The New York herald., 1922-01-30
DEFICIT IN SEATTLE'S
CONTROL OF TRAFFIC
Despite Doubling of Fares
Roads Cannot Earn OPP
Grating Costs.
|. w. w. EVEN SADDENED
Politicians Plan to Cut Rate
to Three Cents, Then
Boost Taxes.
MANY CARS GOING TO JUNK
100000 Payment Due March
/ and City Does Not Know
Where to Get 1t.
! MANY CARS GOING TO JUNK

Seattle is one of several American
cities that have been treading the
primrose path of dalliance, lured by
the specious beauties Of. municipal
ownership and operation of her transit
facilities. Seattle has bruised her feet
The Puget Sound metropolis. even
as you and l. made fetch of the
concept of the immortal five cent fare
Now her citizens have to pay dime
The town less than three years age
turned over its street railways tc
municipal control The political half
backs and quarterbacks have beer
lighting for touchdowns with the car
lines ever since and this is what the
scoreboard shows: Individual fares
have been doubled; passenger traff'c
has decreased more than 20 per cent.
the roads have been unable to earn
their overhead and operating costs and
are wondering what they must do to
be saved
Even Che most blatant of the L. w. w.
evangeiists-and the north Pacific States
have had more than their quota of that
iIk--begin suspect that Seattle has
stubbed her toe.
story OF SeattIe's Venture.
But dropping mixed metaphors and
getting down to plain ungalvanized
brass tacks, this is the story of Seattle's
disillusionment ..
That city's street car lines twenty
FIVE years ago were an unsystematized
conglomeration of srI1ai. corporations
operating under a varied lot OF fran
chises. Some of the roads were In the
grip Of receivers. Stone & Webster,
supported by syndicate of capitalists,
who already had considerable invest
ments in water power and other Pacific
coast utilities, stepped In, bought UP the
variegated franchises. liqudated the
bad debts. unified and coordinated the
car lines and improved the service.
Street railway operation within The
city limits OF Seattle then became one
Of the functions OF the Puget Sound
Traction, Light and Power Company.
The fare was restricted to FIVE cents by
municipal ordinance, but the roads did
well and the corporation paid fair divi-
dends on the investment.
Then came the blight of wartime
costs. Fuel, labor, all kinds OF material
scared. The nickel fare was not large
enough now. But Seattles patriots
howled whenever an increased fare was
suggested. and the City Council would
not listen to proposed concessions to the
Puget Sound company either by way Of
a mitigation OF the street paving charges
II had to meet or the 2 per cent. gross
income tax which the company had to
pay the city. There came clamor. too.
for better service. The speedy carrying
of thousands OF wartime shipyard work.
ers to and from their employment was
new factor in the problem and the
Emergency Fleet Corporation began to
take lively interest s
Rally to Municipal Control.
1t is no slandcr upon Seattle to say
that her terraccd slopes had become a
fallow field for progrcssive--not to say
Observation-Disclosures. The cry for mu-
uicipal control OF all public utilities rail-
lied legion OF partissns. The .redoubt-
able Ole Hanson was the Mayor OF the
town. Oliver IT. Erickson, chairman OF
the judiciary committee OF the City
Council, led the crusade and soon be-
came known as SeattIe's Father OF
Municipal Ownership"
The upshot of all this clamor was
che City Council passed an ordinance
and Ole Hanson signed II. authorizing
the purchase by the city OF all the rail-
way properties within city limits be-
longing TO the Puget Sound Traction,
Light and Power Company. The price
of the sale was $4,000 900. TO be paid
IN Seattle per cert. utility bonds. The
principal Of these bonds was to be liqui-
dated In eighteen consecutive annual
installments OF more than $500. 900 each.
the first principal payment to fall due
on March I, 1922. Both principal and
interest under the contract of sale were
10 constitute a first lien upon the earn
ings OF the railway lines.
Oliver T. Erickson's vote in the coun-
ell was cast In opposition 10 the sale
on the ground that the purchase price
was excessive and that In the matter
Of valuations the city had been over
reached. friendly suit" which had
been instituted In the State Supreme
Court, however. resulted In validating
the sale and the formal transfer Of the
properties took place on March 81. 1919.
Voters Indorsc Deal.
In the previous November elections
the State OF Washington stili enjoys
those first fruits OF Progressivism. tho
initiative. referendum and recall-the
popular electorate had indorsed the pro-
posed deal by a vote Of more than three
70 one. Under the terms Of sale all
franchises were surrendered to the city
and all taxes were paid TO the date OF
the transfer. including the 2 per cent
gross earnings tax.
Pending the construction OF the city's
own municipal power plant the Puget
Sound Corporation bound itself TO sup
ply power 70 the Seattle Municipal Rail-
way at the rate OF one cent ltilowatt
The stone a Webster corporation had
dIvestcd Itself OF only about one-f1fth OF
its holdings in the Puget Sound neigh
borhood Tt retained among other en-
fcrprises it's water power plants and It's
Interurbsn Railway, connecting Seattle
with Tacoma.
The sale Of the railways within the
urban limits, however, transferred inn
nediateiy TO the city's payroll about
900 workers, OF whom 1900 were
worrnen and conductors. These came
city under civic--and more or less
tcai--control. The city acquired
through the purchase $40 cars
miles OF trackage, seven car
md yards, three cable stations.
beds and freight terminals, re-
considerable parcels OF real
al the interlocklng and sig
is and right OF way Incl
y movement.
Ned into Its experiment