Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-31

as supplementary 10 TAu ScIVtCS, eAaS
the company is in the business Of trans
portation and that people can best be
served by q combination, OF bus and RAN
systems; that the service is co-ordi-
mated as far as possible and that some
bus lines are purely feeders Tor the
rail lines apd some are supplementary
to the rails.
Mr., Hartman's questions next turned
on the method used for separating the
values Of rail jointly used by the Capt.
tai Traction and other companies. Mr.
where Joint service Is in effect were
built they were paid for on the basis
OF the prospective use by the various
companies. Since that time, ne said,
whether service changes have altered
the actual percentage Of use among the
companies, no change has been made
in allocating the value of these jointly
used tracks among the companies for
valuation purposes.
One Bus In TakOma Park.
In answer to further questions Mr..
Hanna said that one of the company's
buses always is in use exclusively In
Takoma Park, Md, but that the value
of all of the buses is included In the
valuation figure for property used in
the District. He said that 1t was i'm
practicable to allocate the value of roll
ing stock as between the value of the
company's property In the District and
in Maryland, since many passengers
using the company'S service. In the Dis
trict would not have done SO except for
the existence Of its service In Mary
land.
Taking up the question of charges
included in the capital. accounts as
overheads, Mr.. Hartman sought to dis
cover the amount written out as over
head in property retired since January
!, 1925. Mr. Hanna said that he could
not furnish this Information, nor could
he tell what overhead was added in the
case Of new property bought or installed
since 1925.
Question Goes Into Detail.
Mr.. rtmans question went into
such great detail that Mr.. Hanna COM
planned that the trend of the ques-
tons was rather unfair" to the COM
pany, saying that many of the alleged
erroneous charges to capital account
clearly were the results of errors which
the company would have been glad to
correct had the accountants of the
commission pointed them out to the
company accountants at the time they
were discovered.
Most of the items, Mr.. Hanna said,
were of such insignificance that in any
case they would have no bearing what
ever on the final value of the company
as the errors were just as likely to
occur on one side of the ledger as on
the other. At first he said that Mr.
Hartman's questions carried an insinu-
alton, but Chairman Patrick Of the
commission interviewed and said 1t must
be clearly understood that none Of the
questions asked BY the commission must
be taken as an insinuation Of bad faith
on the company's part and that the
commission knew that any errors made
on the company's books were made
honestly and in good faith. Mr.. Hanna
then withdrew his remark.
Further questions by Mr.. Hartman
then brought out that the valuation
figure of the company includes $500 fol-
eouipping one of the company's garages
for the benefit of the Washington
Rapid Transit Co. and an item Of $l,663
paid as an assessment for paving M
Street in 1926 Mr.. Hanna defended in
clusion of the latter item on the ground
that it greatly increased the value oil
the cumpany's Office property IN
Georgetown in front Of which the street
Improvement was done.
I'm 1925 you included $40 for the
transfer of an easy lift roller jack from
the bus garage to the shop, did you
not?" asked Mr.. Hartman.
This question caused Mr.. Heberle to
dig deep into his records. After thumb
ing over his papers for nearly nve
minutes the witness replied:
Transferred for convenience"
eyes, we made that transfer for the
purpose of convenience. It was paper
transfer from one page in our books to
another page to correspond with the
actual physical transfer Of the roller
jack"
Mr.. Hartman then launched into q
series of questions about the improve
ments made by the Capital Traction Co.
on leased property, referring particu-
larly to the Washhgton-M Maryland Rail
way Co., which runs from Kennedy
street to Takoma Park. Mr.. Hanna ex-
planned at some length the relations
existing between this company and the
Capital Traction Co.
The Washington Maryland Co, he
said, was first operated as leased road
under q contract which provided that
the Capital Traction Co. should make
Improvements at its expense. He said
the smaller company had no money tc
make improvements.
while we operated the road under
lease" continued Mr. Hanna, I'VE
made some improvements. After we
purchased the securities of the COM
pany we made some substantial i'm
provements. I suppose they would total
about $4,000.
Perhaps, technically speaking, these
improvements should not be included In
our capital account, but morally we
should be entitled to earn a fair return
on that money, as it was spent in the
interest of the public to improve the
service to Takoma.
Improvements Are Large Part.
"The improvements are a very con-
siderable part of the value OF the prop
erty at present. If we continue to
operate this line we will have to re-
build it entirely. I think 1T fair thai
be included in our valuation"
Referring to further questions by Mr.
Hartman. Mr.. Hanna said that trafflC
on the Takoma line still was growing
but not so rapidly as 1t was few years
ago. He said the falling off in real
estate operations in that section had
resulted in a decrease in the rate OF
growth of the business of the line.
Just before the commission adjourned
for lunch Chairman Patrick asked the
following questions:
How and when will you furnish
the answers to various questions which
have been asked here and which you
have promised to answer later from
your records?"
IF you tell me how I'll tell YOU
when," laughed Mr.. Hanna. mt