The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-08-06
rnE TROLLEY AS 4 FEEDER.

Electric vs. steam Railroads-A Live Question Ably Handled-The Trolley
 and Connecticut steam Roads.
 "The Trolley In Competition With Railroads" Is the title of an article contributed to the Engineering Maga- zine for August by Clarence Deming of this city Physical and economic causes, MT, Deming says, have made Connecticut an alluring field for elec- trio enterprises, The state itself abounds in surplus capital and is open to the overflow of investment funds from New York to Boston. Its phy- | slcal conformation offers easy grades | for electric railroad construction, and the massing of it's population in cities and large factory towns, together with | the fact that about 100000 of its popu- | lation fringes the shore for about for ty-tive miles between Greenwich and New Haven, favors the development of | transit systems.
 Opposition to the trolley in the state Is tWo-fold--the tenacity of property rights, revealed particularly in the op- | position to the surrender of the high ways outside of the city; and the re- sistance of the steam railroad cor | porations While the period of active electrical expansion has spanned only a little more than twenty-nine months, the statistics of growth are impressive. There are now about 290 miles of street railroad in the state, of which all but l two short roads, with some five miles of tracks, are electrically equipped The latest statements of the corpora tions show roughly an issued capital ! stock of $8,566, ,000, and bonded debt of about $6,662,000 But, owing to stock imitation, the actual investment Is far below the total of $15, ,22S, ,0OO. The in- crease of business, following the ap- plication of electricity, have been large. One important line, on an in crease of mileage of 57 per cent, re- turns for 1894 (elctric) over 1893 (horse) a gain of 72 per cent. in gross earnings. Another line showed a gain of S1 per cent. while small road had the ex- lceptional gain of over 100 per cent.
 The increase in electric road build ing in not few eases, MT. Deming says, has been too speculative. New roads too often have been built crude ly equipped, financed on bonds under special charters, while the. stock has been held with partial or even no pay ments at all, and to degree the first impacts of the trolley, under the aus pices of foreign capital have duplicat- | aH ha nf eafa rot 5 building brought to so disastrous a climax in 1873. To these reasons for financial and popular criticism have been added the banking of charters and a tendency to grab streets, to in wade municipal politics, and to tam per with city councils. But, despite these flaws of character and conduct the new motive power has enjoyed 8 high popularity that Is till rising"
 Of projected trolley roads, MT. Dem ing finds about forty-one enterprises in the state, reaching over some SS, miles of single track, Many of then were smitten hard by the present legis lature, and in view of the size and am
 bitions of the electric system, Mir. Dem ing thinks that perhaps the organized lTESISldIlIG OI lIIt4 45ltdLl CUAIpttilCs III lli' lobby and their sway over the legisla
 ture, while revolting to the ideals O
 representative citizenship, have no
 been unmixed evils.
 As to the effect of trolley roads ir
 the state as parallels of the steam lines
 MT. Deming quotes the figures of loss of passengers presented by the coun
 sel of the Consolidated road to the leg islative committee on railroads. The figures, he says, are not so impressive
 when reduced to dollars on the estimatt of 2A cents loss per passenger per mile
 That computation would make the los! $32,46 which is partly offset by econ
 omies of steam service in the withdraw
 als of trains and by the additional bus mess fed to the steam roads by latera
 trolleys.
 "The possibility of electric rivalry
 with steam roads in the state" MT
 Deming says, "open wide realm fol prophecy and specula tion.' "The mos
 sagacious opinion inclines to the belle
 that the immediate competition be tween proximate stations win hardly
 grow into serious rivalry between in
 termediate ones. and that the trolley as parallel and competitor will pres ently be succeeded and offset by tht
 trolley as a lateral and feeder"
 Since the opening of the present year
 the electrics have met with many re
 verses both in the courts and thu legislature. Judge Hall, in passing
 upon the application of the New Brit ain company to build a line to Hart ford found against it on the question of public convenience and necessity and placed the burden of proof as t,
 it's public necessity upon the stree
 railroad. "As the steam companie
 claim unlimited power to multipl! 7 trains, especially if equipped hereafte
 with trolleys, this burden of proof ma,
 trolley enterprise" In the legislatur, many parallels were thrown out, and tn, , decision was promulgated that electri, | companies intending to own their road , bed must come in under the genera steam railroad statute, expressly in
 tended to impede steam paralle , schemes" While the committed. f ruling,' MT. Deming says, "follow , the strict letter of the statute, it break . it's spirit, and it's undue severity i
 manifest Under it an electric com pany in Connecticut must confront tn,
 popular feeling against occupancy O
 ob ap tba oua bopd