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Show THE SEARCHLIGHT Is a New Utility Racket Brewing’ (Continued Public from preceding ifornia will monopolize the gas and oil business of page) Service Commission to make certain that Salt Lake City gets a square deal. But if there is any question as to the sufficiency of authority, the approval by the Commission of any Traction sale can be deferred until the incoming Legislature has a chance to act. ‘Saltcake City ::Lines’,: a subsidiary of “Pacific City Lines’, is the Power Com pany's favorite purchaser. No others are welcome. A beautiful front, and a heavy money background City has been rigged Lines”. The up for “Salt Lake Tribune has furnished the new enterprise with a great front page sendoff, and a shiny halo. Consequently, everything is in readiness for somebody to “make a killing”. What interests are behind the move? Who is “Pacific City Lines’? The Searchlight’s in- the Salt Lake bus system. And again, the cost will be greater. Salt Lake bus riders will have to foot the bills through higher fares than otherwise would be necessary. Monopoly control of bus servicing will cost Salt Lakers a lot more money than competitive servicing, contracted through “‘arm’s length” transac- tions. All of those factors should be taken into account by the Salt Lake City Commission, in considering a request for a transfer of the franchise. And the Public Service Commission and the Se- curity & Exchange Commission likewise should weigh such matters before approving any sale. There should be a careful appraisal of the current value of Traction’s property. The Company should not be permitted to put a valuation of formation is that three powerful groups are in control, with a side door still wide open back into Bond & Share influences. Standard Oil of of the bus to a purchaser at $6,000, leaving Salt California; Firestone Rubber; the $4,000 difference—the water. and General Mo- tors, appear to be the behind-the-scenes interests who propose to step into tion business in Salt Lake ports that the old the mass transporta- City. There friendship between are re- General Motors and Bond & Share is very much alive. For many years Utah Light & Traction Company would buy only General Motors-made buses. Easier riding, lower-cost Fords were ta- boo. So were other makes. Apparently it is $6,000 on ‘a ramshackle $2,000 bus; then dispose Lakers to pay bus fares high enough Of Mr. Gadsby and is none of the public’s business. are the public’s business. his apologist, But higher rates And any slick scheme that causes higher rates becomes the public’s busi- effect is to make Salt Lake bus riders pay rates that will absorb two or three thousand dollars per bus in higher costs. The proposed sale to “Pacific City Lines” contemplates that none but Firestone may supply rubber for Salt Lake buses. Quite naturally —as in all monopoly transactions—the cost to bus users will be greater. Bus fares will have to be kept higher. Standard Oil of California has been steadily extending its empire into the Rocky Mountain area. The new bus deal appears to be another step in that expansion. It is a safe assumption earn tem that independent oil and gasoline concerns in this region will be shut out. Standard of Cal- course, Paul H. Ray, may argue that the price Traction gets out of “Pacific City Lines” for its property, ness. that if ‘Salt Lake City Lines” buys the bus sys Bond & Share has been infiltrating water into its subsidiaries through similar tricks for many years in order to gouge the public. ‘The net proposed to continue that arrangement. to absorb If rates are maintained a “fair return” on at levels that will $1,500,000, when the actual worth of the Traction bus system is about $500,000, then Salt Lakers will be robbed again —legally, of course, but nevertheless effectively robbed. It may also be argued that they have become accustomed to being robbed and won't kick, but that’s another story. Even though it has made a lot of money during the last two years, Traction has let its equipment deteriorate seriously. buses are pretty badly shot. to twenty a day. About half of its Bus failures run up The convenience of patrons isn’t even considered. The Company will not buy enough equipment to serve the public properly. Purchase of fifty or sixty new buses should (Continued on following page) |