Evening star., 1921-07-07
DC, CAR OWNERSHIP
BILL REJECTED FOR
TAX RELIEF SCHEME
House Committee Decides to
! Discard Keller Measure
at Heated Session.
MOTION TO ADJOURN AND
DELAY ACTION IS FAILURE
Consideration to Be Resumed Next
Week-Ham Denies His Tracks
! Are of Poorer Quality.

At heated session today the
House District committee, by vote
of IA to 4, decided to substitute the
Woods bill for the Keller bill, to be
considered paragraph by paragraph
looking toward a solution OF the
street railway problem in the Dis
trict.
The Woods bill proposes to relieve
the street car companies from certain
taxes, to make the franchise tax on
the net income rather than the gross,
and carries provision for an excess
profits tax to equalize the earnings
of the two street railway companies
above a fair return on the fair val
uation as determined by the Public
Utilities Commission. The Keller bill.
provides for municipal ownership and
operation. of the street car lines.
The consideration of the Woods
bill oy paragraph went over until the
meeting of the committee next week
at the call of the chairman. 1t was
agreed before that vote was taken.
how sver, that it would still be In
order again to vote on substitution
of the Hammer bill or some other
measure for consideration ahead Of
the Woods bill Tho Hammer bill
provides for abolition of the Public Util-
ities Commission.
Motion to- Adjourn Defeated.
Before the vote was taken to give
the Woods bill precedence in con-
sideration, motion to adjourn,
which was urged by Representatives
Lampert Of Wisconsin and Kunz OF
Illinois, was defeated by a tie vote.
William F. Ham, president of the
Washington Railway and Electric
Company. laid before the committee
today a letter and report in reply to
a statement recently made by former
Commissioner Newman before the
committee to the effect that the
tracks of the Washington Railway
and Electric Company were not as
we'll built as those of the Capital
Traction. He submitted report
and construction. which strongly ex-
pressed the opinion that the w. r. &
E. construction work Is in some re-
spects better than that of the Capt.
tai Traction -..Company. The en-
The tracks OF our company are,
in many respects, Of better construc.
tion than the tracks of the Capital
Traction Company.
The original construction of the
face lines are about the same. but on
the conduit system. however, the
tracks of our company. having con-
crete foundations, are found in many
cases to be Of better quality than
those Of the Capital Traction Com
Dany."
The report explains technically that
tho W. r. & E. Company tracks are
given greater bearing surface and
that experience has demonstrated
~ hA Aata hNy n x
b.. fnsuYes substantial tracks.
Cites New Tracknge.
Tho report continues: THE two
have just constructed on Gergia
have Just constructed no Georgia
avenue between Buchanan street and
Military road Is the best-constructed
surface track in Washington, and 1
one who knows anything about track
construction will refute this state
ment.
Commission are familiar with our
work and with the work of the Capt.
tai Traction Company. I would be
willing to submit for their decision
or the decision of any engineers IA
miliar with such work the truth of
Mai. Newman's statement"
In laying this report before the
committee. Chairman Focht said that
It emphasized his contention voiced at
the White House yesterday that he
had had extreme difficulty in getting
reliable testimony before the COM
mittee because the witnesses are con-
tinually contradicting each other.
The time of the committee today
was taken up mostly with statements
by Representatives Keller OF Minne-
sofa and Woods of Virginia in .behalf
of their respective bills. Both men,
bers were questioned closely.
Representative Underhil Of Massa-
chusetts expects to have a hearing
next Wednesday In the District com
mittee room on the Juvenile Court bill.