The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1922-05-07


him nnd them"
Harlan denies the charges OF his
wife aud Nikko.
that street car tho private company
was innugurating penny increase
In fare. II had tried to get that
extra penny before, and.> incidental
~, once before the same man played
part In blocking the game. when
the newspapers came out that sum
mer day in 1918 with a big story
about the multimillionaire getting
kicked off the car because ne
wouldn't pay gents. thousands
followed suit. Result-the car com
pany gave up the attempt. And
Jim Couzcus was elected mayor
OF Detroit by 5000 votes. which was
enough for a start.
The Power of Competition.
The other time Jim" Couzcns
killed an attempted scent fare
was while he was police commits
Honer. There were few thrills In
this, too. That time, the conductors
were not to put people off the car
who refused to pay. they were to
stop the cars.
The first cars out OF the barn were
me first cars stopped. The people
refused to pay. The conductors
obeyed their orders. Motor trucks
were pressed into use: thousands
were walking. Then the Jim"
Couzens police got into action. They
arrested the car crews for blocking
traffic! by midday crowds of
workers had turned over stalled cars
IN several sections of tho city, and
had set fire to them. But the
Couzens police Kept bringing in the
car crews.
Tn tho afternoon the company ran
up the white flag. II said II
Couzens would quilt arrestIng the car
crews, they'd start running the cars
again. Cou2cns quit. The cars
started running again. The fare
was "A nickel
so he really had background for
his issue. a,
Immediately after election Couz-
ems started after municipal owner
snip. In the years between pingree
ana Couzens the city had adopted a
new charter and tho state had n
new constitution, Most of the pri-
Vate company's franchises had ex-
pred ana they could not get new
ones, Ihe company was operating
most OF It's lines on "day-to-dny
agreements" and the laws had been
fixed so that municipal ownership
could come by referendum which
won go pcr cent of the votes.
so Couzens asked the u. u. r.
what 1t wanted for the lines. He
brought appraisers I'm to value the
property. They fixed 80 million dol |
lars a. the figure. That was TOO I
much The people turned It down, |
Cou2ons came right back with an |
other plan. lie asked 10 million |
dollars In bonds.
said.
This went over. The dirt began |
20 NY Cou2ens called In contrac- /
thelr pay II they'd go ahead with |
the work without waiting for the |
req tape to be unwound.
In six months Couzens was rum /
ning ears on fifteen miles of CITY
ines and the now track was going
down at the rate of a mile a .dnv
me lines he built did not parallel
mo private lines. They were serv-
ing new territory badly In need of
thrs' lie was looking to the day
me city would own an the lines
lnu ne didn't want any that would
,uu' pay when the city had them
The city lines were without trunk
mes lie realized the city lines had
o go downtown to succeed. so he of.
erred to buy the two big trunk llncs
The Woodward and Fort-for
''HS'oOO' The company refused.
,,A,au.I Au right then" said King
James Get off our streets"
In the midst Of this fight he CANA
lp Tor reelection. Hc had been
versatile mayor, Ho had spcnt S0
million dollars OF the peonle's
money and was the target Of ali tba
opposition, including the remnant of
ne machine he had broken. Tho mn
Ierworld, and the street car con-.
'any, In his administration tborc
lad been a big tax Increase. Tho
NY had huilt hospitals, sewers and
,arhs' ana the rates had gone nm
rom rom N7s9 to s21.67 per $1,000
And the amazing thing obopt this
vas that Couzens neither dcnjad ,m's nns
Nplalned, He said the city needed
ne improvements, had received
mem ana should not kick on povin. {
nc piIls' The election, also, was n ,
'ierendum on another Couzens "Ni
n project lie won this time by
so ne told the Detroit United !
tSaliways TO get off the streets
.lshteen lawsuits had been fought !
u courts from Michigan 10 Wash =
nston and back again, and the clty c
ad won for its IN. O." plans ali
ne way The stockholders had n l
meeting Couzens bought share OF :
'ock so he GOULD attend What ne
Old the stockholders about the $
ompany must have been caution. c
! new president came on later, j