The Connecticut labor news., 1921-10-21
Trolleynnen
 r Do O,,a1
(Continued from Page One.)

The majority, however awards $ cents, a reduction Ot about 1-3 per cent. A reduction<o of say Is per cent,' or to 5I cents per hour should Ill my opinion, be made at the least, not only in justice to the company, but to the public, whose demand tor low CT fares cannot be met without great CT relief from the high wages ot war time.
 "The payroll now exceeds 54 per cent of the company's gross receipts, Capital, as well as labor, IS entitled to fair living wage.
 The feeling among the men that the retroactive clause is unjust IS based upon the long delay that en- sued between the date of the agree ment and the time of the decision. They feel that they were not respons1- ble for the lapse of time and that to now make them pay back to the com pany the difference would entail hardship that with winter almost here, would cause them much suffer; ing. It has been informally stated that this matter would be taken up with the company by the state con- ference board of the men and that some sort of an adjustment or com promise might be effected.
 Almost imnediately after the de- cision of the arbitrators, President Storrs of the company filed memor- andum with the Public Utilities Com mission at a hearing on the petition of NorWalk for a five cent fare, showing that the company in the hrst seven months of this year had en- loved a net income under the 10 cent fare of $I,352,oI7.58 as against de- fcit of $266,oI3.68 for the same per iod of the year before. Even then, he said, the net income is far short of what it will have to be to pro- vide a flair return on the property, naively stating that 8 per cent. could be considered flair" and to net the the income should have been $2,o45,- 576.
 There is no hope of any reduction of the Io-cent fare, however, MT. Storrs declared, despite the fact that 1t is admittedly working a hardship on the riding public in view of the big reductions in wages in other lines and the great amount of unemploy- ment Because the politicians in New Haven and Waterbury didn't make an issue of the 10 cent fare in the re- cent campaign Mr.. Storrs concludes the public accept it and recognize it's y.
 There is no question that the 10 cent rate of fare is considered abnor- mally high and it .is all the more of a burden to a majority of the car riders due to the drastic reduction in indus trial rates of pay and unemployment conditions.
 "There is no question but that the people of the state generally recog- nized the need for the higher rate of fare when 1t was inaugurated and are still willing to pay that rate without much comment, but are expecting us to make some voluntary reduction.
 "The fact that the local campaigns have been brought to a close in both Waterbury and New Haven, without the high rate of fare having been used as an issue is certainly clear indi- cation of tl>e willingness of the public to accept the high rate as a necessity. The high rate of fare was made the sole issue in the election campaign in -Norwalk, and the man running for mayor on the pl1tform of return of the iitneys and a five cent fare was defeated"
 The great clamor raised by the trolley company that the jitneys were running their business doesn't seem to be borne out by a statement issued yesterday by w. J. Flickinger, assist ant to the president, who says that in the maintenance of the 20 bus lines allowed by the state, the company is losing from $Ioo to $I5o a day. Our experience has shown me that it costs more to operate bus lines than trolleys," he said despite the fact that the jitneys were able and were giving transportation of six cents while the trolley company was charging 10.
 On the whole the trolley company seems to be winning out again, the last legislature relieving it of many current expenses and taxes and the public utilities commission obliterat- ing all competition and now the tro!- lev wage arbitrators coming forth with a general wage reduction. Mean time the 10 cent fare still and appar- entlv will continue to prevail.