THIS DAY IN 1918 IN THERECORD

Friday, May 3, 1918. The Round family of 428 Tenth Street receives confirmation today that their son, Walter J. Round, died of shell wounds in France on April 28.

Private Round was an orderly in the 23rd Infantry Division. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Round, received word last week that Walter had been wounded on April 22.

Round served a three-year tour of duty in the peacetime military from 1911-14, stationed in China and the Philippines. After his tour he went to work as a shipping clerk for Schmidt & Koerner’s furniture store until the U.S. declaration of war with Germany in April 1917, when he re-enlisted. The Sunday Budget reports that Round was engaged to Catherine Daniels of Cohoes when he left for Europe.

Out To Fight U.T. Co. Tariff

Troy mayor Cornelius F. Burns warns against the United Traction Company’s latest scheme to raise the price of streetcar service at a meeting with the mayors of Cohoes, Green Island, Waterford and Watervliet this afternoon.

United Traction was rebuffed earlier this spring when it sought authorization from the state legislature to raise fares within city limits from five to six cents. The threat of a walkout by the Amalgamated Association of Street Railway Employees failed to budge state or local governments on the fare question.

According to the mayor, United Traction wants to redraw borders in order to “charge a ten- cent fare between municipalities which in reality constitute one large community.” The traction company, a division of the Delaware & Hudson railroad, has requested authorization for the move from the state public service commission.

“The latest attempt of the United Traction company to bleed the traveling public of this vicinity out of additional moneys with which to increase its revenue – the proposed new trolley rates – is as ridiculous as its previous efforts along this line,” the mayor says.

“It is unfortunate that a corporation which must depend upon the patronage and good will of our citizens for its existence should persist in antagonizing and irritating the people by such tactics. Surely a movement aimed to discourage free intercourse between municipalities geographically bound together will not make the people of this large community feel more kindly toward the instigator of such a movement.”

United Traction has claimed that it can’t afford to maintain the five- cent fare, but the mayor notes that the D&H showed a profit last year. “Certain holdings of the company may not have brought in suitable returns, but the deficiencies of one subsidiary were made up by the profits of others,” he writes. Therefore the D&H has no reason to raise United Traction rates.

-- Kevin Gilbert