St. Paul daily globe., 1892-01-12
united. No large city outside Of our own two
has as yet been able 10 discard

united No large city outside of our own two
mas as yet been able 10 discard
Hts Horse Cars.
We have the best system of electric roads
in the whole country No city approaches
Us in excellence of equipment in the appli-
cation of the latest Developments of science
In the perfection of all details. We lead
America; we lead the world. Strong words
Dut absolutely true. Neither is there another
city III which SO much travel is allowed at so
small cost-so many miles trayers ed for one
aIne. In other places street car company
transfers, as ours does. its passengers from
one OF Its lines 10 another. But in other
places there are two or more separate com
panies, and there is no transfer from the ter
fltory OF one TO that of the other Here one
company reigns, and its travellers, one fare
paid, are lords and masters of all they sur
|. yey. The announcement of the sum of
money spent by you in your operations stu
Ie e. am told, on most reliable authority,
that the total amount of capital which you
have invested in the two cities is Sl5.574, $50,
OF which no less than $1,000. 900 has been
absorbed in the construction and equipment
OF cable and electric lines.
What boundless confidence you must have
had in the future of the two cities when max
ing this large investment, How great your
! personal power 10 have been able 10 gather
under your coutrol so much capital.
Talk Is Easy.
We remember that two years ago com
panies by the score called for franchises and
made promises to build roads in competition
with or in exclusion of yours. No company
would have called for franchise IL the CON-
dtiou had been the spending of fifteen mill
ions. and no company, the condition accept
ed. could have fulfilled il. No man, no COM
pany but Thomas Lowry could or would have
given us the city railroads which are today
Our boast. Yhe money was secured during q
pefi3d of exceptional financial depression.
The roads were built in the earliest expert
mental stages of the use of electricity as a
motive power. They were built in the short
est space OF time the impatience of citizens
and official unfrfendliness could dare have
marked out They were built when the eX-
issiDg status of the cities did not warrant
anything like this enormous outlay. As we
LOOK back 10 the operations OF the past two
| years. while we admire your courage, we are
surprised at your daring hopefulness, and
We are ashamed that we permitted SO many
obstacles TO be thrown in your way. and so
much distrust 10 lie expressed toward you.
Under severe threats of canceling the fran
ehise, SO far as we imagined ii could be can
| eeled. we limited your time, made you prose
cute your work during coldest winter days,
compelled you TO purchase your equipment
on most dis6dvants geOus terms, and ordered
| you 10 bring hithef the needed capital with
| the hurry that capital lily brooks. 1t is safe
to say that forcing you as we did, to build so
\ many lines SO quickly, and in the very in
fancy of electric road systems, we imposed
upon you the waste of full million. Yet,
you did all that had been demanded: you
| did more than had been demanded, aud the
| manner in which all things have been done
puts them
Above Criticism.
No one would have ventured so much: no
one would have ACCOMPLISHED so much. We
are well aware that while the complete and
| peaceful fruitIon of the results of your gigan-
TIC labors are ours. for our profit and pleas
tressing burihen. We are not SO ignorant of
| the laws of the business world as 10 be sur
| prised when told that the permanent coHtrol
of ST. Wt1 900 for the building Of city raj roads
in Minneapolis and ST. Paul has not. as yet.
been fully secured, and that the revenues
from your lines, many OF which extend
through sparsely settled districts, are far
from being as large as TO leave an annual
ssrplus in your eficetifls. 1t does sometimes
look as if we believed that the end Of your
financial struggles had come, when we pro-
pose to you new schemes and grumble II our
wishes have not in all details pie.
think seriously. and are able TO
reach down 10 facts. The facts make our
gratitude to you the warmer. and our appfe-
citation of our indomitable energy the more
vivid The suggestion has been heard, il |
| am not mistaken that the municipalities
should own the franchise and operate the
lines. viii not entet into the periious dis
cussion OF the questions which a suggestion
OF this kind brings TO the surface. This
much / will say. thatff the cities had been
paving the monthly bills and interest cou
pons OF your Offices, tne taxpayers. III my
opinion, would without much helay have
clamofed loug ago for
A Thomas Lowry,
or benefactor of some other name. upon
1 whose shoulders they coIiid have thrown the
whole lead assigning il without recourse.
The building of your roads in the years 1879
and 1871 was proyldenclal occurrence for
the TWO cities The general closeness of the
| money market in the United States and the
failure of crops iD the Dakotas aud parts Of
Minnesosa suddenly slackened the on
ward march Of urban Improvements. We
were confronted with the problem twhat
| to do TO give employment TO our laporing
population. What 20 do. We had TO ask. to
| hold up the spirits of the people during the
temporary crisis, and TO guard ourselves from
couragement. au evil usually as much 10
be dreaded as actual lmpoyerlshment
Without you the situation should have been
| most serious. 1t was fortunate for the cities
that we had been wicked enough TO compel
/ you TO do your titantic work. on the run. right
i'll the midst OF our dullest times. Y on saved
u.s. You paid out for construction expenses
/ in the two cities on AL average S12i,W) per
month. The throngs OF workmen Fastening
to and fro, tearing up streets, laying Track
at breakneck speed. as If for life or death.
the planting of poles and stringing of wires
night and day. the racing Of cars from Lake
Harriet to Dayton's bluff, from South 81.
Paul 10 North Minneapolis, the constant cry
for more cars going out from newspaper
| men, city fathers, real estate brokers and
your own representatives-all these things
9nickened the very air. made our eyes 10
gifsten. and our steps to be buoyanL The
voice of the pessimistic
Croaker Was Utilized.
wetake at the opening of the year 1892, an
the hopes of the future. Fhe task is most
pleasant The future il is plain TO see gives
suress promise Of prosperity. The full oav u
Is already upon us. and the ascending light
hall rin1f ~ trir acl-r
Your WORK meets at ouce our gaze. 1t is no
small matter for Minneapolis and st. Paul 10
be able 10 say today in pride and truthfulness
thatthey own The best electric road system
| in America; that they LEAD the country in
| this most important factor i'll building of
eiJes. II is no small matter 10 have this sys-
TEN at the earliest possible perod Of tine, in
advance OF all other places. yet afraid 10
Ing emotions of the myste: ious electric
fluid the tull leap. before which
our enterpfising and far-s seeing fellow citi-
zen had no recoil. To the residents Of or
cities, 10 The strangers whom We invite to
cast their lot with US, we hold out the pledge
of perfect rapid transit They NAV choose
for their place OF labor the commercial CEN
tiers of the cities and seek for their homes
the ,purer air and freer landscape OF the
suburbs; thirty or forty minutes at most
bring them from shop to fsmily shrine.
Rapid transit in cities is of the utmost con-
| sequence 1t Is needed for material develop
ment; il IS vital for health and cheeFfulness:
Hdemands the attention of The moralist and
the statesman. A chief source of evil in
lar e cities is the concentration of popula-
tic within limited areas. Diseases. physi-
ei !. moral and political become virulent
81 id seTried masses. A score Of PAGES be-
{ cen houses. wide streets, sun-lit SKY. an
atmosphere stirred by natures purifying G
sFphyrs, make men healthy, wealthy and
| ~ise. Cheap suburban property. accessible
to labofer and mechanic, so that they be
tempied 10 leave the tenement house, and
End a home on their own lot from which
they may in the-name Of sacred ownership p
ward off alI cnmers reyelinG IN he 10Y of