Evening star., 1927-05-21
Question One Of Ability.

There is just one concrete question
for us TO decide" Mr.. Moore said,
"and that is whether we are able 10
raise 100000 by June /, when the
court confirms the sale and the option
held by Mr.. Church and Mr.. Keith
expires. l think we can and will.
eff the people who will subscribe
to an interest I'm the railway were
instead making an outright gift OF
the money that the service be con-
tinued, / think they would be doing
wise thing" Mr.. Moore continued,
pointing out the possibility OF great
depression in realty values as result
of taking away the car service. Mr..
Moore predicted that with the project
ed economies, the road could be
operated at a profit.
"On the other hand" he continued.
taking the most pessimistic view. II
the people failed in their attempt to
operate the road and it had 10 be
scrapped. money invested would not
be lost. There would still be the
sCrapping value on the iron. copper
and real estate and it is safe to say
that the present owner would not
have acquired the road had the scrap
ping value amounted to less than
$3.50 900"
Mr.. Moore had previously subscribed
for 81 900 of the proposed bonds and
announced last night that he would
duplicate the order if it is needed.
Valued at Sl.OOO,OO0.
Mr. Keith told the audience that IL
the road had to be built today it would
cost 81 900 900 and that the people
have the chance of getting it at 10
cents on the dollar. He said that IL
the road is acquired it will be a COM
munity enterprise and will be operated
entirely from that standpoint. "If we
don't go into this thing" he continued,
hundreds of people will have no con-
venient means of transportation TO
the city, there will be serious depre-
citation of property and we will lose
in population and business.
James Dueterman. division superin.
tendent of the Washington and Vir-
ginia railway. expressed the view that
the people would not go wrong in pur-
chasing the line. He predicted a
bright future for the service. giving
as his reasons a possible saving in
operating expenses; increased patron
age through increased population and
localized ownership and the parking
conditions in Washington, which, he
said. are becoming more troublesome
every day and which will eventually
force owners to leave their machines
at home and use the street cars.
l.. g. McNemar, president OF the
Clarendon Citizens Association, who,
with Amos c. Crounse, made a futile
effort to block the sale of the railway
property. declared that if the line in
the loss in real estate values
would he far i'm excess of what is put
into the project even if it is put in
as a contribution.
Because of the congestion caused
by automobiles, electric cars are fast
coming into their own, he said. He
also expressed the view that the line
could be put on a paying basis il
the overhead is kept at a minimum.
Charles n. Jesse, member of the
Virginia House of Delegates; State
Senator Frank /. Ball, Maj. Il. W.
r. Ewing. president of the Ballston
Association: Harris Levy,
banker of the county: Alan Pro-
else, cashier of the Arlington Trust
Co: G. A. s. Sinclair. former chief
engineer of the Washington & Vir-
sinia Railway, and others spoke in
favor of the proposition, pledging
heir moral and financial support.
ACtoIuiHS Iu dflIOuHceitlenI Dy MT.
Church, approximately $4,000 has
been received in subscription pledges
although this feature of the project
has been underway less than three
lays. Pledges amounting to nearly
$4,000 were turned in at the meeting
asst night.
Ashton c. Jones of the Clarendon
Chamber of Commerce asked the
rade and civic organization represent
ltives present to take the matter back
% their bodies. urging the appoint
nent of committees to aid the pro-
noters in the subscription raising