice and says: you must pay more money. We
need the dividends our stock the interest on
our bonds and our notes. Pay move! There can be
but enc alsVer,--the commuters must move and the
iather passengers must travel less frequently.
Now, believe that examination OF the Railway
Companys books for 1919 and 1920 will show that after
paying the interest theilvaious obligations they still
had surplus We believe that with their passenger
revenue their special car revenue their mail revenue,
thoi,, th0ir thnr
ravenue-ther books will show gross receipts amply suf
cent pay their operating expenses their cost Of main
enance tler taxes their bonded and note interest and
still leave balance This mind YOU in 1919 and 1920 #
this be true and we dare them to deny it. in 1921 their
surplus should be greater The trend Of this year
towards lower prices every commodity any market.
AS intmated in editorial of yesterday, the citi-
,zenS OF Alexandria and suburbs not interested in tl
dends to stockholders, preferred especially
If the stock has been unWarrantably watered With
prices falling the plain duty of the Railway Company is
to erench to econoiZe and by sound management earn
their dividends and not seek to make their patrons pay
them cy unfair and eXorbtant rates.
We have just word Of advice to be given to this
Washingto Railway Company, and we may
IS well give it here public utility corporation in the
past has had but few friends Nor is this to be wondered
at many of them have followed in the footsteps of
certain newyrch Vanderbilt, who said the public be
damned But the modern policy of great and successful
corporations is the exact The great masters of
modern business in America seek ceaseessy to please the
public their task by night and day is to find out how
they give the people still for less pub
PIC utility like the Washington-Virgina Railway Com
panN should be bound to this policy That
company needs friends many fiends-ai the friends it
can get 1t is the servant of the people, their master
Its very existence depends upon their good will 1t CAR
mot survive without it. The people of the cities and
munities once they rise in their light can find legal
means to compel it to do their bidding If the necessary
laws do not now exist, depend upon it. gentlemen of the
Washington Virginia Railway Company, the people vii!
Ent them on the statute books themselves.
More TOMORROW