Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-13

Continued Prom First Page.)
ton, hoping that the necessity for tax
ing it might be postponed. either be-
cause Of q merger of the transportation
systems Of the District, with resulting
economies in operation, or because the
steady and long continued inroads of
the private automobile into the COM
! panE,s business would lessen.
so far as the merger Is concerned,
both this company and the two others
| involved in 1t have done everything In
their power to carry out the expressed
| wish Of Congress for unificatton of
| facilities in the public service.
Following the definite terms Of an
act which Congress passed several years
| ago, an agreement for such a unfit
cation was signed by the companies. +"
The statement then goes on to recite
| the history of the failure Of the merger
| legislation and continues:
In June. 1923, we asked the COM
mission to approve an application for
an increase in fare to tide us over until
| the merger might become effective The
commission, however, did not act upon
that application. giving as its reason
the hope that Congress would approve
| tAAC uAAAAIdIACi INSS WulICLs
Requested Last June.
! I'VE are now applying for the same
| increase we requested last June-a fare
! of 10 cents cash with four tokens sold
| on the cars for 80 cents-an increase
| of only fve-sixths Of q cent for those
patrons who regularly use Our service
| and reduction of 10 cents in the
amount invested In tokens at one time.
dc &f 49, --,&IY a.
| company much less than the amount
| considered a reasonable return on the
| value of It's property used by the public,
but the management is still hopeful that
conditions will improve. 1t does not
want to ask the commission to put any
! burden on the car rider greater than
| is absolutely necessary.
During the IL months that ended
April 30, 1929. the Capital Traction
Co. earned only $50 per cent on the
value OF its property as established by
| the court of! last resort, or only about
half OF what has been accepted as a
minimum reasonable return by the Su-
preme Court Of the United States and
| generally by commissions and courts.
To enable us to earn per cent under
present conditions would require Q cash
fare Of 10 cents without tokens.
10 Cities Listed.
There are scores of cities which have
gone through the same experience that
Washington Is undergoing. And in
those cities fares have been raised to
meet conditions for which the street
railways are in on way responsible; the
| constant reduction in business which
the private automobile has caused"
The statement then lists 10 cities
where the fare is greater than in Wash
ington and points out that in each of
them street railways are operated by
the overhead trolley system, which costs
about one-third as much to install as
the underground conduit system in use
in Washington. The statement goes on
! to say:
we have practiced strict economy
in operation. We have hoped and be-
lieved that the inroads of the private
automobile would lessen. They have
not. Nor would the most optimistic
street railway man forecast when they
will. although all are convinced that
future city growth and development
will continue to depend on high-grade
public transportation by street car and
bus.
Those are the facts, stated simply
and fairly. Our patrons are entitled 70
| the best type OF service, our stock
holders TO fair compensation for the
use OF their property. To insure these
things we must have higher fare. The
directors and the management believe
the public will appreciate the situation
and will realize that an increase in
fares would be in the interest of all
concerned"