The Savannah morning news., 1902-05-17
MUST PAY EXPENSES
SAVANNAH ELECTRIC CoMPANY'S
OFFER TO MERCHANTS.
WILL BUILD TO WHITE BLUFF
ON ASSURANCE THE LINE WILL
PAY RUNNING CHARGES.


Suburban Lines It Can and VIII
Build Them-President Baldwin
Says His Company Does Not Ask a
Profit ON Investment or Operation,
But Wants the Lines to Pay Oper-
ating Expenses-On Reasonable
Assurance of Such Return, the
Construction of the white Blum
Line VIII Be Begun Mt Once-Any
other Policy Means Bankruptcy
and Ruin.
1.-The Savannah Electric Company is
perfectly willing to begin at once the
construction of trolley line to White
Bluff, it the Merchants Association can
offer reasonable ground to believe that
the line will repay the company the
bare expense Of its operation"
President George ]. Baldwin made
this statement yesterday. The effort
of the Retain Merchants Association to
induce the construction of a line to
White Bluff, touching and connecting
the city with the several intermediate
suburbs, was under discussion.
1T is the purpose of the company"
said Mr.. Baldwin, ito make Savannah
the center of system of suburban
lines, radiating in all directions In
which traffic is to be found. We have
demonstrated our purpose to improve
the system by double tracks in various
portions of the city, by the equipment
of the line to Montgomery with cleo
tricity, and by the projection of the line
to West Savannah and the mills and
factories of that section. This line will
secured the necessary rights of way.
The completion of the double track sys-
tenn at Thunderbolt will follow imme-
diately the consent of the people living
in that suburb. These improvements,
completed and prospective, ought to
convince the people of the city that
we are sincere when we say we intend
to give Savannah the very best sys-
tenn the local situation will permit.
Not Going to Build at Random.
However" said Mr.. Baldwin, I'VE
don't intend to build lines wildly in
all directions. when we feel assured
that their operation will result in a
loss. To pursue such a policy will
mean bankruptcy for any road that
attempts it and, in it's ultimate out
come, the poorest possible street car
service for any city in which the ex-
pertinent is made.
I'VE don't ask profit on the opera
ton of the proposed line to White
Bluff: we don't ask a cent of interest
on the money it will require to con-
struct it: we ask only reasonable
ground to believe that it's operation will
defray the operating expenses. If the
Merchants Association will make such
a showing the company will begin the
construction of the line at once"
Mr.. Baldwin said he had not suffi-
GENTLY investigated the question to
know whether the line offers the prom
Use of a return of operating expenses
for its construction. The number of
people living in the neighborhoods it
is designed to traverse and their
needs, as these affect trolley car traf-
fic, are alike unknown to him, so that
he could not say what would be done.
$50 far as competition goes, for
which some members of the Merchants
Association seemingly are anxious, l
should think Savannah men had al
ready had it's public disadvantages suf-
ficiently demonstrated. Competition as
fierce as its widest partisans could de-
sire was promptly followed by it's in
evitable result-four or five years of
as poor service as any city in this
country ever had.
Must Have Some Profit.
1.-The way to secure good service for
Savannah is to let the men who con-
troll the present system make some
money out of it. If they are required
to use the earnings in meeting COM
petition, there will be no surplus for
betterments or extensions of any kind.
The tracks will deteriorate the rolling
stock will run down and the city will
have a repetition of the state of affairs
from which it has recently emerged.
wen build all the lines in which
there is a possibility of profit, but we
have no intention of building a line
to White Bluff unless it is going to pay
the expenses of operation. If the line
must be run at a loss. 1 much prefer
that the loss should be borne by Mr..
Lester"
1t is probable that Mr.. Baldwin will
appear before the Retail Merchants
Association at its next meeting and
explain at greater length and in more
detail the position his company oc-
cupies on the question of suburban i'm
provement 1t may be that the as
ISOLATION will be able to give him the
reasonable assurance he asks and to
convince him of it's correctness, and in
that event there is not doubt that
the White Bluff line, so much talked
about, will be begun at once.