Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-16
SERVICE At COST
FOR MERGER ASKED
Report of Washington Rail-
way and Electric Avoids
Pending Bill.

Still insisting that merger of tn
street railways of Washington shoulf
be based on service at-cost plan
which would provide reasonable re
turn upon the valuation Of the con
solidated company. the board Of direc
tors of the Washington Railway an'
Electric Co, in its annual report Il
the stockholders, made public yester
day, avoided any reference to the bill
now pending in Congress designed e
Induce" a voluntary consolidation.
Only brief portion of the repor'
was devoted to the proposed merger
but to it was appended the joint letter
which the Washington Railway and
Electric and the Capital Ira ction Com
panies sent to the Public Utilities Com
mission last November, containing the
plan on which they would consent to
q unified operation.
During the year considerable pub.
licity has been given to the subject OF
q merger of the street railway lines OF
Washington, said the report. 'Re
peating what was stated in the an
nual report of 1919, and again in the
annual report of 1925. merger
should, in our Judgment, include the
railroad lines Of our companies and
the CAPITAL Traction Co. located with
in the state of Maryland as well AS
within the District of Columbia. and
should be combined with plan for
service at cost providing a reasonable
return upon the value of the property
and at the same time assuring the car
rider service at cost. .....,
''At a recent hearing held by the
Public Utilities Commission on the
subject of merger, request was made
by the chairman of the commission
that the companies outline to the com
mission legislation that. in their judg-
ment, would form a basis for merger.
This request was given careful con-
sideration at joint conferences of COM
mittees of the two companies, and in
response thereto a letter was ad'
dressed to the commission"
Loss Suffered by Company.
The report showed that the company
suffered a loss of 70S,473 revenue pas
sengers during the year as compared
with 1925, or slightly less than | per
cent. The primary cause Of this con-
tinuous loss in traf1c. it was explain
ed, is the increase in the use of pri-
vately owned automobiles, the registra-
ton of which increased 1875 per cent
during 1928 over the preceding year.
The increased vehicular travel on
the street has not only had effect upon
the volume of traffic handled on our
lines, but frequently interrupts and
greatly delays the movement of cars, :"
the report declared. An intimation
that the board favors a restriction on
parking downtown as remedial
measure is contained in the subse
Quent sentence, which reads:
Investigation of traffic conditions
made in other cities have proven the
relative high value of street cars in
the handling of mass transportation
to. through and from the more con-
gested areas, with the result that
remedial action has been taken by the
city authorities restricting the park
ing of privately owned automobiles.
and thereby making possible more
rapid and less hazardous movement of
street cars, with consequent added and
improved service to the car-riding pub
nc.' - fsf
Although the rate of fare was the
same last year as in 1925, and the
passenger total fell off, the report
called attention to $773 ,2o0.4s credited
to profit and loss. The gross income
Of the company for the year amounted
to $s,161. 1899, of which 1902 .619.ss
represents the gross earnings from
operation. The operating expenses,
including depreciation, taxes and mis-
cellaneous charges, totaled 81, 140,222
So, and the interest on the funded debt
and payment of dividends on both com
mon and preferred stock raised this
figure to s5.57s, 37k56. Miscellaneous
items credited to profit and loss
amounted to $1ss,s41.74.
In spite OF the lack Of adequate
earnings from operations of the rail-
way companies" the report continued,
the policy of liberal expenditures for
maintenance and reconstruction of
ways and structures was continued in
1926"
Bus Operations.
Attention also was called 10 the
loss Of $175,916.5S from motor bus
operations, but the directors appeared
optimistic over this method of trans
portation, saying, The results for the
year 1926, are somewhat more en-.
couraging than at any time since
we entered the field of this form. of
transportation"
Added congestion on the streets, the
report pointed out, increased slightly
the liability to accidents over the pre.
cedins year Seventy-fve of the &C.
cidents, II was said, were with. au.
tomobiles.
The final section Of the report is
devoted to the Potomac Electric
Power Company, which, the directors
emphasized, enjoyed a large increa Sc
in the volume of it's business, having
sold 1877 per cent more electricity
than during 1925. The company now
has 122,74S meters connected to its
lines, a gain of III per cent over
those connected at the close of 1925.
The program of ca pital expenditures
for the current calendar year, the
report explained, is the lars est in the
history OF the company, being in
excess of $5,300,000.