A War of Attrition, 1915-20
Author | C. Ian Kyer |
Pages | 131-147 |
Chapter
AWAROFATTRITION
years of t he Toronto Railway Company (TRC) franchise,
things wentfrom badto worseThe TRCwould nditself pressed forim
provedserviceandmorefrequentbeerstreetcarsatatimewhenitssources
of external nanci ng wered isappearing and its operating prots were in
decline Costc uing became paramount tot heT RCbut more dicult to
achieve because of rising labour costs. It was a company beset on every side.
There was, however, no sympathy to be had at City Hall. Tommy Church
presided over city council for most of this period. He was elected as mayor in
andwouldbereelectedeachyearuntilwiththehelpofJohnRoss
Robertson of the Toronto TelegramalongtimesupporterofAdamBecka nd
theO ntarioHydroChurchsactions werei ntendedto further Becksplan
toexpand anOnta rioownedpower distribution systemthat wouldfeed a
series of electric railway lines radiating out from Toronto.ChurchandBeck
both knew that it was essential for Toronto to be part of both the power dis
tribution and radial railway systems.
Churchhadbeen inoceonlysix monthswhenhecreateda ninformal
transitcommiee toconsiderhowtoi mplementBecksplansOnChurchs
commieewere three men CityWorksCommissionerRoland CHarr is
FAGabythe chiefengine erofBecksHydroElectricPowerCommission of
Ontarioand EL Cousinsc hiefengi neerof the TorontoHarbourCommi s
sion. The Toronto Worldreportedthatthecommieewastaskedwithdeter
mining how to move forward if Toronto Hydro were to buy out the TRC,
AThirtyYearsWar
and, alternatively, how to deal with tran sit if the TRC continued for the re
maining years of its franch ise agreement. Their task, however, was not pri
marilyorientedwith theTRCItwasfocused onthenewinterurbanradia l
railwaysystem being toutedby Beck Laterthat yearthe group produced
animpressivetwovolumestudyentitledR adial Railway Entrances and Rapid
Transit for the City of Toronto. This study was delivered to the Civic Transpor
tationcommiee onwhich sattwoof thefour controllersa ndeightsen ior
aldermen. The study set out ways for existing and proposed radial lines to
enter the City of Toronto and reach the city core despite the TRC’s monopoly
on operating surface lines with in the Toronto city limits as they had exi sted
in
IfBeckspowerdistribution andradialrailwaysystems weretobesuc
cessfully implemented, both the TRC and its related electric company had
tobedealtwithDespitetheoppositionthatBeckandChurchhadmounted
to Hocken’s purchase plan, they were, in fact, open to a purchase provided
thatit couldbe doneat aroc kboompriceIf thatwere tohappen these
companies had to be weakened so that their ownership would be motivated
tosellc heaplyWiththatgo alinm indBec kandChu rchemba rkedonthe ir
warofaritionagainsttheTRC
Thatwar waslaunched atthe strokeof midnighton Junewhen
MayorChurchleda groupofpeopleto thecornerof FarnhamAvenueand
Yonge Street. That group included Works Commissioner Harri s, several of
theCityslawyersandateamofworkmenOnthemayorssignalthework
crewtoreupaquartermilesectionofstreetcartrackalongYongeStreetThe
Tel eg ram dubbeditaraidonthelinesofcommunicationofanenemytocivic
andpopularrightsMayorChurchjustied this actionby sayingthat the
franchiseon thatparticu larquartermiles egmenthadexpiredat midnight
Even though his actions meant that riders were inconvenienced by being
forcedtodisembarkfromtheTRCstree tcarandwalktotheTorontoYork
Radial Railway car that went north, he was hailed by many as a hero str iking
a blow against the monopolists.
Several City lawyers may have joined the raid, but legally speaking,
there wasa good deal of doubtabout whether the mayorwas justied in
his actions. RJ Fleming had heard that the Cit y might take some action and
had made it clear earlier in the day that the TRC was willing to assu me its
rights over this strip and to lay a set of double tracks to permit the TRC
toprovidebeerser viceoverthe routethan hadpreviouslybeen thecase
Onceagainthewordingoftheagreementhadtobescruti nizedThere
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