Evening star., 1951-07-29
Capital Transit
Service Hearing
Set Tomorrow
PUG to Consider
'ReusonubIeness of
Lines Facilities

VIII Opcu d puDIlC nearing at IL
a m. tomorrow on the reason.
ableneSs" of Capital Transit Co
services.
PUG Chairman James H. Flana.
gan said the investigation will
cover such factors as the age ano
condition of transit equip
ment. inspections, housekeeping
whether the ceiling lights and
windows of the vehicles are kept
IN working shape, schedules and
mileage and the training of en-
ployes.
A major point, according to
the chairman. will be a study
of what the company is doing
today by way of maintenance and
mileage as compared with pre-
vlouS practices.
Mr.. Flanagan said he expects
the hearing to last longer than
one day. but he could not estimate
Its duration, since prospective
witnesses were not required to
notify the commission before their
appearance.
Four Ask to Be Heard.
-Four spokesman, however, have
informed the commission of their
desire to be heard. They include
Prof. Harold V. Boisvert of Ma
tlonal University Law School
who voiced an appeal by the Dis
trlct Democratic Central Commit
tee yesterday for sound, force
ful, affirmative case on behalf of
the public
The commission replied this
weekend to a request from o. B
Allen, chairman of the Arlington
County PUG, that the District
PUG seek expansion of the inves-
tlgatlon to include all transit
service in the Metropolitan Area
The reply was not made public
pending its receipt by the Arling-
ton body, but it was assumed the
request was turned down. The
District PUC's Jurisdiction does
not extend outside the District s
boundaries.
Tomorrow's hearing is not spe-
clf1cally concerned with the trans
1t company's financial affairs
Observers expect, however. it will
bring out what the effect has
been OF economies under the pres
ent management of the company
A group headed by Louis E. Wolf
son OF Florida took control in Sep
tember, 1949.
Company Welcomes Probe.
The company has said it well
comes the investigation.
There is no assurance that dis
cuSsion of commercial broadcasts
on streetcars and buses will not
develop, although the commission
has stated that any references to
the subject would not be consid-
red as a reopening of that issue.
The United States Court of Ap-
pealS last month ruled transit ra-
dlo commercials unconstitutional
An appeal to the Supreme Court
is being sought.
Paul M. Segal, counsel for
Franklin S. Pollak and Guy Mar
tin, who fought the radio bread
casts, wrote the PUG he mad ad-
viSed his clients not to intervene
in tomorroW's hearing or raise the
issue, in view of the status of the
matter.
In reply, the commission said
1t did not intend that the hearing
should be used to relitigate the
transit radio question. Mr.. Flan-
agan said, however, he could not
guarantee that transit radio
would not be brought up.
Asks Forceful Case.
In addition to Prof. Boisvert
those who have notified the COM
mission of their intention to testi-
fly include Thomas B. Scott, past
president of the Glover Park Cit
liens Association; Stanley Ge-
wirtz. president of the Washing
ton Chapter, Americans for Dem
ocratic Action, and Daniel B
Lloyd, president of the American
University Park Citizens AS
sociation.
Speaking over Station VOL
yesterday, Prof. Boisvert declared:
THE PUG staff approach
should not be limited to a few
harmless. apologetic questions
The staff should present a sound
forceful, affirmative case. Those
testifying in the public's behalf
should be helped and not him
dered. The staff was not created
to serve as an echo of the transit
side of the case"
Prof. Boisvert, former head of
the Young Democrats and a men,
ber of the Democratic Central
Committee, said he will take an
active part in the PUG hearing
Other members of the committee
will attend the hearing as OBJ
servers. They include A. l.
Wheeler. committee chairman;
James William Bryan, public re-
lations man; j. C. Turner, AFL
official and Gerhard P. Van Arkel
committee secretary and counsel
for the Senate District Committee
Urges Competent Presentation.
The VOL audience was told by
Prof. BoiSvert:
BY calling this formal hear
ing, the PUG has indicated that
it has investigated the services OF
the CTC and has found sufficient
grounds of unsatisfactory serv-
ice to justify a formal hearing
on the matter. The Democratic
Central Committee sincerely hopes
that the public's side of the case
will be competently presented by
the staff of lawyers, accountants
engineers and statisticians at.
tached to the commission.
"If such a competent presenta.
tion is not forthcoming, then thi.