The Washington herald., 1921-06-20
FOUR CAR RFARES
FOR Is CENTS,
IN KELLER PLAN
Reduction Predicted by
Rep. Lampert If Bill
Passes.
LOOKS FOR RETURN
OF PREWAR r AT e
Sees Big Savings Under
City Ownership of
Traction Lines.

-Four tickets for IS cents, to be
followed within three years by a
return to the six ticket rate, Is pre-
dicted by Representative Lampert.
Of wisconsin. II the Keller bill be-
comes a law.
Representative Lampert. who Is
also q member of the House District
Committee. said: II am convinced
that should the plan proposed by
Representative Keller be put in oper-
alton here. Washington will occupy
the enviable position OF being the
most desirable city in the United
States in which, to live.
woald Protect Investors
The way in which the public utii-
tiles In Washington are managed
and the rate they charge for their
present service and products leaves
much to be desired" he added. THE
people of the District have been very
patient. perhaps deriving some COM
fort from the knowledge that Con-
gress is determined to air them to its
fullest extent.
'T do not mean to infer" continued
Lampert, that in order to bring
about conditions satisfactory to the
people 1t is necessary to persecute
the corporations. That would by no
means be a satisfactory solution. The
corporations, according to law. are
Investment and a proposal intended
must provide for the protection Of
the stock and bond holders In these
corporations"
The bill recently introduced IN
the House by Representative kel-
Ter offers adequate protection to the
investors and the maximum saving
to the PEOPLE. Under this plan the
street cars would belong to the
people who use them and as they
would pay from themselves would
therefore cost nothing. Thirty
year bonds bearing 5 per cent in
terest would be issued in order to
purchase the properties Of the
street car companies. A sinking
fund would be created into which,
after three years OF operation, II IS
planned to pay annually such por-
ton of the receipts as is found 10
be necessary in order to liquidate
the bonds at the expiration of
thirty years. II it is at any time
deemed necessary and expedient 70
make extensions, improvements or
replacements, the bill provides that
separate sinking fund may be
created for this purpose.
Sees Saving In Salaries.
"At the present time" Lampert
pointed out. "the salaries of the
general officers of the Capital Trac-
tion Company. the Washington
Railway and Electric Company, and
the Potomac Electric Power Com
pany. aggregate s13s,ss1.5o. 1t IS
hardly necessary to venture an
opinion as to how much Of this
would be saved by a combination of
these three utilities corporations and
this sum would be materially in
creased by the addition of the
washington Gas Light Company"
In addition to this saving II will
be possible to discover what be-
comes of 100000 kilowatts of
electricity that is apparently lost
by the Potomac Electric Power
Company. This is calculated to be
about per cent of the quantity
generated.
Refers to Current Losses.
1T fhis unaccounted for amount
of current is actually lost to the
company II certainly offers a strong
argument in favor of ownership by
the people. Should this Is per cent
of the current generated by the
power company be reclaimed and
used in the operation Of the street
cars. another reduction in the rate
of fares would be justified under
the Keller plan.
TT has been estimated by con-
servative experts that a saving Of
s315.767 would be possible by re-
routing the cars, Installing " sys-
TENS. and eliminating the conges-
ton at the busy hours that Is un-
avoidable under the present condi-
tions in the downtown district.
SuCCcSS othSr
"I wish to emphasize the fact that
ownership of the public utilities
by the people Is not new. nor is II
a theory. 1t has been tried in De-
troit, Milwaukee, St. Paul, San
Francisco, and other large cities of
the United States and proved to be
an unqualified success. In cities
where the people have elected to
take over the waterworks they have
succeeded in reducing the cost of
water from 50 to 50 per cent. and
where they now operate the trac-
tion companies they have in most
instances reduced the fare to 5
cents.
1T is well to bear In mind that
in these cities there was strong po-
litical opposition to any plan caicu-
lated to defeat the private owner
ship of, public utilities. Much pres
sure was brought to bear from
many sources by the operators d.
rected against those who had the
in the face of these obstacles the
people succeeded In securing to
themselves the right to manage
their own monopolies.
y VIII Find Remedy.
"washington being practically
without politics would be an ideal
city in which to apply the owner
ship by the people plan, and I would
certainly be in favor of such a mea-
sure. There is no doubt that GER
tain remedies must be spplied to
+. Il Il s