Evening star., 1955-07-20


LIT. FRANCIS D. vIERING
Also Victim of Crash
that you had also made the same
statement?
Do you not feel that in re-
iferring to the Payne report you
should have advised Congress
that this report stated:
1T can be concluded from the
study that the management of
Capital Transit Co. does a gen.
Ierally good and efficient job of
operating the service on day
to-day basis" mo Illegal
factions on the part of Louis E.
Wolfson and his associates were
discovered in the operations of
the Capital Transit Co."
1t is a fact well known to you
and your staff that never once
since the present management
took control Of the company has
the Public Utilities Commission
lever charged or contended that
this company was failing to
render adequate service to the
public.
In order to present the picture
accurately, do you not feel, Mr..
Commissioner, that these facts
should also have been made
known to Congress and the
public?
In your letter you state:
Throughout the negotiations
for a new labor contract, the
company has maintained that it
could not grant nnerited increases
Ito its employees until it first re-
lceived or was granted an in
crease Of income"
How, Mr.. Commissioner, in
fairness, could you make this
statement when you and your
staff well know that this COM
tpany has offered labor an in
crease Of 10 cents an hour for a
truce period Of 120 days and had
iagreed to take its chances that
the Public Utilities Commission
would grant a prompt fare in
crease to meet this increased
cost.
In your letter you also quote
Mr.. Wolfson as saying that the
company cannot give its en-
Iployes more money for the sim
lple reason that it does not have
it. That isolated statement does
not present the true picture, as
you well know. You are fully
aware Of the fact that have
stated to you openly and per-
sonally, over and over again, that
the company does have money
but that it has no money to meet
the demands of labor unless in
creased revenue is provided. II
must be obvious to you as it is
to any one with the slightest
knowledge of business, that q
company must have sufficient
revenue to pay its operating costs
and that one of its operating
costs is the wages it pays It's
labor.
You state that contrary to the
claims of lacking money, the
company earned a net income
before taxes df about $1,126. .00C
in 1854. We cannot find this
figure on our 1854 balance sheet
1t is we'll known to you that
auditors of the Public Utilities
Commission are permanently
stationed at Capital Transit Co
and have daily knowledge of the
financial affairs of the company
You also must know that monthly
financial reports Of this company
are furnished to the Public Util-
tiles Commission as is also its
annual report to stockholders.
The annual report for the year
1854. certified as accurate by the
well-known accounting firm of
Price Waterhouse & Co. shows
a net income for the year of
$638,328 If this figure were in
accurate 1t Is strange that the
auditors of the Public Utilities
Commission have accepted it as
true.
False Picture Charged
1t is. therefore. inconceivable
to me that such a misstatement
should be contained In your let
ter unless it was for the deliber-
ate purpose Of presenting a false
and misleading picture.
You also state that on May
49,, 1855, the company had
earned surplus Of $2,070,990 and
cash of $2,663.025. These figures
are correct but you and your
staff knew that the cash figure
was one Of the items making up
total current assets Of $4.266, TIL
as of May 81. 1855. However
Iyou failed to state the very i'm
portant fact that this same bal
ance sheet shows current liabil-
titles Of $3.159,I14.53. Therefore.
a mere statement Of assets with
out any, mention of liabilities
presents a distorted and mis-
leading picture.
1t is also stated in your letter
that the company on April !.
1855. increased its quarterly
dividend from 20 cents per share
Ito 30 cents per share. Appar-