Omaha daily bee., 1902-06-15

profits of the road exceed 4 per cent on the
capital certain amounts shall be paid to the
municipality and district through which the
road runs corresponding with the increase
OF the earnings, and also a provision that
after a period Of twenty-five years, and at
periods Of seven years thereafter, the COM
pany shall sell the road to the locality at
a fair market value il the municipality
wishes to buy 1t.
Another important matter is that of con-
struction and equipment. The plans for
these have to be presented to the London
Board of Trade and the rails and equip
ment must correspond with It's ideas OF
what is necessary. On this Hamilton rail
read to which l have referred the com
pany had adopted a rail similar to the
Glasgow rail. It was an excellent rail,
but the Board OF Trade objected to it, and
it was only because the road went into
Glasgow and connected with the road there
having the same rail that it permitted 1t.
Nearly all the cars used in England are
double-deckers Those of suburban London
have twenty-five seats inside and twenty
four above, and there is a difference on
some roads as to the inside and outside
fares. Some Of the roads are trolleys and
some run by a third raj! like the under
ground.
John Bull Against Uncle Sam.
am surprised at the backwardness Of
street railroad building in Great Britain.
During a tour which l made through Ire
land in 1886 l took a trip over the first
electric railroad OF the United Kingdom.
This was one eight miles long running from
Portrush to the Giants Causeway. 1t was
opened in 1888 at a time when there were
many electric railroads in the United
States. The Portrush track has a narrow
gauge of three feet and it's electric current
is applied by the third rail system with
shoe collector.
At present many of the towns outside
London are far better equipped as to rapid
transit than London itself, but nearly all OF
them leave much to be desired. There are
now in the United Kingdom less than 1000
miles Of street railways, and of these only
half are worked by electricity. In the
United States there are over IS, 900 miles OF
electric roads alone, or nine times as many
, as in Great Britain and Ireland.
We have less than 1900 miles of horse
railways and more than 20 900 miles OF
=. street railroad tracks. Our capitalization
of street railroads is ten times as large as
that Of the street railroads of Great Britain
uiN W. " ' " - NAAANS ~ ilohy Ndlo
The English are, however, rapidly awak
| ening to their need of rapid transit, an,
[ from now on electric roads will be built II
) all parts OF the empire. 1t is estimated
t that 1000 miles of such roads could be pu
t in every year, and within the next decad
Y at least the United Kingdom will have
Y network of such tracks. The towns are 81
5 large and so close together that electricit,
= rather than steam is bound to be the mo
0 tive power. Of the future. The American
e electric works which under British name
t are already in operation will have NOR
t than they can do to supply their share o
I the machinery, and such concessions as ar
4 granted under favorable terms will prob
o ably pay good dividends. In the far future
% however, it is probable that nearly ever
town will control its own railroads.
e FRANK G. CARPENTER.