The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-23
HE HAS HEARD COMPLAINTS.
Director Barrow Admits That street
Car system Is Not the Best.

company, one of whom put the service
down pretty nearly as bad as it could be.
Mr.. Pope Barrow. who is looked upon as
being close to the Parsons interests, when
asked about the complaints against the
management said that he was aware that
complaints had been made, because some
of them had been made directly TO him as
a director.
But" he said, 1.-THE manage
ment Of the street railways in Savannah
Is doing the very best that can possibly
be done under the circumstances. You
must remember that there has been sud
den increase in the adult male population
of Savannah Of over 1900 men within
the past sixty days, all of whom are 10
Gated along the lines of the street rail-
way. In other words, the number of pas
sengers we have been called upon TO car
ry has been about doubled. Then, too,
we have had a good deal of new track,
and new switches and new turnouts, and
no railroad can be operated as we'll over
new tracks as over old and well settled
ones. We have used every car that could
roll wheel. We have sent off and got
mortormen and conductors wherever We
could find them with sufficient experience
to handle cars with safety. All this, too,
in the fall and winter season, when the
weather has not been favorable for street
railway operation"
Mr.. Barrow was asked about the failure
of the company to have cars meet at
transfer points. at is impossible in oper-
ating a street railway" he said, Ito ar
range a schedule so that car will be GER
tain to arrive at given point at a given
minute. This arises from the fact that
we have to stop the car at any point pm a
street, whenever passenger or pa5sen-
gers wish to disembark or TO get on. You
can see at a glance that it is impossible
to tell whether the stops will be few or
many, and, consequently, it is impossible
to tell whether the car will cover GER
tain distance within a certain time. 1t is
true that you can make a schedule by
which car could leave one terminus and
get back to that terminus within a Ger
tain time, but it is impossible TO tell at
what minute il will pass any particular
point on the route, for the reason L nave
given For example, very early in the
morning and very late at night our cars
run empty, or very nearly so, the whole
trip but at 2 O'Clock in the day those same
cars will be fun through all the crowded
parts of the city. Now, the difference IS
this: The car that runs empty goes
straight through without stopping; the
car that is full stops twice at every
square TO let somebody off or on"
AS to the complaint about the cars, Mr..
Barrow said that the company is using
all il has Some of them are summer
cars" he said, but we are compelled 20
use them in order 10 haul the people, on
account of the fact, as l said just now,
that there are $1,000 soldiers here, ana
1900 or 5000 others added to the ordinary
population of the city Il think he add
ed, "that some allowance ought to be made
for all of these facts. A fair minded man,
who will look into the facts as we have
to deal with them, viii see more difficult
ties than appear 40 the ordinary locker
on, and will treat us more justly than we
have been treated In some of the recent
complaints.
'As to not double tracking Anderson
street, It is proper to say, that at the re-
quest of properly owners; both Duffy and
Anderson are to be retained instead of
double tracking Anderson. This change
in the contract was made last spring. The
same is true about double tracking the
south end of East Broad street and the
west end of Bay. The property owners
complained, and 1 think justly, about
double tracking these portions of these
streets Accordingly, the contract was
changed in that respect by a new agree
ment between the city and the railroad"
Mr.. Barrow added: LAS a member of the
board of directors. 1 am perfectly willing
to assume my full share of the RESPONSE
bility of the shortcomings of the manage
ment / know that we have not been
making perfect schedules. but we have
done the best we could, and we ask that
some allowance be made for the enormous
increase of business which has been pour
ed upon us by the sudden addition of so
many thousands of passengers. We may
not have done the very best that could be
doneN but we have done the best that we
knew how 10 do and 1 believe that we
have run the road as wei as the editorial
staff of the Morning News would have
done if they had had charge of it."
The ordinance confirming the grant of
streets and privileges to the car lines by
the city which passed the Council over a
year ago charged the street and lane COM
mittee with the duty of enforcing the pro-
visions of the ordinance and directed ii
to see not only to the observance of the
provisions of the ordinance, but that street
car companies using the streets of Sa-
vannah shall comply with and observe all
public.
There are many and various provisions
which have never been enforced. The COM
pletion of the Outside belt" is one of them.
The double tracking of Anderson street
was to be a part of the belt, was changed
by the City Council to allow the use OF
single tracks on both Duffy and Anderson
streets as a part of the belt. The COM
pany claims that this change was on ac
count of protests by property owners
against a double track on Anderson street
It is pretty well understood, however, that
the railway company did not like the idea
of relinquishing Duffy street with the
possibility of its being used by competing
line, and that the petition of property
owners on which the two street contract
was made with the city was secured by
agents of the street railway company, and
like all the requests of il was readily
granted by Council.
A BLAZE ON THE BAY.
WINS Test of "A Fire-Extinguishin Z