The sun., 1900-08-26


as heavily in proportion as she has from ole
New York proper. But the new recruits tc
Brooklyn's population aside. OF course, from
her own natural growth-are not confined ir
origin even 10 New York. Many Of them have
come from the Jersey suburbs-from Paterson
Newark, Passaio, Jersey City and other nearb y
places. where people who are In reality New
Workers., whose business and whose interests
are all in New York, have felt constrained tc
live because Of the cramped quarters
and high rents Of the city. The
opening Of Brooklyn solved for them the prob
lem oflvng in New York. With trolley cars
going from the Bridge TO points as far away as
| Coney Island. Cansrse and Bergen Beach, ana
all for Ave cents. the attraction of Brooklyn
with its elimination OF the ferry question. was
| irresistible to them. To be sure. the fare Ia
Coney Island has been doubled within few
months and is now 10 cents, but most people
looking for homes would still be within the five
cent radius Hundreds OF the Brooklyn home
builders come from the other side OF the North
River and hundreds fmore are still coming.
| And what IL true OF the Jersey suburbs
| Is true of New Rochelle. Rye, Mount
Vernon. Port Chester, Yonkers, and places fur
| ther up the Sound and river These New
| Workers have found that they can have houses
| in New York with suburban conditions and at
| even better than many suburban prices, while
at the same time getting rid OF the railroad
time table. the suburban railroad train and
| other annoyances that consume the time and
| patience OF him who lives out OF town. In other
words. the growth and expansion OF Brooklyn
has meant is still meaning and in the future
win mean still more In gathering In to New
| York OF her own.
TRoLLEYs CAUSED THE DEVELOPMENT.
~
| lyn may be designated In one word-trolleys,
| The history OF Brooklyn's atterday development
! is the history Of the Brooklyn trolley system.
Wherever the trolleys have gone. along those
| lines the growth has been. And the expansion
Of the Brooklyn trolley system s one OF the
| narvels Of municipal development in the last
decade. That the trolley development should
Outstrip the growth Of population was inevlta-
BILE II has very greatly outstrlpped 1t as
matter OF fact although II Is but
| question OF short time when the
trolley lines that are running In some
pirts OF the city at an actual loss will be
brought into the paying categorias. There are
two wards In particular In frooklyn where the
trolley service is excessive in proportion 10 the
population that touches upon the borders u
absurdty. These are the Thrtieth and Thirty
first wards, comprising tho communities Of
Bay Ridge. Fort Hamilton. Bensonhurst. Bath
Beach, Borough Park and Coney Island. None
Of these places Is less than seven miles from the
Park row end Of the Bridge and most o; them
are ten or twelve miles. while tho
far,hest is thirteen, They have now
population o! about thirty thousand. an
increase by the way, OF over so per cent. within
the past four years. In these wards there are
now about ninety seven miles Of surface road.
with a car service Of 5000 miles per day and
over 2, 900 miles per year. exclusive Of the
largely Increased mileage during the summer
months caused by the travel TO and from
Coney Island and other excursion places. II is
by comparing these figures with those If other
places Of similar or much larger population that
the extent of this service In localities of Brook
lyn that are not yet f1led up can be ap-
preciated The Thirtieth and Thirty-frst
wards OF Brooklyn, with the same popua-
tion as Elmra. have six times the mileage
af track and six times the car service that
Elmira has. With population less than that
Of Yonkers. they have six times as much street
railroad track and fve times as much car ser
vice. With population 5000 less than that OF
Binghamton, they have nearly three times "a
many miles OF track and nearly four times as
much car service With a population one-half
the size OF Troy. they have nearly three
times as many miles OF track and 20 per
cent. more car service. With a popu-
lation 1900 less than that OF Utica they
have four times as much track and three times
as much car service. With a population
about one third that OF Syracuse they have
over twice as much track and fully as much car
service With population OF less than one
third OF that OF Albany, they have more than
twice as much track and about the same car
service. With a population OF almost one
tenth that Of Buffalo, they have almost half as
many miles Of track and about one-third a.
much car service. The borough OF The Bronx
with more than four and half times the popu-
lation Of the Th.rtieth and 1hirty-nrst Brooklyn
wards. actually has forty-three less miles Of
track and only the same car service
These figures as to trolley service we're
brought out by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit
Conn mpany for quite another purpose. but they
are interesting in themselves and give good
idea Of the trolley extension service where IL is
operated not so much TO meet present exigences
as to create population that eventually will be
remuneratve to the trolley companies. This is
a reversal Of the theory that railroad Is bu1t
TO meet a demand the railroad. in fact, being
built to create the demand and. incidentally, OF
course to increase values along its line.
At this point, It may be said that the IN
crease in surface car travel In Brooklyn since
the development OF the trolley system has been
very much greater than the increase in popula-
tion. For instance. the Brooklyn Rapid Transit
Company's receipts In the year ending June 30
last were Sll,2Oe,7is. This at the rate OF cents
for each person would make the total num-
ber OF persons carried during the year 224,-
1874 800. Taking sI.5oo.oOO as the yearly
receipts Of the other lines. We would
have the total number OF persons carried
254,1st $50. In 1890 the receipts for all the
Brooklyn lines were t7.iA.i2s, showing that
during that year i42.ss26sO were carried Thus,
as compared with ten years ago. the increase in
the number Of persons carried was liI.25i,74O,
or nearly rs per cent-that is to say. double the
percentage Of increase OF population, which was
S9.12 per cent. These figures give key to the
trolley companies interest in extending their
lines and thereby increasing population,
for their receipts are double that Of the
population INCREASE. Under these crcum-
stances the trolley companies can very we'll
AFFORD for a time to run service N thinly popu-
lated districts at an actual loss. for the loss il
only an investment reasonably sure TO come
back to them in the of Brooklyn at least,
in the shape OF very handsome ultimate profits
As a matter Of fact the figures actually taken
on the Brooklyn Bapid Transit system