The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-08-31

Special Corrsspondsnos Of The Sunday RepubEaL
Birmingham. England, Aug. 2-How
would you like to have a street-car ride for
q cant? You can get It in Sheffield. wncre
the city owns the tramways and charges
different rates. according to distance. I
rode from one end Of the town to the other
for q penny, and my short rides as a rule
cost me a ha1fpenny. The car fares IN Liv-
erpool are a penny, or 2 cents. for the ordi-
nary trip. and 1t IL the same in Manchester.
The rates are not different in old Chester.
which was q town in the days OF the Ro-
mans, and about the sams in the college
town of old Oxford. In Glasgow the mu-
nicipality owns the trans and charges l
cent q mile, or 6 cents for six miles. Bel
fast charges 6 cents for five miles. Liver
pool ! cent a mile and Manchester 2 cents
per mile. There are many of our American
cities in which you can ride ten miles for
o nickel, which is equal to II cent a mile,
but as the most OF our street-car rides are
short, the British on the average pay much
less than We do in the United States.
The cars are mostly double deckers. with
seats below and also on the roof, high
above which are the wires of tha trolley.
You ride as high up in the air as though
you were on the top OF IN elephant, but 1t
IS delightful. although the cars do not go
half as fast as our own.
The tramways are rapidly increasing in
Great Britain and the tendency is entirely
toward city ownership. A score of different
municipalities are now negotiating for the
purchase of street cars or are laying down
new lines. Many cities own the tramways
and lease them out to companies who man
age them. In nearly every case the mu-
nicipaI tramways pay q profit, thus reduc-
ing the tax rate.
Manchester Makes 100000
Annually Out of Gas Works.
I have already written something as to
how the British cities are managing their
own business. Manchester is making about
$4,000 out of Its gas works. electric lights
and markets The markets bring It an IN
come of $4,000 a year and at the same
time give the best of facilities to the people.
The markets have a big cold-storage plant
and freezing chambers connected with
them. As / rode down the Manchester Ship
Canal I went by the abbatoirs, which be-
long to the city. They have wharves and
buildings for the accommodation of 1000
head Of cattle and 1000 sheep. There
are slaughter-houses and chilling chambers
adjoining them IN which 100 sides of beef
can be chilled in twenty-four hours.
Manchester now has its own telephone
system belonging to the city in which the
hello girls are city clerks. Glasgow owns
is telephones and charges 2 cents a call
or gives you an unlimited number of calls
for 2S q year. Liverpool, Nottingham,
Hun, Leicester and a half dozen other cit
les are now thinking OF buying up the tele-
phones or OF establishing telephone gyS-
TENS run by the city.
! spent some time in the Sheffield mar
kets during my stay there. These recently
belonged to the Duke OF Norfolk. who still
owns a large part OF the city, but the Gov
eminent bought them at a big price and is
now running them at a profit. London has
control over a part of its markets, al
though the big vegetable and fruit markets
of Covent Garden still belong to the Duke
Of Bedford. Bolton owns its markets and
lights and tramwaya.
turned into their tax funds S250.O0o last
year as the profit OF their municipal under
takings and the extent OF such undertake
ings is steadily increasing. I have told you
how the Manchester corporation borrowed
S5.Oo0,0D to loan to the Manchester Ship
Canal Company and how Liverpool Is MAX
Ing a profit out of its investment of more
than 500. in docks.
Corporations Erect Homes
for Their Workingmen.
Many OF the city corporations are nov,
erecting homes for their working people.
They are buying up the slums and tearing
down the buildings which stand upon them,
in order to put up sanitary tenements,
which they rent at low rates. At the same
time they are widening the streets and
going into what might be called a land
office and real estate business. The London
County Council spent a million and a quar-
ter dollars to wine out the slums Of Beth
nal Green, It being estimated that 1t cost
the eitv $3.50 for every family that
was there turned out before a cent was
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