The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1921-07-14

sha. The company put up a wry face
and showed reduction of operating rev.
enues and the city officials showed lack
of extensions. There appeared to be
no middle ground. The extension of
service in the city only came up Incl
dentally and it was declared that the
company now had an equipment in the
city capable of rendering good service
but that there was a shortage of pass
engers to make such a service profit
able.
Losing $4,000 a Month.
The petitioning company presented
the usual array of figures to the com
missioner which showed that the com
pany was now losing in the neighbor-
hood of So 900 a month in an effort to
maintain the interurban service. 1t
was shown that the decrease in bust
ness had been so large since the com
ing of the industrial depression that
the losses had increased at very rapid
rate. 1t was declared that the business
being done was not sufficient to pay
operating expenses, let alone any pay
ment of dividends or any provision for
the rebuilding of the lines.
Asks One Cent Increase.
The company asked the commission
to give it the right to increase its rate
of fare from the city to MacWhyte
from to cents; from Market square
to Fairfield avenue, from to 8 cents;
and from Market square 20 Pike River
station, from to 10 cents.
1t was said that such increases would
mean an increase in operating revenues
to the amount of 1920 a month. This
figure was based on the recent traffic
of 800 passengers week over this por-
ton of the line. The company asked
for no increase on through traffic from
Kenosha to Racine or from Kenosha to
Milwaukee and it was said that the
company was ready to struggle along
with the present rates for through
traffic.
Mayor Strong for Extensions.
Mayor Joachim in presenting the
cause of the city to the commissioner,
strongly urged the extension of the
city lines and strongly urged uniform
7-cent fare to all points with the city.
"If you gave US a 5-cent fare to Mac
Whyte,I declared the mayor, at would
be the only place that the people were
getting their moneys worth. If the
company would take these rails out of
the streets where they have abandoned
service and lay them on streets where
extensions are needed, the conditions
would be greatly improved"
The mayor declared that he was not
objecting to the one-man cars and that
the service on some streets in the city
was satisfactory, but that there was
not enough of it. He held that at the
present time the city was holding iit-
ney competition out of Kenosha with
view of the company granting the ex-
tensions which had been promised.
eff the jitneys should be turned
loose tomorrow, they would wreck the
business of the company" declared the
mayor.
Many Ready to Start Business.
He declared that conditions of un-
employment had resulted in many of
the men who had automobiles being
ready to start into the jitney business
and that these men were ready regard
less of the high cost of tires and gas.
eve want the jitneys to be kept out
and the company to properly extend its
lines and furnish the transportation
that Kenosha needs" was the final
shot of the mayor.
NJ. F. Barber raised an interesting
point when he told the commissioner
of the reduction Of the working force
of the company and the reduction that
was brought by new wage scales pro-
claimed by the commission. The local
manager of the company declared that
the increase in the number of cars in
operation had demanded more expendi-
lures for labor than any saving made
in changed wage schedules or in reduc-
ton Of forces.