Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1902-01-02
HARD ON THE HORSE,

on highway travel, whether toward in
creasing or decreasing its volume or as
reducing the length of haul by horses
and wagons and changing its direction.
Practically all Of these railways par
allel important highways between the
principal cities and towns. Many Of
them have franchises from the state
granting the right Of construction and
operation directly on the public high
ways, while others own part of them in
the shape of purchased rights of way.
The cars on these lines transport pas
SengerS from town to town or between
the points on the road as comfortably,
more cheaply and almost as quickly as
the steam cars between stations and
far more quickly and agreeably than
the trip, long or short, can be made by
! horse and buggy or wagon. 1t seems
obvious, therefore, that the electric
roads will tend to reduce the light pas
| senger travel along the wagon roads
which they parallel
But the traction companies are not by
any means content with passenger busi-
ness alone. They have already embark
!! ed in the express and light freighting
traffic, despite the legal obstacles which
are being thrown in their way by the
steam railroad companies, whose con-
tentions have been defeated in the su-
preme court of Ohio. This freighting
or express business promises in the
20 m h la
to the roads than the transporting Of
passengers and TO grow more rapidly In
volume 1t cannot be doubted that this
draws wagon traffic from the parallel
highways.
AS yet few if any of the electric roads
have attempted to embark in the heavy
freighting business in this country,
though it he's been done in Europe.
We may safely predict, however, that
in time the traction companies will at
tempt to secure much of this business
also. unless legal restrictions debar
them, for they can operate as cheaply
as the steam roads, and in many cases
they have advantages over the latter
in facilities for handling such freight.
However, if the interurban roads re-
duce the travel between towns on the
highways which they parallel, they will
surely increase the travel on the cross
roads leading from the farms to the
railways and which act as feeders to
the steel ways. They will also undoubt-
edly increase the volume of travel on
the roads reaching from villages off the
lines of the electric and steam roads to
those through which these lines extend.
Good road advocates have no reason
for becoming apprehensive that the ex-
tension of the interurban electric rail-
ways will cause any of the wagon
roads to be abandoned and TO fall into
decay. While they seem likely to re-
duce traffic on some of the main thor
oughfares connecting towns, their ef-
feet will be to increase the number or
short hauls in the aggregate on others.
1t is at any rate factor in highway
improvement.
The progress being made here and
abroad in the manufacture of practical
and economical steam and gasoline
trucks and "lorries," as well as passen-
ger coaches, for the transportation OF
freight and passengers on the public
highways offers the good roads enthusi-
asst sufficient guarantee for counter
acting influence tending to give the In
terurban wagon way new Importance.
1t will probably then come to a strug-
gle between the operator of the motor
stage and the electric traction com
panies to decide which of them can
reduce the cost of operation to the low
est point.