The herald., 1897-05-05
Operate g extenslve ! local syssen II

'Ine electric railway syukcus IN ~
t Paul and Minneapolis. and the interur
, ban road between the two cities are al
operated by one company. who havs
from both cities an exclusive franchise
II for fifty years. and they are not obligei
to light the city free. This electric sys.
tenn is one of the most complete and sat.
isfactory in the country and no cry ol
monopoly is heard from that quarter
The business part Of the proposition IL
lustrated above is that the st. Paul ant
Minneapolis company is enabled by it.
protection to sell its bonds readily oil
obtain any amount Of money desired al
a rate of 4 per cent. with which to fur
ther extend or improve its system Oi
course the company is subject to orders
from the municipalities to keep the sys-
tenn in proper equipment and extend the
service on streets where the natural in
crease of population warrants the same
THE Pasadena and Los Angeles Elec-
tric Railway company has endeavored
to perfect their system of road to the
highest degree possible up to the pres
ent time, and we are satisfied from the
many compliments given tn" road from
eastern railway people that we have
succeeded.
referring to the statement pub
| lished recently in regard to
what the cost Of electric rail-
way properties should be I will say
that it is quite apparent that figuring
was done by "a school boy as stated,
and I presume with business men who
have had experience in such matters
will have the corresponding amount
of weight. Whether the property cost
one dollar or one million dollars does
not enter into the question at issue
The gentlemen who have recently be-
come interested il this matter en-
ployed a competent railroad man to
examine the books and property of the
company and report to their commit
tee. This committee is made up Of cit
izens of Pasadena who are too well
known in that city for their business
ability and good judgment to need any
further endorsement They seemed to
be satisfied with the report submitted.
| and have undertaken to carry out all
the promises that have been made on
behalf of this company. notwithsfand-
ing the school boy calculation"
MIR. GIBBONS STATEMENT
Hon. T. E. Gibbon, vice president Of
| me IGIli.Iidt TdllWdS CoIlpdHy ,du lhuc-
fatisabe worker for tine interests of
his company and those of Los Angeles,
upon being asked for a statement re-
gartling the situation at Pasadena, gave
the following:
THE Terminal railway track from
Los Angeles to Pasadena is built on
its own right of way. where its speed
will not interfere with travel upon the
public highway. 1t is proposed to cleo
trize the line between the centers Of
both cities. Also, to extend the electric
line on through Pasadena to Sierra
Madre, and ultimately to other foothill
towns. including Monrovia, and per-
haps Duarte. To make these exten-
sions it is necessary to have franchise
from Pasadena, and that we are asking
for.
"The Pasadena and Los Angeles elec-
trio railway now occupies the public
highway for its whole distance
between the two cities, and
is consequently handicapped as to
speed. and it operates by street car
franchise, which obliges it to do way
business and to stop at any point the
passenger desires to board or leave the
car. Therefore it is impossible for this
company to make the time between the
two points in less than fifty or sixty
minutes. We propose to reduce this
time to thirty minutes, ov1r our own
track, which IS we'll ballasted and used
for heavy traffic. We are apart from
the public highway. and not required
to stop for passengers except at regu-
lar way stations. This is why we can
shorten the running time between Los
Angeles and Pasadena.
1.-THE Pasadena company say that Il
we are permitted to go into the city of
Pasadena we shall drive them to the
wall by drawing so much traffic from
them that they will be unable to pay
interest upon their indebtedness, this
plea being advanced by the creditors
and bondholders of that company The
statement has been made by Mr.. Web
ster, representing the Pasadena and
Los Angeles company, that the bonded
and floating Indebtedness of his COM
pany amounts to $4,000 Others claim
it to be only 100000, and it is upon
this Indebtedness that the creditors
are asking of the city of Pasadena an
opportunity to earn interest by giving
them a monopoly The bonds have been
sold as low as so and SO cents on the
dollar, and some Of the bondholders
would like to make an arrangement
with the city of Pasadena whereby
these bonds would be brought up to
par, giving them a prorit of 25 to 100
per cent upon their investment. Wheth-
er or not the figures above are abso-
lutely correct, it is certainly an effort
to get the people OF Pasadena to pay
interest on a sum not over one-half Of
which could have been invested in the
property.
1.-THE mileage of the Pasadena and Los
Angeles Railway approXimates about
thirty miles of single track; that is
counting a mile of double track as two
miles single track. The cost at the pre-
sent time of constructing electric rail-
way lines with ffty-six pound steel
rails. cross ties, overhead wires and
everything ready to turn on the electric
/ ity is few dollars less than $4,000 per
mile. OF course the cost OF construction
of double track is not double that of
single track, as the same poles and
overhead wires are used for both. The
trackage of the Pasadena G. Los Ange-
les railway is mostly double, but at the
cost of single track it could be duplcat-
ed today, with new material in place of
the secondhand stuff used, with heavier
/ steel and better in every way for not
more than S130,000. They claim that
Ior~o corc coSf then, $1,000 aniece Na