The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-09-08


struction- An overcrowded street car Is
never seen in Dundee. Edinburgh or Glas-
gow. II every seat Is occupied. the con-
ductor Is not allowed to receive another
passenger. II a policeman sees a passenger
standing. in a car, It is his duty TO arrest
the conductor. who has connived at the
violation OF the municipal regulations If
q car be running at a higher speed than the
lease permits, the driver and the conductor
are equally liable TO arrest. Street cars in
American trolleys. but TIE fares are lower.
and the passengers always have seats. The
sranuated system or paying BY the mile.
instead or a uniform fare without regard
omy.
COMPANIES FIND 1T PROFITABLE.
The companies. while paying rentals. in
terest charges and sinking fund levies which
enable the city to keep the street pavement
In repair and TO secure complete reim-
bursement for the first cost of construction,
are doing a remunerative business, at least
In large cities. During the half year end
ing in June the Edinburgh strees-tramway
Company declared a dividend Of per cent,
although the weather had been exception
ally severe from January to the end Of
March. AT the same time fares had been
reduced on the Leith line to a half-penny
for the benefit Of working people. In Dun
zee. Tor the year ending on May 81, there
vas a large surplus after all the obliga-
TONS TO the municipality had been met, and
a dividend OF s per cent. was declared,
against z per cent for the previous year.
lnese corporations are prosperous, and
T T1beare Is no public feeling against them.
tons. but they require the companies to
provide adequate service and accommoda-
tied and trampled upon in cars, but invaria-
Dly ride In comfort 10 their destinations.
There is no popular prejudice against cor
porations which pay for their privileges
and treat their patrons fairly. When good
dividends are declared everyone is pleased.
The same conditions prevail in English
cities like Birmingham, where the tram
ways are leased to corporations operating
them either by horse power, steam or cleo
every passenger. speed is regulated and
business is sufficiently good to yield a rea-
sonable dividend after all municipal charges
In Glasgow municipal ownership of
uamWays has led to municipal operation
or Them The leases. which were made in
more rigorous than the conditions of or
binary municipal leases. The companies
nsa been required to pay a yearly rental
fund deposits large enough to cover the
entire cost of construction, and an addi-
cent. of the original investment. At the
same time fares were limited to a penny
per mile, and to a halfpenny during the
likely to use the lines. A local syndicate
had purchased the lease at a handsome
i PREMIUM ana then mad m to as
sums all the liabilities to the municipality
and to pay dividends on the stock. 1t
succeeded. after an arduous struggle, in
and in declaring dividends of 10 per cent.
When the companies undertook TO obtain a.
renewal of the leases the municipal au-
~thirities demanded terms which would have
brought into the treasury of the town a
handsome revenues; but the syndicate which
had been dividing 10 per cent. surplus was
reluctant to accede to the new conditions.
The Town Council, after endeavoring to
purchase the plant at a fair valuation,
a. municipal service for the operation of
the lines.
A SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENT.
The experiment has been remarkably
successful. During the first eleven months
of the operation Of the Glasgow tramways
as a branch OF the municipal service, the
gross revenues were EGG. 414, and the ex-
penditures. including interest and the main
tenance and repair of roadways. buildings,
machinery. rolling stock and plant, were
f2O2,D9- There was a credit balance of f24.-
205, Of which $3.50 was reserved in lieu of
the average sum contributed by the tram
way corporations under the lease. Al
though a new equipment of cars and horses
had to be provided, and the details of a
complete business mastered by inexperi-
enced officials, che results of municipal op-
Grafton of the lines were highly satisfac-
tory. The retiring companies driven from
the tracks had endeavored to utilize their
horses and to compete vigorously with the
The public preferred to patronize the cars,
and the omnibuses have continued to do
a light business. The traffic returns dis
service had been greatly improved; larger
and better cars had been provided; the dis
play of advertisements had been prohib-
tied; fares had been reduced; and numer-
Gus handsome stations had been built in
various portions of the city. The tram
49, - D1aa-4-r a.A 80 los .nraA -.
tirely to the satisfaction of the public.
The experiment OF the complete municipal
ization of the street car business so far as
cessful in Glasgow. Other towns have en-
tered boldly the same field. Blackpool.
electric railway. HuddersheId has steam
conducted by municipal servants.
Experience of the results of corporation OPP
Grafton is perhaps too brief to justify ZEN
eral conclusions; but Glasgow apparently
has demonstrated the practicability of a
municipal. street car service, Either cleo
substituted for horses in the city lines:
L have no space in reserve for describing
the wonderful system of improvements by
which the plague spots Of Glasgow and
Dundee have been converted into fine bus
mess sections and wholesome districts for
The municipalities have
not only bought and sold large areas, but
daring experiments have been tried in the
construction OF model tenementSr when are
been carried a long way in the direction Of
state socialism when the town has become
a landlord with blocks OF tenement houses to
let to the working classes. Then there are
public baths in various sections of the town;
municipal washhouses where women can
hire stalls for laundry work; municipal
markets and slaughter houses: municipal
-loiging-houses conducted on a self-support-
ing basis; and, indeed, all the new %institu-
tions devised by enlightened English re-
formers in the field of local government
with a single exception, a municipal free
library. Glasgow Is a great municipality.
~ nf1v n cantor Of working aCtlVirX-
IL has led the way in adapting local gov
eminent TO the new conditions OF industrial
life In overcrowded cities.