[PRCo] Advocates Stealing the Railways

[Fred Schneider]

ANOTHER ONE OF THESE PEOPLE WHO THINGS THE TROLLEY COMPANY IS RIPPING HIM OFF.    WOULD YOU LIKE TO REMOVE HIS TOMB STONE AND ASK HIM WHAT HOW GOOD A JOB HE THINKS THE PORT AUTHORITY IS DOING TODAY?
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YXEbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kksEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4209%2C2480650

 

Pittsburgh Press, Jan. 29, 1935, page 10, Letter to Editor:

 

Reader Suggests Scheme to Cut Trolley Fares

 

Editor, the Pittsburgh Press

I HAVE watched for years with amazement the numerous and futile attempts of the city to correct the extortion in the street car fare rates, and the lack of sufficient service in our city.   I have been convinced all the while that the remedy was self-evident.

   A mere reading of The Municipal Record which is available to Council, and the executive, will disclose in the minutes of City Council of 60 to 70 years ago, every franchise that was granted to these original horse drawn railways, was based upon an agreement that they “pave between the tracks and one foot upon either side, and keep the same in continual good repair.”  This has not be done by the successors of the original grantees for the past 15 years.   The city has charges against the Pittsburgh Railways Company for doing this work amounting to almost $1,000,000.  Therefore, City Council can at any session pass ordinances annulling every one of these basic franchises and take possession of all the trackage with the city limits.

   Then what a scurrying to cover there would be.

   I called the attention of Mayor McNair to this phase of this matter when he was a candidate, but he was much more intrigued with the five-cent fare agreement, which occurs in some of the underlying grants, but in only a few of them.

   I regret to say that my strategy did not impress him, and since I have seen him in operation, I do not wonder much.  I am perfectly satisfied that we have enough “Stout Fellas” in Council to essay this matter and carry it through to a successful conclusion.

    If the public is interested, it will discover what the Senator from Erie County was trying to do several sessions ago in Harrisburg, when he succeeded in pushing through a bill which annulled all the contracts between municipalities, and street railway companies, and clothed the then Public Service Commission of the state with sole jurisdiction.  It was Senator Mansfield and Senator Leslie who prevailed upon Governor Fisher to veto it, and their action is to their everlasting credit the program suggested herein could not have been attempted had that bill been approved by the governor.

                         FRANKLIN P. BOOTH

               3301 Beechwood Blvd.