Evening star., 1922-12-23
CITIZENS SCORED
BY COL. KELLER
Practically Every Request in
Face of or in Ignorance of
Facts, He Says.
EXPLAINS BUS ATTITUDE
Letter to President of Northeast
Association Deplores Lack
of Support.
EXPLAINS BUS ATTITUDE

: Charging that the commissioners
. do not receive support of a proper
Kind from the community in general"
/ Engineer Commissioner Keller today
wrote frankly of his views on utility
I matters in a letter to Evan II. Tucker,
! president of the Northeast Citizens
, Association.
: practically every proposition that
| has come before us has been de-
! riand in the face of the evidence,
/ or in ignorance of the evidence. that
! si"n"rs felt forbidden in law and
/ fairness to do the coloners letter
concluded.
t. . The communication was prompted
, by two resolutions from the north
/ east association. one disappearing a
/ bus decision by the comm ssion and
the other advocating abolition of the
comm iSSion.
! BUS Policy Difficult
! Your first resolution" wrote the
colonel. is disapprGval Of the pol
, icy adopted by the Public Utilities
Commission as I" the eSts, blishment
i"f lus routes. Ma" | say that | have
! no quarrel with any one whose opin-
/ lens differ from my own. and that |
realize that the question of policy
as to bus lines is a difficult one in re-
gard t" which opinions may readily
! differ. IT is. of course, merely human
! that individuals who have something
very definite to gain in the establish
ment Of "A bus line. either in the way
| or more convenient or direct service
! or in the way of a personal profit
Should overlook the general public
interest in the maintenance of an
efficient transportation system. and
should advocate the bus line that
, favorS their fortunes.
1t is also natural that individuals
should. in general favor whatever
IS personally agreeable or advantage
Gus To them. regardless of its effect
upon others with whom they have
no close tie OF interest or Of friend
ship. 1t is. however. the duty Of the
I Public Utilities commission to CON
slider the public interest as a whole
and to take such action as. in its
opinion. will best serve the general
I public.
/ 1t l.. accordingly. quite natural for
! the Public Utilities Commission to
; look with doubt upon proposals to
! establish bus lines competing with
! the street car system. which at pres
, ent and probably for many years to
J come must be the main reliance of
! the District of Columbia in the trans
; portation OF the large ma jority of its
; population.
: Guided by Experience.
! when. therefore. the commission
] decides adversely to the establish
! mcnt of a bus line that is proposed To
! run between points already served by
an existing street railway line. the
! commission is merely adopting its so
3 lution of this difficult problem in ac-
corda nee with its best Judgment and
| the best information that it has on
III
.Nptrience of communities elsewhere
some of which are known to have
: found it necessary to enforce slml-
lar policy. The commission might
perhaps be in different situation
were. it aided by broad and cOnStruc-
live. studies of the local tranSporta-
tion system on the part of those who
desire the establishment of other
. transportation agencies than those
that now exist
..In plac. of such studies we are
I merely visited with, as | state above.
The. opinionS and preferences of those
having an obviously direct personal
interest.
Your second resolution favorS the
abandonment of the present Public
Utilities Commission and a reverSion
To legislation defining in exact terms
the rates that may he charged for
public services You. of course. realize
that ! personally derive no advantage
from serving as Il public utilities COM
missioner. nor do either of my COL
leagues 1t is an added duty imposing
increased responsibilities, often of a
tiiSagreeable kind.
The power lodged in the Public
Utilities Commission is defined by law
and under the oft-repeated decisions
Of the courts. there is comparatively
little latitude permitted in the fixing
of rates. Such rates must always be
reasonably compensatory. and their
level is therefore determined by going
business conditions in a manner SINH
lar to the fixing of prices in retail
business.
Costs Now Double.
You are business man and you
are as familiar as | with the fact
that practically everything that We
buy nowadays costs in the neighbor-
hood of twice as much as it did be-
fore the war. Bread. milk. shoes.
clothing. rent-practically all the
necessities of life are very much
higher than they ever We're. and this
is true as well of the public utility
companies. which pay more for coal.
for labor and for services of all kinds
than they did before the war. Ac-
cordingly. the community as a whole
is. under the law, forced to pay more
for public services than was the case
when the price of everything that
enters into our lives was more rea-
Sonable Congress itself cannot fix
rates lower than the present ones,
unless such rates permit a reasona BILE
profit to be earned by the companies
concerned. Rates lower than this
would be- confiscatory and would
probably be set aside by the courts.
Lack Proper support.
May 1 be permitted. in all courtesy,
also to question the correctness Of the
statement made in your resolution
that no rates had been reduced by the