Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-10-13
STREET RAILWAY RACKET
A"e Dimeultes the Syndicate is
"aVire In Re arranei ing It's y, st. m
IN Davenport-ManuR rnrs.

10 rearrange its street rail way system in
davenport. as made necessary by the
purchase Of and consolidation with AL,
lens Central road. The people over
there complain of poor service, and to
remedy 1t every man in town seems to
nave plan. snd no one seems t. ne
willing to trust to the experience and
AGILITY OF the street railway company it
sell, unless it Is the Democrat.
representing as it does conservative
falr-m minded spirit, as well as one censid .
crate of public welfare. That paper Of
this morning says:
The meeting at the city hall yesterday
afternoon, when the special council CON-
mlttee sat to listen to ANYTHING that
might be said tending to throw light up-
on the much discussed street car probs
lem, was one of more than ordinary pub,
lie interest The question of street car
service IS the most important one that
demands the attention of the people and
city council at the present time. Auy,
thing that can be offered tending to a so>
luton OF the problem receives a welcome
at all hands.
At2 o'clock, the hour set for the hear,
ing to commence. there was an interestsd
ioi OF spectators on the benches. Man,
aging Director d. H. Louderback and
Superintendent Henry Schnitger occunied
seats in the bald headed row. Behind
them were A. F. Cutter, DR.. L. French.
3. w. Pierce, j. S. Wylie, D. N. Rich>
ardson, c. s. Durfee. DR.. Crawford, w.
r. Fidlar. Emil Geisler. George E. Hub,
bell, Charles Harrison, with present ard
former employees of the syndicate, and
other interested persons.
Mayor Ficke stated the pu rpose of the
meeting He read the pc tition of the
street car company for permission to take
up certain tracks, in which also the COM
pany made certain promises of change of
route and double tracking of remaining
lines. Anyone having anything to saw,
for or against the proposed change, was
invited to rise in his place or forever af .er
hold his place.
No one entering a protest, the changes
were taken up in sections. and the mayor
called for objections to the taking up OF
the track of the Second street line from
Warren street west.
The Democrat gives a detail of the
notions, expressions and prot ests offered
and then says:
There were no more protests forth cons
ing. so Mayor Ficke proffered the floor 10
Managing Director Louderbsck. MIR.
Louderback's position up to this time
had been no envisble one. He had BET n
compelled to sit still and hear his com.
pany termed unsccommodating, unbusi.
nesslike, and lacking in other virtues,
without saying a word. His position
after he took his feet, however. was still
more unenviable. After he had made q
temperate statement of the case from the
standpoint OF his company. he was SUBJ
Jected to fire OF cross questions that
would have seriously embarrassed some
men and have caused others to lose there
temper, but not SO with him.
His statement was substantially as fol.
lows: The company had too much track
on its hands. The laying of the track was
mistake, due largely to the fact that the
Chicago stockholders when they first en-
tered the field had trusted their work to
agents without coming here to personally
inspect the field. Track had been laid
where it could not be operated on paying
basis. There were parallel tracks on
Second. Third and Fourth streets. on Hsr.
rison. Main, Brady and Perry streets and
on Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Locust streets.
The multiplicity OF tracks tended to spread
out the system 80 that perfect service was
inconsistent with the profit everywhere.
The Third street line, supposed by many
to be one Of the best paying lines of the
company, yielded a net income of S27l
for the month of August. For The first 16
days of August five electric cars had been
run on the Tremont-Perry loop, their
gross earnings being on an average 81 per
dsv per car. The average expense OF
running an electric car. stated Mr.. Loud
erback, was 81. so per day. The Tree
mont avenue service had been stopped
because the company had found it impos-
sible to get their cars under the visduci
that crosses Fourth street. The fremont
avenue hi was also al obstacle to the
running of that line. 1t was really the
worst hill in the city. with grade two
per cent heavier than the Brady street
hill.
Mr.. Louderbsck disclaimed any inten-
ton on the part of the street railway
company to be unfair or uusccommodat-
ing. They wanted to give up certain
frsr chises in their entirety and to give a
better service upon their remaining lines.
Rock Island has no finger in this mad-
die. beyond its interest in the syndicate
which has always treated Rock Island
fairly and to which is rightly attributable
much of our present prosperity and pro.
gress. And it is but truth to say the
syndicate has had pretty much its own
way here. All reasonable privileges have
been freely extended by the city council.
and only in one instance was there any
thing of q heated controversy, and even
after that the council stood 10 to 1 to
permit the company to carry out its own
best policy in the management of its bus
mess and the accommodation of the pub
lie. In return for the public spirit shown