The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1907-07-26
SUGGESTIVE british
TRANWAY STATISTICS
Result of Investigation by
National Civic FEEDER
alton.
AN INTERESTING
COMPARISON
Hard For British Compa-
MES to Get Special
Charters.

New York, July 25-The operations Of
British street railways by municipali-
ties and privately owned corporations
respectively, is considered in great de-
tail in two reviews Of expert reports
on the subject made to the National
Civic Federation Commission on Public
Ownership. The reviews were prepared
by members of the commission after an
exhaustive investigation of the sys-
TENS treated, and were made public to-
day. They are based upon technical re-
ports compiled by expert engineers
who, with the reviewers, spent several
months in the British cities where the
several lines are operated. The reviews
arc by William j. Clark, of New York,
as an opponent of municipalization, and
Prof, Frank Parsons, Of Boston, as an
advocate of public ownership and OPP
Grafton. Mr. Clark is general manager
OF the foreign department of the Gen
eral Electric Company. Professor Par
sons has been a student of municipal
ownership for years and is the author
of several works on that subject, among
them THE Railways, the Trusts and
tho People"
In his review Mr.. Clark compares the
tramways Of Great Britain with the
private enterprises Of the United States,
much to the advantage Of the latter.
Ole declares that the American traction
systems under private ownership are
far more progressive than those of
England, Scotland and Ireland; that
they give far better suburban service,
that cars are less crowded and that
lines are being extended with far
greater rapldity This he attributes to
the absence of restrictions in the Unit
ed States as compared with Great Brit
ain, where, he says private traction
enterprises are given franchises only
on almost prohibitive terms The diff
ference of rate of fare in the two coun-
tries, Mr.. Clark says, is more than off
set by the great number of free trans
fers given by the American systems.
He says that while on the fact of re-
ports 1t would appear that municipal
operation of lines in some of the cities
of Great Britain had been success,
that as a matter Of fact just the oppo-
site is true. He says the private COM
parties in the United Kingdom give a
superior service as compared with the
municipality operated lines
az Professor Parsons, on the other hand,
y Expresses the opinion that municipal
ownership of British tramway systems
has been successful from every point
rf xrinu TIa ho4 so4
palities were the first to show a pro-
gressive spirit in changing from horse
cars to electric systems that their
lines have been we'll managed and the
service improved and that fares have
been lowered in spite of the fact that
the hours of labor of employees were
shortened, while in many instances
wages were increased. The COMPARE
sons he makes are between British
publicly-owned and privately-owned
companies, and in this connection he
declares that the British plants must
Albe measured by British and not by
american standards, The conditions
and habits of the people are different,
he says, and these differences must be
taken into account in the judgment
of the management of tramways, Pro-
fessor Rarsons also notes that in Eng
land the payment of fare means that
the passenger has a seat and not mere
" the right to transit.
Mr. Clark points out that no Ameri-
can street railroads were investigated
by the commission and the only tram
way installations directly investigated
in Great Britain were those owned by
the municipalities of Manchester, Liv-
erpool, Glasgow and the London Coun-
ty Council, and those owned by the fol-
lowing private companies London
County Council and those owned by the
following private companies: London
United Tramways, Dublin United
Tramways, and the Norwich Electric
Tramways The writer calls attention
to the fact that the entire development
of street railways in the United States
has been accomplished by private en-
terprise and that this has permitted
the construction of extensive systems
serving entire communities and linking
them together irrespective of municipal
Boundary lines. On the other hand,
since 1894, at least, municipality con-
trolled traction systems have been con-
fined, to a great extent, within the mar
row limits of their respective munich
palties. Mr. Clark here enters into a
statistical statement of the facilities
enjoyed by the urban inhabitants of
Great Britain as compared with the
town and city population of the United
States. In 1902 the town and city pop
ulation to each mile of tramway track
was 12,476 while in the United States
there was a mile Of track to each 1915
of town and city population. In Great
Britain there was one car for each g.
$50 of population While in the United
States there was one car to SIS city
residents. Thus, the urban resident Of
the United States had comparatively
more than six and one-half times the
humber of cars available for his use
Than were available to the British in
habitant The British systems carried
1904 452, 1888 passengers and the Ameri-
ran 5.521, 509,521, and of these 1,O62, 403,-
g92 or practically 80 per cent. of the
British total were transported free on
transfers.
Mr.. Clark takes up the charge that
she traction cars in the United States
sre over-crowded AMI declares that the
nsures given above show that on the
basis of passengers carried per car per
year the American car averages only
lass passengers per year as against
$50 4s9 per year carried by the average
he