Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-01-22
Facts of Life on Transit

The Commissioners and various Fed
eral officials are struggling with 10000
words of legal phraseology entitled IAN
Act to provide for an adequate and eco
nomically sound transportation system or
systems to serve the District of Columbia
and It's environS; to create and establish q
public body corporate with powers 70
carry out the provisions Of this Act; and
for other purposes" In short, they are
whipping into shape draft Of legislation
to set up Metropolitan Transit Authority
to succeed the moribund Capital Transit
Co. after the funeral next August IA.
The bill is reflection Of the alterna-
tive to which the District OF Columbia
has been driven by combination, In high
places, Of unworthy spite and head
strong desire last summer to settle at all
costs labor dispute by unorthodox
means. This alternative Is public opera
ton Of mass transportation.
II this is indeed the only alternative,
then the present draft Of legislation, or
something similar, will have to be enacted
into law.
Whether the words economically
sound" in the lengthy title Of the bill are
JUSTIFIED, however, Is quite another mat
ter. The bill has been drafted by secur1-
ties underwater (Blyth d Coz, and con-
tains provisions which that underwater
evidently believes are necessary II Transit
Authority securities are to be marketed.
It is, in a sense, . bill Of goods 1irst and
q bill Of legislation second.
Most Of the draft provisions seem to
be written In the interests Of the bond
holders rather than Of the passengers.
This Is ironic; one recalls that principal
objection to Mr.. Louis Wolfson's con-
tinued presence in Washington was that
he paid too much attention to the inves-
tors and too little to the customers. II
a public authority operates under the
same general terms, what will be gained
from the gala necktie party that is sched-
uled to reach its climax next August IA?
Having flung Brer Wolfson into the
briar patch, there seems not much else to
be done. But II Washingtonians are going
to have a privately financed, publicly
operated Transit Authority, they might
as well face few facts Of life.
One is that the Transit Authority
must be MISUNDERSTANDING an indie
pendent freedom to hoe its own row that
is unique In Washington. Without such
autonomy, the Authority will nnd few
takers for It's bonds. Even the Federal
Governments Reconstruction Finance
Corp, In 194s, insisted on transit board
autonomy before 1t would grant loan to
the system In Cleveland.
Another fact of life is that the system
is going to cost the taxpayers money. Not
In the form Of outright grants, perhaps.
but money nonethelesS Capital Transit
Co. in 1854 paid taxes of over $l.4 million
exclusive of income taxi. The proposed
authority would pay nothing in taxes
unless 1t found 1t feasible to pay some
fuel taxes which 1t would notabe bound
to pay. The tax money 50 lost will have
to be made up by other taxes paid by
somebody else.
Still another fact is the question OF
"faith and credit" Much is made In the
proposed bill Of the point that the faith
and credit or taxing power Of the Gov
eminent Will not be pledged behind Tran
sit Authority bonds. This is healthy In
theory, perhaps, but is 1t meaningful in
fact? II public operation in Washington
turns out to be no more economical than
in other cities-and If the local Transit
Authority gets into financial trouble,
what then? The credit of the Government
would have to come to It's rescue, because
the only alternative would be to let tran
sit fold up and die-and we already have
seen that this is not feasible.
The present transit proposal reflects
the thinking Of concern, with experience
in the field which may hope to market
the securities when, as and II issued.
Perhaps other bond houses have similar
ideas; perhaps not. II would be interest
ing, however, to learn whether another
underwater or several other under
writer's - might have other ideas that
would be more attractive from the Dis
trict's point Of view.
Some changes already have been
made in the draft originally submitted
to the Budget Bureau. Others undoubt-
edly will be made In the future.
There is a long road to be travelled
before the Transit Authority idea be-
comes q reality. 1t would be well to
travel 1t cautiously, remembering always
that unseemly haste last summer got US
into the mess we are in today.