in Congress, and Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico, [one to be selected by the Governor of the Panama Canal Zone, from among the sons of civilians of the Panama Canal Zone and the Panama Railroad, resident on the zone,] one cadet to be selected by the Governor of the Panama Canal from among the sons of civilians residing in the Canal Zone and the sons of civilian personnel of the United States Government and the Panama Railroad Company residing in the Republic of Panama, five for the District of Columbia, and one hundred and thirty-two from the United States at large, forty of whom shall be appointed on the recommendation of the academic authorities of the "honor schools" as designated by the War Department, and three of whom shall be selected from persons recommended by the Vice President, in addition to the number now authorized to be appointed from the enlisted men of the Regular Army and National Guard, and the sons of deceased officers, soldiers, sailors, and marines.

TAXICAB LIMITATION

JUNE 24, 1937.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. RANDOLPH, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 6697]

The Committee on the District of Columbia, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 6697), to authorize and empower the Public Utilities Commission of the District of Columbia to limit the number of public vehicles to be licensed and operated as taxicabs in the District of Columbia, having considered the same, report it back to the House with the following amendments and recommend that the amendments be agreed to and the bill do pass.

Page 2, line 11, after the word "denied", insert:

Provided, further, That no new license shall be issued to any person who has regular, full-time employment.

Page 2, line 19, change period to colon and add:

Provided, further: That the license issued for any taxicab, which vehicle at the time of the approval of this Act is being sold under an oral or written contract, the certificate of title to the vehicle being retained in the name of the vendor pending completion of the contract, may be transferred to the vendee of said contract upon his acquisition and registration in his name of the title to said vehicle.

Page 2, line 20. Strike out line 20 and insert the following in lieu thereof:

This Act shall become effective immediately upon its approval.

Briefly, the bill confers the additional authority upon the Public Utilities Commission to determine and fix the number of taxicabs to be licensed and operated in the District of Columbia

which it finds to be adequate to serve the public necessity and convenience, and, in its discretion, to change the number from time to time.

It protects those now engaged in the industry by a proviso that— no outstanding lawfully issued taxicab license or licenses shall be revoked or rescinded, nor shall its or their renewal to the same licensee be denied.

It further provides that until the number fixed by the Public Utilities Commission as adequate is reached by

voluntary surrender of license or licenses by the owner or owners thereof, or by failure to renew a license or licenses, or through forfeiture according to law of the right to hold or operate under such license or licenses no new license or licenses shall be issued * * sold, assigned, or transferred.

* * *

The purchaser of a taxicab, who has not completed payments and acquired title to same, is protected in his right to a transferred license under the second amendment recommended.

The subcommittee to whom this bill was referred for preliminary consideration held hearings at which representatives of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, the Corporation Counsel, Public Utilities Commission, Federation of Citizens Associations, Independent Taxi Owners' Association, Industrial Brotherhood of Taxi Drivers, several cab companies and associations, individual drivers, and interested citizens appeared. Approval of legislation limiting the number of taxicabs was practically unanimous.

From the hearings it appears that there were on June 7, 1937, 4,757 taxicabs then being operated in the District of Columbia; a greater number than in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh combined. These taxicabs were distributed as follows: 3,936 in the names of 19 associations, 214 operated by four companies, 607 operated by independent operators.

Another pertinent fact brought out by the hearings was that a number of Government clerks, estimated at 250, and other employed persons, were operating taxicabs 4 or 5 hours daily after their regular day's work was done. While your committee was appreciative of the right of workers in the lower salary brackets to augment an inadequate income, many of the Government clerks were employed on a good salary basis and it seemed, in the interest of fairness to those who must depend entirely on their earnings as taxicab operators, that this competition should be eliminated. The amendment recommended, however, applies only to those who have full-time employment.

The taxicab driver is a needed unit in our present economic life. His industry should be safeguarded to such an extent as to enable him to earn a livelihood without working unreasonably long hours, as many are now doing. We quote from the hearings:

The reliable taxicab operator is in competition with unreliable, reckless, careless, part-time, and fly-by-night operators. He is held responsible and suffers for their misdeeds.

He is gradually being forced off the downtown streets of Washington, due to the traffic hazard caused by the present large number of cruising taxicabs. He is not regarded as a stable and legitimate business man and is not extended the same courtesies.

He is a local business man, spending all his revenue here taking his profits to another city. * * *

* and not

He performs hundreds of favors to the public, police department and city officials. * * *

He struggles through the slow summer months, and when business increases in the winter he has to compete with additional cabs put on by part-time operators who work at their regular occupations during the summer.

He does not receive benefits under the old-age or unemployment insurance under the Social Security Act.

Your committee concurs in the following statement made at the hearings by a representative of one of the cab associations:

This legislation will not remedy all of our troubles, but it will be a major step to stabilize our industry, help the reliable men to be recognized as stable, honest, businessmen, and thereby raise his credit standing which will reduce his cost of operation, raise his standing in the community to where he and his family will have no cause to be embarrassed, eliminate the undesirable element from our industry, reduce traffic congestion, reduce the work of the Public Utilities Commission, and after a few years it will increase the earnings of the men.

Your committee also believes that this bill, if enacted, will prove an important contributing factor toward greater safety for the public.

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