The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-06-30
SOLVING A GREAT
PROBLEM IN i. S.
HO0sier State Residents Are
Determining Question of
Transportation.
ARE NOW BUILDING
THEIR OWN RAILROADS
They Have Emancipated Them
selves From the Great Steam
Railway Monopoly.

The people are tired of cntrcaty and
suppication, of railroad.owned monop.
olies, of the refusal Of mapagcments to
provide sufficient motive power and roll
ing stock, says Appleton s Magazine for
July. Rumbliugs Of public ownership
grow louder under prolonged aggrava-
tiou. That there is another way 10 the
solution of this problem has been per
fently demonstrated
In Indiana, the people long ago wear
led by the same practices that now
breed universal revolt against the steam
sailroads. set themselves 60 the tasll
of determining this problem of trans
poctatiou And they did strange and
peculiar thi1G-ihc first endcayors af-
fordcd he steam rlIiroad owners and
managers ruch amuscnent-they set
ahrut building their own railroads.
No longer do the steam railroad in
forests smile in amusement. Seven
Years only have passed since the lndi-
ana public went earnestly nj this gi-
santic task Yet in that brief period
Indiana has so completely emancipated
iilself from steam railroad monopoly
that today there is moi put forth by
the former monarchs of the State so
much as q pIetense of competition with
the railroads the people have built. Ex
cept N the matter OF heavy, bulky
freight. transportation in the most
denscly populated part of the, State is
now carried on by the people s rail
roads And after this lapse of only
seven years, Indiana leads the world
in intercirv electrin railroad construc-
tion and operation.
One thousand miles of track are now
in operation: $40 miles are building and
viii he placed in operation early this
wear; another 1000 miles are projected;
every steam railroad ont Of Indianapolis
has been paralleled; more than fifty
million dollars have been invested actu-
ally in these railroad properties; pas
scngars are carried ac their convenience
in clean and comfortable cars. and for
one half the former fares; parcel and
perishable freight goes forward TO lis
destination most eXpedltiously and at
reasonable charges, and the entire com
pleXion of life in the Hoosier State has
been changed.
What this system is. Apd what il has
meant as a transportation emancipation,
Is revealed upon cursory examination of
u trolley map Of Indiana, and a stats
teal record Of the various companies
now operating high speed passenger and
freight railroads by electricity in that
State. During the present year the line
10 Louisville viii be opened TO traffic;
the line from La Fayette TO Chicago WILL
bc placed under construction, and The
southeastern lines, which are aimed TO
provide through service between Gndi.
annapolis and Cincinnati, pushed nearer
TO completion.
Each one Of the ,ropds operating at
present parallels Il steam road. OPP
Grating these existing lines are thirteen
principal corporations. each Of which
has one or more subsidiaries Total cap
ii3lIZation is SAL 900 in stock and
sl3,0S0, 500 in bonds. or slightly more
than $4,000 per mile of constructed
road This figure closely approXimates
the capitalization of the steam railroads
OF the country, and represents Il
watered" value of about $50, 0,000,-
600, injected in the absorption and
amalgamatIon processes that have been
resorted to, Upon this enormous CAPT
tal-the growth Of seven years-the
companies are not only paying liberal
dividend and interest charges, but are
paying heavily for franchise privileges,
notably In indianapolis, where the city
system takes as a terminal and track
ago fee cents out Of every Scent
fare collected in the city limits In it's
financial phases, therefore, the solution
of this transportation problem has re-
suited in manner eminently satisfac-
tory 10 those who engaged in the task
The public, which provides the revenue
enjoyed by the corporations, is not
wholly pleased; It's demands are not
entirely satisfied. But the condition of
that public is so vastly improved, over
what II was under the steam railroad
monopolies, that it is contented, conf
dent that AS long as it provides the
revenue the traction corporations will,
rs rapidly as possible. increase and ex-
tend their facilities
in the operation Of these roads there
is attained, In respect to passenger ac-
c9mmodations, an extreme of perfection.
Contrasting this service with what was
formerly, and is now. afforded by the
steam. railroads. one is able TO apprc-
ciate tho measure of the advance made
since the installation of the electric
traction service. The subioined table
makes this contrast. showing the condi.
lions of the service on the steam rail
roads before the Interurban trolIevs
came to destroy their monopoly, pre-
sent conditions, the passenger service