The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-04-07
HOW MILWAUKEE
SOCIALISTS AID
TRACTION TRUST
Guaranteed Profits for
Company Favored
BY c. S. SHKLAR.
Especial to The Daily Worker,)

socialist administration in Milwaukee
with the assistance of Mayor Hoan
and The Milwaukee Leader is putting
across what is known as the service-at
cost-plan.
Under this plan the Electric com
pany will be guaranteed ~ per cent
on its property for the period of ten
years or an approximate net profit of
about S4.34L150 yearly. The approx
mate estimate of the value Of the
property has been established, but one
can conclude as to the manner in
which the figures have been arrived at
from the report of irregularities made
by the member of the citizens com
mittee, F. S. Hunt He stated that the
committee in going over the books
found an item Of $7sOOOO worth of
property that did not exist, but earn
ing on the books 100000,
For instance he cited a Farwell
Ave, barn which was removed, but
still was carried on the books Of the
company. He cited another transac-
ton Of the company where property
sold and rebought with the result
that the value of the property was in
creased by about two million dollars.
Altho Mr.. Hunt of the citizens
committee guaranteed that the actual
property has now been established,
still it can be readily seen that there
is no possibility of preventing the
coyopopv from, xro4ar;,,D tba stooIr or5
also from showing much larger assets
than the actual value of the property.
The Liars Figure.
AS a member of the Federated
Trades Council l exposed the various
means of the corporations for swell
ing up the cost of the property by sale
and repurchase of the property and
by buying material from the subsid-
larry companies at a higher price and
in this way making an immediate
profit and also insuring permanent
return on such cost in the future, and
also various other means such as earn
rying on the books property that has
deprecated in value or does not exist
at all as was the case with the Far.
well Ave, barn.
Communists Expose the Deal.
At the last meeting of the FEEDER
ated Trases Council a Communist ex-
posed the deal in giving over the
public utility of the city to the cor
poration for exploitation and altho the
measure carried thru the action of
the socialists in supporting it, never
theless as the matter will be clari-
fed in the coming years the workers
will see that the Communists were the
only group in the labor movement
that had the courage to expose the
deal of the socialist with the Trac-
ton company.
It is interesting to observe that
Mayor Hoan is the principal advocate
of the contract and if the measure is
carried it will be principally thru the
effort of the socialist party
Municipal Ownership a Utopia.
The contract is not a utopia says
Mayor Hoan but this is a step for
ward. It is apparent that the rene
gade socialists are going back even
on the question of the municipal own
ership. In the entire contract there is
nothing to protect the wages Of en-
ployed or the workers from the Excess
sive rates. There is nothing to pre-
vent the company from raising the
rates IL they can prove that they are
not receiving the stipulated return on
their property
The Workers Party by taking
definite stand on this question will
win support Of the workers and at
the same time the workers will have
an opportunity to see that the social
ist party is not the party OF socialism
that they believed it to be; that be.
hind their false pretensions lays a.
political opportunism of the most de-
graded kind. The socialist admins
tration is now committing the most
nagrant violation of its pledges and
the treason will not go unpublished.
Some time ago when the group of
ambitious politicians initiated a move
TO recall socialist mayor, l made a
statement that they will not receive
any support from the large corpora
tons because they can get much bet.
ter service and fool the workers in
better way thru the socialist admin.
istration. This prophesy came thru.
Slowly the capitalists of America
learn TO appreciate the services OF the
renegade socialists. II Is surely time
for the workers tossee the treason OF
the so-called friends" OF labor from
thu socielist camp, and come to the
support OF their party-the Workers
(Communist) Party OF America.