Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-09-02

crate a transit system econom-
ically. to expand and improve
its service and to reduce It's
charges to the point where the
rates are the lowest possible,
compatible with the mainte-
nance of an efficient transporta-
ton system, responsive to the
needs of the people,"
Fares Under 20 Cents
The fares. he said. would be
less than 20 cents.
He suggested that stock own
|ership should have as broad a
base as possible" With a stock
capitalization of SO million, he
proposed 100000 shareholders,
leach with an investment Of
$780,"
The stock, he said. might be
bought by employees of the COM
pany, businessmen who might
buy from 100 to 1000 shares,
mercantile establishments and
real estate developers. Under
District law governing co-opera-
tives. he pointed out, each owner
Of stock would have only one
vote. regardless of the number of
shares.
Under the law, co-operatives
may not pay dividends in ex-
cess of 8 per cent" Mr.. Hankin
said. I'm view of the fact that
this is a public utility whose in
come is virtually guaranteed, it
is only fair that the dividend
should not exceed 5 or 6 per
cent"
Bonds. he sad, should be COM
parable in their terms and yields
to the bonds of other public
utilities"
Wants Underwriters
For subscriptions to these
bonds" he said, 1.-The co-opera-
tive enterprise will have to look
primarily to those who would
benefit in considerable proper
tioMs, like unions or associations
of workers. or corporations deal
ing with the cooperative.
1T would be desirable If, be-
fore such cooperative is in
corporated. to have some re-
sponsible body underwrite the
entire bond issue Of, say $40 mil
lion. and for each organization
taking any substantial part of
the bonds to underwrite an equal
amount Of stock"
He urged that operations be
conducted at cost, including in
terest on bonds and limited divi-
dends on the common stock.
Blasting suggestions to buy
out the stock Of the Capital
Transit Co. for from $40 to SIS
million, Mr.. Hankin said, 1T
would not be fair to the public
to pay anything for the so-called
going concern value of the Cap
ital Transit Co. There is no
such value in this case. It is a
going concern only in the sense
that 1t is on the way out" Also,
he said. the company has no
goodwill value"
He warned against buying any
valuable real estate" from
Capital Transit and said the CO.
operative might buy or rent
buses. but only "the most eff
cient and economical buses OBJ
tainable."
Job Security Urged
Mr.. Bierwagen and I. v. Goad,
director Of transportation for
Capital Transit, both urged that
provision be made to insure the
pension rights and job security
of present employees of the COM
pany when it goes out of bust
ness.
And Mr.. Bierwagen declared
that. in any setup. the employees
would insist on bargaining rights,
the right to strike and on con-
tinuatioh Of the pension plan
end fund.
ANY future operator should
also agfee to submit disputes to
arbitration" he said. "As the
Washington Evening Star once
said editorially: "A refusal to
arbitrate by a public utility
corporation, where the interests
Of the public must prevail, is as
indefensible on the part of
management as it would be on
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