Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-02-29


preferred stock in last half Of 1922.
these cars all of the base schedules
OF the Company are operated by cars
purchased since the reorganization.
and all service is on a one-man basis
with the exception of the lewiston
Bath and -Waterville lines.
The cars operating on these two lines
are now being fitted with Safety de-
vices, and partial one-man opera
ton will be instituted upon them as
soon as they are equipped.
AS new equipment has been pur-
chased, old equipment that is eX-
pensive to maintain and operate has
been retired. In 1923 We strapped
five double truck, single END passen-
ger cars formerly operated on the
lewiston Bath line, nine open cars,
as the demand for this equipment is
greatly reduced and the accident naz-
ard is high, the parlor car Merry
meeting, an old rotary snOwplow
and an old sand car, together with q
number of obsolete motors. Track
storage under cover Is now available
for all open cars remaining in SER
vice, this being the first winter In
the history of the Company that open
cars have not been stored out in the
weather.
During the year four substations
were equipped with semi-automatic
control apparatus, enabling the elm
nation Of six attendants at those
stations; and construction is under
way for q full automatic control OF
one of our isolated substations, and
q semi-automatic control for n sub
station where help is available for
starting and stopping the machines.
Dividends amounting TO six per
cent on the First Preferred Stock and
five per cent on the Second Preferred
Stock were paid during the year.
This Stock represents ownership
without lien of over one-half the
Companys mileage; and n review of
the history of the property since
1907 shows that back of it is an
actual cash investment of over one
million dollars in excess of par.
Payment of these dividends in full
was possible only by drawing upon
surplus accumulated by foregoing
dividends during the first years after
reorganization. which also accounts
for the existence of the Profit and
Loss Account in the Balance Sheet.
Your officers believe this was the
proper thin gto do, and that the
practice may properly be continued
as long as any such surplus remains
if current revenue under normal con-
ditions is not sufficient to provide for
such dividends. They believe that
when the public understands the
facts, it will take the same view.
This stock represents actual cash
invested in the plant substantially in
Npf la
holders went without their dividends,
in whole or in part, while funds were
being procured to put the property
in first class condition. Now, this
capital is just as truly entitled to It's
reasonable and regular compensation
as the labor, the supplies and any
other contribution to the service.
All should be paid as long as there
is anything to pay them with. When
the revenue from the service will no
longer pay for the service. it ought
to be discontinued. There is no Jus
tification for it's being rendered on
any other terms. There Is no moral
obligation to furnish the public some
thing for which it does not pay.
Street railway service is a neces-
sity. No other kind is dependable
throughout the year in this part OF
the country, and no substitute - so
economical for the users. It cannot
be furnished indefinitely at less than
cost: and there is no obligation, 1e-
gal or moral, to furnish it without
reasonable compensa ton. We are
confident that nobody expects 1t TO
be: and we propose to place the
facts before the public and to ask
That the rates he adjusted from time
to time as circumstances require, 80
that the service may not be lost al
together or reduced to the low de-
gree which 1t had reached before the
Company was reorganized.
It is expected that rates which will
more nearly do justice to all become
effective in tho near future.
Respectfully submitted,
WILLIAM b. SHELTON.
President