The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-03-13
Y II O II E $ II
Against sue Attempt New Making tO
Remove the Railroad FreiEnt TrasEs
frOna RFOhd street

There has recently appeared in our daily papers n
very elaborate rehearsal of for the removal
OF the railroad tracks from Broad street. With
preat show Of airness 1t nevertheless entirely over
looks two worry prominent reasons for the csatinu.
ance of sad tracks in Broad street 1t Is the design
Of this protest to show what these reasons are and
that any conclusions deducsd from premises which
tgnore their existence must be vicious and un sound
The first for the continuance of said tracks on
Broad streetis
THE IRMTNsE AMOUNT OF TRAFFIC. CONDUCTED
OVER THEM.
In proof of the value ana amount of this traffic,
We submit the following statement Il has
carefully prepared, a1d is believed to be sUbsiaR-
tally correct II rccites the number of loaded
passed by railroad compa Bies the said
tracks during November and December 1865, and
January, 1sGe;-
From Pennsylvania Railroad % points on Broad
Street RdarOdd. Tors.
$3.50 Eight-wheel Freight Cars, loaded with
merchandise, weighing. ............... 25,592
From Baltimore anS Ohio Railroad to points oa
Brodd Street RdiiroGd.
2,2k3 Eight.whCe Freight Cars, loaded with
merchandise, weighing. .............,.. 18,024
From Eeading Railroad % points on BrOad Street
2,252 Eight-whcel Froght Cans, loaded with
merchandise weighing. ........,, -. 1875
12,661 Eour-wuCel Ccrs, loauod with coal,
WeiShlpg"'.''', ......,....',.,....,.. O3s3)
Fren North PeRnsytUunia Railroad 10 POINTS on
Br0dd Street &uiiroda.
$50 F0Ur-wheel cars, oaded with coal and
IRON, WeIShing............ .,........ 4,o4o
From Phiiddephia WiiRiN qton and Baltimore Fail.
road to Pojats oH b. cad Street Railroad.
4s8 four-whc i NaIO, loaded with grain,
etc., W0lGblng,. g,...,.................., 2,54J
From Phitadeiphio Gcrmdriown, and Roryissoloa
Rdtr0ad; also, Westchester Patlroad and Other
parties, TO points on Broad Street Railroad.
6S Four-wheci Cars, loaded with aerchan-
oise, weighing. ng..................,...., 3l5
For account Of adams BrSress Company on Broad
street tracks
III Eightwhesl Cars loaded with merehsR.
22,e4s Cars, passed over Broad street tracks in
three months, carrying. .........,.... .1SS,6SS
As it Is well known that the trade Of the country
has been much depressed Tor many months, this
exhibit of three months' business may be talrlV
assumed as a measure for that of the entire year.
1t follows therefore, that not les than 80 592 cars
containing 554,792 tons OF merchandise, pass over
the Broad street freight tracks annually.
The question here arises What is to be done with
this vast amonnt OF and merchandise when the
railroad facilities Broad street shall have been re-
movedS No one proposes 10 banish the trade they
represent from the city. How, then, shall we pro-
vide for it?
In answering this question, we will first take M
the case OF the Reading Railroad ana her busine
as that road most to have attracted the atten
ton Of the Boulevard people. This road, as a v"St
receiver of coal which nds its way off her rails into
every dwelling and factory in our great city has in
the Broad street tracks valuable auxiliary in it,
cheap distribution among citizens. The use of
those tracks is not 6 whit a convenience to
that road than to al our people For let us for a
moment suppose them to be removed from the
street, In that event the entire coal receipts of our
oity would be concentrated in a district whose most
southern boundary line would be Pennsylvania
avenue, and its continuation down Willow street.
Would not this concentration OF coal necessarily
nance the cost of handling and delivery? The
crowding of al the dealers in that article into
neighborhood, with view 10 be rs near the source
of supply possible, and the cessation of COM
petition among them in the delivery of coal to
their customers, bsclu-o the difference in the loc-
ton OF the yards which prompted that competition
no longer ex stsd, would evidently bring about this
result.
We approach then the inquiry, What will be the
increase of cost IN the carriage of coal under the
gimo OF the Boulevard people?
The charge for hauling, by wagon, q barrel of
flour from Broad and Prime streets to Bread and
Vine is eight cents. Ten barrels of -four make an
ordinary wagon load, and weigh about one ton. It
therefore costs eighty cents per ton to transport
-four over the space just named. As flour is one of
the most easily handled articles of trade, it costs
proportionately less than others for handling.
Let us then consider what will be the expense per
ton for the transportation OF grain over the same
for oats, and three cents for ard wheat. This
would make average rate of q cents per bushel.
Now oats viii ordinarily weigh about 80 pounds 10
the bushel; corn, So pounds; wheat 60 pounds Con.
sequently bUshel of the mixture Will weigh 492 lbs.
Then, if it costs 22c to transport 40 lbs of gr@ia
from Broad and PIime street, to Broad and Vine it
will cost l09c per ton 1000 lbs 10 carry grain ever
the same engsn of the street. Let thea state tho
case in terms the most favorable that can DO fur
nished for the Boulevard peop ple:-
Cost OF carrying flour over said distance, SOC p ton
gram l10c, "
Or, in other words, low average for the cost of
transportation by wagon is thus obtained, amounting
to 94 cents per ton. This must be admitted to be
low rate applicable to the carriage of every descrip
ton of merchandise
1t is boased by the Boulevard people that they do
feel these 9l cents the price ofcoa For this
they owe thanks to the Broad street tracks, which
they TeYile. Let these be removed, and they will
soon be conscious of this and other charges Il is
the facility which the tracks furnish for the cheap
delivery OF coal from oSe side of the city to the
other, which has prevented our citizens from feeling
the cost OF LEGAL transportation.
Let us look for moment at the other side Of the
question As matters now arranged, cars CON-
ing to this city the southern are delivered
by them to any point the portion of Broad street
that has been named, at the merely nominal cost o
25 cents per of eight tons, of 81 cents per ton
This is the charge paid by those to whom the said
freight is CONSIGNED The Boulevard people propose
10 raise the cost per ton from 81 cents to 94 cent
per ton.
Now let US take the most unfavoraBle case thai
can be made against the Broad street tracks. A
merchant on the wharf whose consignments over