The Washington herald., 1921-05-25
A short saying oft contains much wisdom.
-Sophocles-
Washington Street Railways.
XXVI-THE LONG HAUL.

IA
IV w. R & E in running lines to suburban
communities and away into Maryland and
mzirtaining them. This is praised philanthropie
service; letting the people out into the air and
sunlight, where they have gardens, where
childhood has wholesome environment and those
OF small incomes afford to have homes of their
own This has fine and lofty sound of dis
interested "uplift"
% So far as the W. R. & E is concerned, there
is not enough of fact in it which to base a
fumor. The w. R & E. did not build any of these
hines, 1t took them bankrupt at
excessive capitalization There not of them
built by any for the good of the dear people.
They built to sell real estate at such distance
from the city proper that some means of trans
portaton had to be provided.
This is not peculiar to Washington, but it is
peculiar that congress should have granted rail-
way charters to such shoal of these land specu-
lative concerns, some 80 of them. Otherwise the
process is familiar. Men picked up considerable
acreage property a mile two from the settled
and plotted area, and in order to sell it as lots
built street line charging the cost against
The land As possible, they would unload
the line. In this way the Washington 80 were
built, and then reduced by merger sales to "a
Ultimately the w. R. & E. got them all but one.
1t did not gather them in public benefac-
ton. but as a wildeyed speculative adventure. The
which to pump sustenance into the water to make
at least a palatable financial soup. The present
cry for sympathy is hardly in harmony with the
lack OF it that is shown in the financial history of
that corporation. No owes it anything. Neither
is it fact that it is burdened with excessively
long hauls is often claimed. Its sole burden
is excessive over-capitalizaton. The long haul is
but a bug-a-boo under which to hide corporation
delinquencies.
g,st L. Il IL, - A,t
by 10 miles in extent and the city of Washington,
with its massed population and great business
district is fairly we'll in the center of the parallel
ogram. There is long haul in it and its
boundaries form a natural zone. AS a
stLest car reaches the line, extra fare is
charged. No artificial is needed Geography
has fixed and the only the companies
have any possible right to have.
The key to the prosperity of the Capital Trac-
ton and the inability Of the w. R. & E. to
earn dividends, is found in capitalization and not
in long hauls under present population distribu-
ton The c. T. will always more per mile
than the w. R. & E, but the latter today should
be profitable 1t is not great tax to car
an hour on the Forest Glen line, nor a car each
half hour, to Rockville.
This would be still less charge if only single
track. one-man cars were used all these sub
urban lines, with transfers and change of cars
light rails meet heavy rails of permanent construc-
ton. These limits feeders and while feed
erS" may not be profitable themselves they add
materially. their indicates to the profits
of the system whole. There was day when
steam railroads made this point as to their
feeders. But it is conceded that all railroad
systems, all street systems, must be re-
garded a whole. 1t is not possible to tell just
where profit ends and loss begins, to exactly
distribute profit and loss between main lines and
branches.
In series of years the w. R. & E. paid
S3,5oo.ooo dividends common stock To do
this it skinned everything to the bone If it had
used this money on upkeep, service, invest
ment account, it would not be in its present
straits 1t common stock from S. and Sc a
share to 500 and, if current stories are true
many of the widows and orphans for whom its
heart bleeds came in on the roof at that time.
II has always been able a railway proposition to
psy-interest on its bonds, and that is more than
the OF its fair valuation as basis for rates.
Among other characteristics of this age that