The record-union., 1891-07-07
THE STREET RAILWAY MATTER.

The City Trustees yesterday refused
the Central or Electrical Street Railway
the privilege of running upon P street,
on the ground that it would injure the
business Of road partially paralleling
such line.
1t will occur to the thoughtful that the
Trustees occupy an indefensible position.
The city gives no guarantee when it
grants the right to lay rails upon q street,
that it will extend the privilege of seek
ing business in the matter of carrying
passengers beyond that particular street.
Neither in law nor equity is the city
bound to protect capital in such cases.
Ithas granted right to the electrical road
outJ street, but it is not withheld by any
equitable consideration from granting
another company the right to run out 1
street.
Moreover, travel is induced by the
facilities for it and the convenience of
service. Two roads running into the
southeast or northwest sections will do
more than twice the business that one
road will do. This has been demonstrated
scores of times in the history of street
railway enterprises in the cities of the
United States. It has been illustrated in
this city notably. Travel has increased
upon street railway lines here in vastly
greater ratio than the increase of the
mileage.
The objection taken by the City Rail
way Company to the grant of franchise
to the electric road for street would
have been infinitely stronger against the
grant of way to the new company up j
street, since that route paralleled the right
Of the City Railway Company to run on
K street, and was in direct competition
with the already operated H-street line.
The argument advanced by the old
company that grant to the new one to
run up p street ould confiscate the
property ofthe old line, is one that COM
pany was very unwise to make. 1t
amounts to confession that the new
company, though more distant from
trade centers, and proposing to run
through a less populous district, would
command the bulk of the business by
reason of superior service.
If that is the truth, then it ought to
have the franchise, for the people are en-
titled to the best service possible to be
had. But no company can afford to adj
vance such plea. Moreover, the Board
of Trustees cannot afford to lend its sup
port to such proposition, for it amounts
TO saying to them: you must not ride
by the best means of transportation, be-
cause the old and obsolete means of carri-
age Will thereby be driven out" That is
the simple understandable logic of the
position, and there is no other possible to
il.
But there is not one-half as much rea-
son to support the objection against a
line, petitioned for by the people along
the route, of twenty-five blocks up p
street, because on the middle stretch
there would be ten blocks of parallel and
possible competition with the O-street
line, as there would have been 10 object
to the line up street, which parallels
two lines, on II and K streets, and for
some distance on NJ street parallels the
old line on street, and on Fifteenth
StEeet for some blocks on the same high
way.
What would the Trustees have said to
the people in defense had they refused a
line up street on the ground that they
now take against road on street, be-
cause there is a prospective one in the
possible future to be constructed up Q
street.
But all these arguments can be put
aside and displaced by the more poten-
tial one tnat the more lines, within rea-
sonable number, the more riding there
viii be. When we had but one line in
this city not more than one-tenth of the
people in the sections upon its route rode
upon it; now that we have two lines. oc-
cupylng many routes and having ten
times the mileage, rs per cent. of all the
people use them.
The thing for the Trustees to do is to
reconsider their action, grant the P-street
route franchise, and also the petition for
the O-street route to its trunk line al
Tenth street Capital in neither case will
suffer, except it deserves to do so by
reason of inefficient service. In popu-
lation of $4,000 there is room for
both these roads on whatever routes
their capitalists see fit to construct them.
1t viii not do for the Trustees TO lose
sight of the fact that but for the applca.
ton made for the .P-street route there