Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-26
Commission, Watchful in Sit
uation, Undecided on
Remedy for Fight.
METER RATE FOR ALL
is HELD IMPROBABLE
Peace Farley Tuesday Planned.
Police Vigilant to Arrest
Reckless Drivers.

Definite steps to end the taxicab rate
war are to be taken tomorrow by the
Public Utilities Commission and some
of the taxi operators themselves.
The Utilities Commission regards the
taxi situation Of paramount importance
and intends to discuss 1t thoroughly in
an effort to find a possible solution. At
the same time several Of the leaders in
the rate war propose to get together
and smoke the pipe Of peace. But the
commission Is puzzled as how best TO
proceed, and among the taxi owners
there are some recalcitrants who are
not yet ready to consider peace over
lures. So the outcome Of the dual ne
gotiations appears somewhat uncertain.
Five Held for Speeding.
The close watch being kept by po-
lice on the taxi drivers as result OF
complaints Of reckless driving on their
part led Yesterday to the arrest OF five
on charges of speeding. Two others
were picked up for parking of desig-
mated hack stand.
Thirty-four to thirty-seven miles an
hour was the clip at which the cabs
were going when stopped by motor cycle
officers. according to the reports OF the
arresting officers Those arrested for
speeding were Charles r. Scaudone,
829 Four -and-a half street southwest;
Roosevelt T. Brewer, colored, 467
School street southwest; Edwin Borven,
IA Fourth street northeast; Howell j.
Bell. colored, 2246 Twelfth street, and
Joshua Durfee. 2120 G street.
Nathan H. Davis, colored, 125 Ran
dolph place, and Thomas j. Lynch, ll0l
Fifty-first street northeast. were ar
rested on charge Of parking of a
hack stand.
Commission Watchful.
Ever since the taxi rate war became
serious, the Utilities Commission has
watched the developments, obviously
hoping that it would end without Off
cial action on its part. 1t realizes now.
however. that something must be done
to restore the taxi business to normally,
but it is not yet prepared to prescribe
a remedy.
Richmond B. Keech, peoples counsel
plans to participate in the commissions
discussion of the taxi situation and
offer some suggestions for a solution
He believes the situation can be rene
died by the establishment of a fair
meter rate for cabs that want to oper-
ate on that basis. and a reasonable fiat
rate for those who want to run on q
fiat-rate basis.
The commission has had under con-
sideration for some time the adoption
of a regulation requiring all cabs u
operate on a meter basis Keech. how
ever, contends that this will not solve
the problem, but on the contrary viii
force many of the flat-rate operators
out of business. He Is opposed to
sitting competition in the taxicab bust
ness because 1t was the advent Of tho
Hat-rate cabs and the competition they
offered the organized companies tina
forced taxi rates down in Washington
Five Groups to Meet.
Representatives Of five groups of taxi
operators plan to meet in preliminary
conference tomorrow and arrange for
meeting Tuesday of officials Of all COM
panies engaged in the -slashing
war. The object of the conference. it
was said, would be to get the warning
groups to agree to a uniform fiat rate.
The Diamond operators, one of the
largest group of independents. are not
expected to take part in the conference,
chiefly because the truce negotiations
were proposed by representatives of the
firm which introduced the f1at-rate
service in Washington. The Diamond
cabs formerly operated on a meter
basis. but were forced to adopt the fiat
rate because Of competition Of the fat
rate cabs.
officials of the Protex-U Co., which
went on a 20-cent flat-rate basis several
days ago, are going to attend the con-
ference, but announced last night that
if no amicable agreement is reached
they propose to continue to cut rates
to meet all competition. Several other
companies have taken the same posi-
tion