Download book Analysis of the Electric Railway Problem (Classic Reprint)

Analysis of the Electric Railway Problem (Classic Reprint).cDelos Franklin Wilcox

Excerpt from Analysis of the Electric Railway Problem On May 15. 1919, the Secretaries of Commerce and Labor submitted to the President a joint recommendation for the appointment of a Federal commission to study and report upon the electric railway problem. During the war the traction companies had been caught between the upper and the nether millstones The increase in the cost of labor and materials had been sharp, sudden and irresistible. The maximum five-cent fare, fixed by contract and by custom, had stood in the way of a prompt increase in revenues to meet the increase in the costs of the transportation service rendered. Through the National War Labor Board, the Federal Government had taken a hand in compelling the street railways to pay to their conductors and motormen what at that time seemed an enormous wage. While the nation was engaged in its gigantic struggle, continuity of street railway service had to be maintained at any price. The companies paid the wage bills and appealed to the Government to raise the fares. Failing to bring about direct interference either by Congress or by the President through some hoped-for exercise of war powers, they had to content themselves with trying to get favorable publicity and helpful recommendations to the state and local authorities. They sought, at the very least, the appointment of a Presidential commission to serve as a sort of national sounding-board before which they could beat the tom-tom and attract public attention everywhere to their financial distress and to the inadequacy of the five-cent fare. On May 31, 1919, the Federal Electric Railways Commission was appointed, consisting of eight members representing various interests, as follows: Charles E. Elmquist, president and general solicitor of the National Association of Railway and Utilities Commissioners. Edwin F. Sweet, Assistant Secretary of Commerce, and former mayor of Grand Rapids, Mich., representing the Department of Commerce. Philip H. Gadsden, vice-president of the United Gas Improvement Company, and president of the Charleston Consolidated Railway and Lighting Company, representing the American Electric Railway Association. Royal Meeker, Commissioner of Labor Statistics, representing the Department of Labor. Louis B. Wehle. general counsel of the War Finance Corporation, representing the Treasury Department. Charles W. Beall, of Harris. Forbes & Company, representing the Investment Bankers Association of America. William D. Mahon, president of the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employes of America, representing that association. George L. Baker, mayor of Portland, Ore.. representing the American Cities League of Mayors. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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