Evening star., 1928-12-13


HARLEY p. WILSON.
| proper cooperation all round it ought
to be possible to bring about the long
awaited merger.
| This will be feasible, however, only
| if some way can be found to get the
| facts before the people of Washington
| and before Congress. realize that
| an individual is at a terrific disadvan-
/ tage in trying to fight the misrepre-
! sentation of certain newspapers about
/ the merger proposal. but, since all OF
| the newspapers of Washington continue
| to assure their readers that they are
| for some kind of merger, 1t may be
possible to get the truth told before
! this matter is finally disposed Of.
After replying to certain instances OF
what he termed miSinformation relat-
ing to the merger plan, Mr.. Wilson con-
tinued:
The following must be obvious to any
intelligent mind: The merger will effect
large savings in operating costs; those
savings will succeed completely or will
go far toward enabling the companies
to earn a fair return upon their, prop
critics and therefore make future in
creaSes in fares improbable. Failure OF
merger. will prevent the companies from
making these savings and increases IN
fares will become inevitable. Merger is
the best insurance against fare increases
and the only means of providing bet
ter and cheaper car service"
Summarizes Conclusions.
In conclusion Mr.. Wilson wrote SEN
ator Capper as follows:
THE facts, as reult of the Bureau
of Efficiency and DR.. Maltbie reports,
may be briefly summarized as follows:
Il. Valuation.-Dr. Maltbie without
giving any figure for reproduction costs
of the properties and using depreci-
alton figure of 26 per cent, states that
! he has not examined the condition of
the properties, but that he believes the
reproduction cost would be less than
| $50 900 ,000.'
ON the other hand, the Bureau of
| Efficiency, using reproduction costs cal
culated. on the basis of the court deci-
sions and using depreciation figure of
! 13 per cent (although in the Capital
Traction case the Court of Appeals of
the District said no depreciation should
be deducted), arrives at reproduction
cost. less depreciation, of $54,00O,000'
THE Public Utilities Commission, the
authority established by lawsSto deal
with public utilities in the District and
whose duty it is to be familiar with the
properties, has sustained the viewpoint
Eof the Bureau of Efficiency on the queS-
Etion of valuation.
Quotes MaItbie View.
90 Power Cost-Dr. Maltbie states
he does not understand the power clause
and recommends that it be left out and
that rates for power used by the merged
Estreet railway company be fixed by the
Public Utilities Commission.
The Bureau of Efficiency makes a
Every definite and practical suggestion
for dealing with the power situation.
F. 80. Savings From Unificati0n-Dr
Maltbie, although stating that he had
tnot investigated all angles of the ques-
tion. estimated that $500Q00 per annum
could be saved by car rerouting, in ad-
dition to- $4,000 for general expenses,
$4,000 for track maintenance, $4,000
for car. barn operations, $4,000 for
track renewals, $130,000 from crossing
Epolicemen and $4,000 from paving re-
lief-a total of 100000 per annum.
1.-THE Bureau of Efficiency Jumped all
of these items together into figure
of $1,000,000 per annum.
"a Advantages of unification.-
EDr Maltbie stated that the ad-
vantages of uniffcation are no greater
elsewhere than in Washington. The
duplication of tracks, the parallelng of
lines and routes in order that each COM
kpany may obtain a share of the more
profitable traffic, the unusual amount
of expensive crossings, switches and
EturnoutS, the maintenance of two
sources of power, two sets of car barns
and shops and many other features re-
sulting from competitive systems have
repeatedly been commented upon. No
one denies that with unified system
service could be improved, the amount
Eof property required adequately to serve
+ the public reduced, the costs of opera
ton curtailed and vehicular traffic ac-
Federated and convenienced.'
Inquiry Results Cited.
'"The Bureau of Efficiency made in
vestigations of fares and operating CON-
ditions in many other cities and con-
cluded that because of the under
ground ~conduits, which exist in no
other city outside of New York, Wash
ington has an unusually costly railway
system; notwithstanding this, the fares
in Washington compare favorably with
the majority of other cities. The Bureau
sonable to expect that under unification
the number of car miles operated per
passenger could be reduced, or, converse
ly, that the number of passengers car
ried per car mile could be increased
without lowering the high standard OF
service now prescribed by the Public
Utilities Commission AS indicating
that there is no waste in Washington
at present, the Bureau of Efficiency
I1nf I1o
Capital Traction for 1927 was lower than
in any other city included in its sur
Washington. in view of the separate
vey. with the exception of Baltimore
and that the operating ratio for the
two washington companies combined
was considerably below the average for
the group of comparable cities. The
bureau concluded by stating that "these
comparisons are certainly favorable to
operation of the two companies. There
is little doubt that under unified man.
agement the comparison should be even
more favorable to Washington because
of the economies and service benefits
which may be expected from CO.
ordinated transportation system" None
of these facts are denied by DR.. Maltbie
Hopes for Early Action.
"The conclusion to be drawn from
all the above is that Washington, with
costly system of underground con-
duits imposed by Congress for baautif-
cation reasons, has two street railway
systems with comparatively low rates
of fare and comparing very favorably
from an operating standpoint with the
best street railway systems in the coun-
try; also that the companies are striv-
ing to meet the public demand which
has existed for more than 2o years .tC
bring about q merger, which every ex-
pert states will keep fares lower than
they would be under a continuance ol
existing conditions, will increase ef-
efficiency. will greatly improve service
/ aud If tho -v.iJi,,ut y,,I,,