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Show JITNEY BUS PROBLEM BEFORE COMMISSION Keen Interest Is Taken in the Arguments for and Against It. MAYOR PARK EXPLAINS No Conclusion Is Reached and Matter Goes Over for a Week. lntoreatcd In the jitney bus problmns rrowrted tho city commission ,h;,mbcr ye-lcr-lay mr.mh.K ttl'"ai uKM tor tho public- hearings fa "ted on the iu-ouoaod ordinance, undor i.onsid-ciation i.onsid-ciation by Uie commission, for the regulation regu-lation of the new mushroom transnoria-tlon transnoria-tlon buslnesH. Tho ordinance w-.s read Ihroimli by the city recorder for Jjjo benefit bene-fit of those present and was then laid over one week, In order to Kivn f till op-liortunlty op-liortunlty for all persons lntorcbtcd to be heard on It. . ... a Many promlwmt cUliens attended the night session. laKins a ncc; i the arguments presented. Charles lyng and W. D. lavins.ston ero the principal speakers aKainst the Jitneys, and W. V. Kobertson and Imonl Call summed up the arettments for tho jitneys. At the morning hearing Attorney Daniel Dan-iel Alexander, representing the Street Auto Servlco company, and Attorney Dean F Eravton, representing the individual operators of jitney busses, spoke against the proposed measure, declaring that many of Its provisions were prohibitive and would drive the jitneys entirely out of busuiess. Protest Is Registered. Attorney Bravton protested particularly against the action of the city license assessor in refusing to issue licenses for motor busses pending the passage of the. ordinance. He said that the city had no rlEht to refuse licenses until after the ordinance Is passed. He complained also against the arrest of drivers of the busses for operating without licenses when those very licenses had been refused re-fused them. He threatened that unless the commission chansed this policy the courts would be asked for a writ ot mandamus forcing It to Issue the 11- Maior Park assured him that this matter mat-ter had already been settled and that the only purpose of the city was to prevent an unlimited abuse of the transportatibn. business pending the passage of the ordinance or-dinance for the regulation of the busses. Both the Individual operators and the Street Auto Service company were particular par-ticular opposed to those provisions of the ordinance requiring the payment of $75 h vear Hcer.se for a four-seated car, maintenance of exact schedules and definite defi-nite routes with terminals as near the citv limits as possible. These are prohibitive, pro-hibitive, they argued, and would force the busses out of business. They also ob-iected ob-iected to the provision forbidding them to operate with more passengers than could be comfortably seated. The street cars are not -held to any such limit, they argued. Mayor Park Replies. Mayor Park, replying generally to all the criticisms directed against the proposed pro-posed measure, declared that it is drawn along the lines of similar ordinances in effect In other cities, and that while some of its provisions could be improved, no doubt, its general aim was to regulate the new form of transportation business and to place It on a fair and equal basis with the street railway system. He did not believe, he said, In allowing a company com-pany or individuals to come in and take the cream of the transportation business without submitting to strict regulation looking to the guaranteeing of service for the public and protection of public interests. in-terests. 'The chief aim of the ordinance Is protection pro-tection of interests of the public as a whole." he said, "regardless of the interests inter-ests of the jitney busses or the street railway svstem." At the night meeting Charles Tyng attacked at-tacked the jitney bus from the standpoint of a real estate man. contending that its existence as an uncontrolled and unregulated unregu-lated element in the city's transportation business would tend to hinder and hurt the growth of the city's outlying sections, sec-tions, since it only aims to give service in the more congested portions of town along the paved streets. He compared it with the curbstone broker who, with no investment, no office and little or no responsibility, re-sponsibility, cuts Into the business of the legitimate dealers. Livingston Is Heard. P. H. Livingston not only favored the ordinance, but advocated a more stringent strin-gent provision limiting the number of busses allowed to operate along any particular par-ticular route or streets. He said that the problem to be considered was that of ruinous competition ruinous not only to the street car companv, but to tho jitney busses' operators as well and to the general public, too. which would suffer suf-fer from demoralization of service. "Ruinous competition Is against public policy In this country." he said. "It should be guarded against here, and I believe there is grave danger of it resulting result-ing unless thorough regulation is eslab-lished eslab-lished immediately. Vnless this ordinance limits the number of busses on certain atreets and routes. It would be possible for the jitneys to concentrate on the most heavily traveled streets in the paved district and reap the cream of the short-haul short-haul business, forcing the street car company com-pany to take tho long-haul business, which is proililess. "Hut the big thing to be considered la not the protection of the street car company. com-pany. Service to the people Is the main idea to be heid in mind, and I would urge that every regulation be put in force that will tend to preserve that service." Mr. Livingston spnke of the street car system as one oi the most up-to-date and efficient in the country today. Tt is giving excellent service, he said, and is entitled to consideration and to protection protec-tion from unregulated and ruinous competition. Speaks for Jitneys. Lerr.onl Call spoke for the Jitneys, following fol-lowing Mr. Livingston. Tic said that the proposed ordinance would force the indl- ldual operators to the wall and be practically prac-tically prohibitive even as applied to a large corporation. Keplyinu- to the argument argu-ment al"out ruinous competition, he declared de-clared that the jitney bus was a product of evolution, and that If it Is In the cards of progress that the jitney bus is to supplant sup-plant the electric railway, then all the ordinances and regulations in the world cannot deprive It of Its dcntlny. "The jitney is now in embryo." be said. "It will develop. The time v.111 come when. In place of the little L'O-horsepower, four-seated Fords now engaged. lin-horsepowcr lin-horsepowcr cars, carrying as many passengers pas-sengers as tile street c::rs do now, will roll silently, swiftly and smoothly over our streets, which will he umnounih"rcd 'lth car tracks. That Is a possibility, even a probability, of the nevt ten jears." Mr. Call argued that It was unfair to force the Jitney opera lors to give bonds and s.llow private cars to run unbonded. "I would JuHt as lief be run over by the Jitney carrying pa senge is for a nickel apiece ai-' by -oine touring car out for a pleasure trip." be said. "Yet we do not require a hond of he pleasure ''' 1 |