| OCR Text |
Show LINES FACE , leiKincv l mm Street Railway Companies fl Suggest Municipal Own-nertnip Own-nertnip as One Way Out g of Their Financial Crisis T ILL thf street railway of tYV the United Stat pawl ovr to municipal owimtkI;:;; or will eaeh city be asked to release, the companies from franchise burdens bur-dens to ssv them from uter ruin? Tneae were the questions ssked at fhe conference of the American Klec-irfr Klec-irfr Hallway aaaociatlon held In New York. frtm which H. K ricke, general wianager of the I'ls-h Infant and True fion company, returned today. The Incnl streetcar company la deeply In-Irreated In-Irreated In the reeommemlstions which Will be made by a committee appointed appoint-ed by the pre id en t of the aaaKlatlon W iinss'lli.stp Hie mailt i. lawn! Oii&nges portend aa a result. DIFFICULTIES TOLD. .During the meeting- a resolution re-tUina re-tUina the present condition of the tod ia try and its inability to continue Service unleaa aubatantlal relief was or companies that they afofrd every lActllty to states and municipalities lr taking over the street railways ts Introduced by J. I. Mortimer, f resident of the Milwaukee Klectrlc ft H way and Light company. I - The motion wns referred to the fjecutive committee. The appointments appoint-ments of the Investigating committee yvjH be announced In a few das. Meeting was- gloomy. kt;eneral gloom prevailed at the meeting," aaid Mr. Hicks today. "The gross profit received by all street railway rail-way companies from, operations of 1WT waa only f7t.000.0OO. The wage Increases authorised -by the wsr labor braird are spplled to all companies on ttir same basis aa for the thirty-nix which have been determined ; i he tn- crease of operating epencs will be . more than $lo.0u0.00. This means that the net Inaa for Iftls will be ffl.OOO.AOO tnr the electric railways of the I'nlted Htaies " FAVOR MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. "lircKuwe of t hla precarious sit ua -i tlon a resolution waa introduced which purported to present the Aisjsr- , Iran Hallway ohwm lut ion as t-eing in lifnu.ae of sniini I iniir ami on. era t ion of all electric rm.way. H-p-resentativea and operators of many street railway propertiea were In favor of such a program. "After an extensive discussion It , waa decided that a committee cro-, cro-, poaed of the ablest operator should be appointed to study the nit nation 7 with a view in determining If Hie iu-, iu-, dnetry could not be continued under , private ownership. TWO ALTERNATIVES. "I lelieve the committee will he able to work out a plan to relieve the slt-1 slt-1 uatton. I think either a plan to give service at rost simitar to the Chicago ' and Boston plan will lie adopted, or else munlt-ipHl ownership la Inevitable. I'nder the Hon ton plan the city takes over the property and operate It and Insures the owners of the property a fixed return on their investment. The truii tees of Boston took over the operation op-eration of the street railway there August 1, 191. They have established estab-lished a 7-cent fare In that city. '( 'ompanlea which do not want to operate, under this plan will inevitably have to go under municipal ownership. The whole structure of the franchise relationship betweejt electric railways and the- various communities has broken down under the strain of the war. The rapid Increase in the cyst of all material. the extraordinary de- ! mands of labor, made necessary by the rise in the coat of living; the alarming decrease in the purchasing fower of a ; nickel, have brought the electric rail-j ways of this country fare to face with ' bankruptcy." : ; : |
