Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-19
HAM URGES EQUAL
CAR FARE INCREASE
w. R. & {. Co. President Says
Capital Traction Is Di-
rect Competitor.
Continued From First Page)

Continued From First Page.)
account for his experience as a street
railway accountant, William NICK. Clay
ton public utilities chairman of the
Federation Of Citizens Associations, re-
marked that the witness seemed to have
qualified as an expert bookkeeper.
Clayton Asks Engineering View.
II want to ask the counsel whether
he will also have Mr.. Ham qualify as
Sss expert in street railway engineering"
asked Mr.. Clayton, "or does he expect
this witness to confine his testimony
to accounting?"
When Mr.. Bowen started to explain,
Mr.. ClaytcA irterjected: What I am
interested in knowing about this busi-
ness Is whether bookkeeping is more
important than engineering"
II am offering Mr.. Ham as an eX-
pert street railway executive" asserted
Mr.. Bowen.
Mr.. Ham then introduced in evidence
q large map Of the District, showing
all street railway and bus lines now in
view Of the commission and spectators
and Mr.. Ham pointed out the various
lines operated by his company.
Outlining briefly the history of the
Washington Railway & Electric Co.,
Mr.. Ham said it had been formed by
a consolidation of various independent
lines. which had been originally built
with the idea Of bringing passengers
from outlying sections into the center
of the city without much conSidera-
ton of the interchange Of traffic be-
tween lines.
Independents Were Improbable.
"The system was not built as mod
FOL ~ e&~A Il
ways would be built today" explained
Mr.. Ham.
Most Of the independent lines which
went to form the present company, Mr..
Ham said, had been Improbable.
Entering description of the physical
properties Of his company, Mr.. Ham said
that the single-track mileage in the
District totaled 127.494, of which about
50 miles were operated as an under
ground system.
The mileage operated in Maryland he
gave as 36.461. This made total of
1639 55 miles Of single track inside and
outside of the District.
Mr.. Ham, said the company had 400
active passenger cars and So BUSES.
The witness said the various cross
town bus lines operated by the company
saving time and preventing congestion
in the dowtown areas Of the city, while
the company has found them more
economical to operate than the cars.
The bus service is popular, as shown
by the way the number of passengers
on the buses has increased from year
to year." said Mr.. Ham, land this has
p tended to prevent losses in revenue
which the company otherwise would
have suffered"
AS an example of the benefit to the
public of bus lines, Mr.. Ham said it
takes Al minutes for passenger to 60
by street car from Georgia avenue and
Rock Creek road to Mount Pleasant
street, while the time by the company's
cross-town bus service Is only minutes.
Mr.. Ham gave figures to show how
buses has increased since they were
first put in service in 1922
In that year, 10000 persons were
carried on buses. From that time the
number Of passengers increased as fol-
lows: 809,665 in 1928. 1904, 100 in 1924,
1,895,038 in 1925, 3,036,852 in 1925,
S,85S,052 In 1927 and 4,425,610 in 1928.
Says Companies Are Competitors.
Mr.. Ham said that the Park road
bus line in 1927 carried 443, 497 pay pas
sengers and 257 900 transfer passengers;
the Woodley road bus line in 1928 car
ried 453,573 pay passengers and 391,-
ga transfer passengers.
He then said that he wanted to show
that the lines Of the Capital Traction
and Washington Railway & Electric
Cos. were directly in competition, and,
pointing to the large map, said that
the Capital Traction Co. has only two
long lines in the District, the Connect
cut avenue and the Fourteenth street
lines. The Connecticut avenue line, he
said, IS not far distant from the Wash
Dat O. vi ~ 'e yic-
consin avenue line, and these are d.
rectly competitive from the District
line from Woodley road, and also from
Mount Pleasant into town.
The Fourteenth street line, he said,
is in direct competition with the rail-
way company's Takoma Park line. From
Kennedy street south 1t is parallel
from the Georgia avenue line two or
three blocks distant. From Monroe
Eleventh street line. The whole down.
town system of the Capital Traction Co.
is in direct competition with that Of the
railway, he said. Both lines serve the
same major urban points, such as the
Union Station, the Capitol and the
Treasury Department. The Washing
ton Railway & Electric Co. system. Mr..
Ham said. is more spread out and has
longer haulS than the Capital Traction
system. The average distance from the
end Of the railway line to Eleventh and
F. streets, he said, is 40 miles and from
the end of the traction lines to Fiji
teenth and New York avenue Is "a
miles.
426 Cars in Operation.
His company, Mr.. Ham said. operates
426 passenger cars as compared with
325 by the Capital Traction Co., and
90 buses to the 43 of the rival con-
Germ. He went on to give other figures
Of a similar character and wound up
with the conclusion that regardless of
valuation, earnings, or other considera-
ton, his company cannot be operated
as economically as can the Capital
Traction Co.
"Our company is a pioneer" Mr..
Ham said, "In going out into the open
spaces and building up the community
and 1t would be an absolutely unfair
thing to give rate to the Capital
Traction Co., which was not given also
to U.S."
1.-THE problems of rush hour service
are Just as acute today as they ever
we're and the congestion Of automobile
traffic in the street makes 1t increasingly
difficult to operate the service" MIR.
Ham said.
"While I don't believe the public is
much interested" the witness continued,
~DAr