Evening star., 1955-07-23
Two-Sided Transit Issue

] WO-SI0GQ ] TOHSIL Issue
AS a regular subscriber and
reader of your paper for many
years, I want to take this OPP
portunity to congratulate and
thank you for fair editorials,
Unanswered Questions" and
Summer Madness" in the
issues of July 18 and 10, re-
spectively.
1t is most encouraging sto
note that we have one paper
that is not afraid to be fair
and not all one-sided. as the
editorials in another paper
would indicate.
I do not claim that the
Capital Transit Co. has always
been right; neither do you. but
at least there are two sides to
the question, as you so well
bring out in your editorials.
There has been much idle
and bombastic talk both in
and out of the papers and in
Congress about exorbitant divi-
dends paid by the Capital
Transit Co., and I would like
to give you an example to
prove the untruth of it all, and
I quote from a letter which I
wrote to the Public Utilities
Commission on March /. 1854:
"As to all the talk about
exorbitant dividends being
paid. I would very much ap-
preciate your explanation Of
how you arrive at that con-
clusion. Figures do not lie, and
I would like to furnish you
with q concrete example as
follows: I invested $3.054.55 in
the company Is years ago Tin
1929 and have received ex-
actly $1,577 dividends in that
time, which is an average Of
$63.08, or 2 1/15 per cent on
the investment. Do those fig-
ures support your claim Of
exorbitant dividends? How do
they compare with dividends
on your investments?
Furthermore, that invest
ment of $3,054.55 is worth just
$1,620 today, a depreciation of
$1.434.55, almost equal to all
the dividends paid over the
entire period. If the dividends
are so much. I am surprised
that there Is no great rush to
buy the stock, which is on the
open market and open to you
or anyone else who wishes big
returns"
Perhaps Mr.. Wolfson made
a fortunate investment in
Capital Transit at an oppor-
tune time, which anyone who
had the cash could have legally
done.
Stakeholder.
There has been q lot Of
praise given our police and
the magnificent job they are
doing during the present
transit strike, and they justly
deserve every word of it.
But there is another group
about which there has been
little said, and this group also
has been doing a wonderful
job. I am referring to the CO.
operation of the motorists who
have been picking up those Of
us who do not own cars and
who do not have other means
of getting downtown to our
jobs. I have never met a group
of people who have rendered
a service to those in need in
such a cheerful and courteous
manner.
So I say Hats of" to our
motorists.
II. M.
- y -
Isn't it about time some
thing is really done about the
transit strike? Apparently no
one who has any authority is
doing anything but sitting on
his hands, perhaps carrying on
a bit of chit-chat, but actually
doing nothing. True. those
who do have authority to act
have their own private trans
portation and are not incon-
venienced, and apparently are
not concerned either-mem-
bers of Congress, city commits
sioners, the P. U. c., the transit
company and the union. But
what of the people who do use
public transportation? Don't
they deserve some considera-
ton? What about the Board
OF Trade-isn't it time they
place few fat flrecrackers in
strategic places? It is high
time TO knock some stubborn
heads together. The public
has been patient for three
weeks. Action, with teeth If
necessary, is already overdue.
Washington Resident.
\ \ II
Has it ever occurred to the
owners of the Capital Transit
Co. or the p. U. G. that II they
would reduce the fare to 10