The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-14
THE RAILROAD TRAoK QUESTION.


The Commercial Club has added to the list
of it's public services by bringing to the
front and giving new life to the question of
elevatirg the railroad tracks. The question
is not new one, but, like all questions Of
the kind involving the protection of public
interests by new departures or the introduce
ton of new systems, discussion of it has
tagged for lack of persistent effort to keep
1t alive. With the railroads united against
the proposition and with no unity of effort
by the people in favor of it, the movement
was sure to be put to sleep. The present
agitation. now well started should not be
allowed to subside until some definite result
is reached.
rs an original question there is no doubt
but all railroad crossings in cities should be
the rule is carried even to the rural districts,
such a thing as level crossing being un-
known there In that country, where hui
man life is more sacred and better protected
than it is here. and where the rights of the
public are placed above those of corpora
tions, no railroad is permitted to cross a
public road or highway on a level. On the
other hand, the public is excluded from the
tracks, the result being saving of human
life and of railroad accidents and damages.
There are thousands of dangerous railroad
crossings in Indiana, and the lives lost from
this GAUGE will average two or three a week
the year round. There have been many lives
u.
narrow escapes. 1t is only a question of
time when a terrible disaster will happen
by the collision at a street crossing of a
loaded street car and moving train. In
addition to the loss of life the present sys-
tenn causes a material depreciation Of prop
erty south and east of the tracks, thus re-
ducing the tax duplicate and the city's reve-
nue.. An important consideration is the
moral effect of dividing the city into North
and South Side, thus generating and per-
petuating a class feeling that is unnatural
and unhealthy 1t is not fair to property
owners and residents in the southern part
of the city to perpetUate a system which
Injuries their property and places them at a
disadvantage financially and socially as
against those who live in the northern part
But for the railroad tracks the distinction
of North and South Side would never have
obtained, and the discrimination which it
implies would not exist. The oblteration
of this discrimination would be of immense
benefit to the city in a moral sense, ire
spective of VITAL business or financial con-
siderations. The strongest argument in
favor of the construction of the Belt Rail-
road, which was built twenty-one years ago.
was that it would relieve the city of the
passage of freight trains across it's streets
and from one side to the other. 1t has done
so only partially. The freight traffic through
the city has more than doubled since the
Belt road was opened, and now, while about
1S,C00 freight cars pass around the city
weekly on the Belt, about 5000 pass through
the city. The necessity of relief is greater
now than it was when the Belt road was
constructed, because, while the number Of
freight cars passing through the city is
nearly as large it was then, the popula-
ton and business of the city are much larg
err thus increasing the inconvenience and
danger. In addition to this the railroad
passenger traffic, which is not handled at all
by the Belt, has increased enormously in the
last twenty years. AS both freight and pas
senger traffic will continue to increase in
definitely, as also the population and bust
ness of the city, it is easy to see that the
time must come when the present system
will be intolerabIe. The real question, there
fore, is whether level crossings are to con-
tinue permanently with ever increasing
dangers, Inconvenience, injury to property
and detriment to the city's life. If it be ad-
mitted that change will be necessary
twenty-five or fifty years hence the whole
case is admitted, for if a change is to be
made at all the sooner it is done the better.
1t could have been made much cheaper
twenty years ago than it can now, and will
cost much moro twenty years hence than it
would at present. If it had been made
twenty years ago the city would have
gained more than enough in many ways to
have compensated for the entire cost, and
every year that the change is postponed
adds to it's already heavy losses. OF course,
the immediate cost looks large to the rail-
roads, but they should remember that they
have enjoyed the use of the streets for u
long time without any charge whatever a
franchise such as no city thinks of grant
ing gratuitously nowadays. and if the tracks
were elevated they would still continue to
enjoy the franchise in different form. The
whole is larger than a part, and the rights
of the public are more important than those
of any number of railroads The latter have
done much for the city indirectly but they
have done much more for themselves. They
should be treated literally, but they should
not be allowed to use the city's streets per-
petually without any cost to themselves and
at great cost to the city's interests, COM
mercial, financial, social and moral. Graft
tude for past favors, not to speak of the
hope of future ones, should lead them to
meet the present movement half way and
cooperate heartily with the city in devils
ing plan to do away with the evils of the
present system.
POOR ARGUMENTS FOR A WEAK