Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-05-17
THE MANCHESTER TRAsf,yAys,

The visitor to Manchester, Eng
 land. who sets out. map in pocket, to
 make the acquaintance of the local
 tramway system, is struck first by
 the cleanliness of the cars and the
 frequency of their trips: and. a little
 later, as the acquaintance grows, he
 is impressed with the general efi-
 ciency of the service and with the
 skill with which the system has been
 laid out in order best to serve the
 community. If he spread out the map
 of Manchester and Stafford and count
 the radiating trolley lines which run on the edge of the map into the sur
 rounding country, he will find that there are twenty-three different lines.
 And these will include "cross-oyer"
 lines only in two or three instances;
 at least twenty of them will be sepa-
 rate lines connecting the outlying
 regions with the business center of
 Manchester. They spread out like the spokes of wheel. And if our visitor be open to impressions. the map will tell him that this remarkable system is the result neither of corporation scheming on the one hand nor of po- litical jobbery on the other. but that
 1t is the result of a simple. quite comprehensible intention to give the people of Manchester and of the sub urbs quick access to and from the city in every direction. This simple purpose would seem also to account for the fact that all the lines are as nearly straight as they could be made. For all short distances, rang ing from mile and half on certain lines to two miles and half on oth- CTS. the fare is two cents. Each line is divided into a few divisions. When passenger pays his fare of one Eng fish penny he is given a ticket which indicates that he is free to ride to the end of that division. On each line the first of these divisions begins at a central point in the city and ex- tends well out toward the city limits.
 The cars are all double-decked trolleys. They are neatly painted and vanished. and are kept in perfect condition. Both in Manchester and in the adjoining city Of Salford no ad- vertising is allowed on the cars.
 The two city corporations run their cars. where convenient. over one an- others tracks: and Manchester also builds and operates lines which es- tend far out Into the country. In such cages it buys property as a private corporation would: and. excepting that 1t does not charge "slI the traf- fic will bear" and that it conducts it's affairs openly and honestly. its re- lstions with the outlying oommuni- ties are about what the relations of a private corporation would be.
 Last year the result of a two-cent fare in Manchester was a net profit of s51.000 Js24T.s59D. This sum vas turned over to the city fund -.in aid of rates" Tn other words. the to- tai tax assessment levied on the rate payers of Manchester was reduced by nearly quarter of a million dollars from this one source This. under an efoient municipal ownership regime. is where the people come in. I wish to lay stress on this point because it has been claimed i1 this country that taxes would be higher under munfci- pal ownership The municipality own ed trsmways of Manchester have whatever to do with the taxes. excepting that they Tighten the tsxes by eontrfbatinE their profits s.fn i. sf1 of rstes-Semusl Merrfn fn Success.