Mexico weekly ledger., 1908-11-19
REPRESENTATIVES, or TIE LEDGER
WRirEsAE EXHAUSTIVE AETI-
GLE on TIE BEsEFTTs OF s0ca
A LINZ TOTHE FARMER AND
CIT RESIDENT
Has Investigated Fully the Prepo-
siiiOn from Every view POinf ana
Finds We want the HexIeo. san
IA Re a Perry Traction CO.
oOznSrD FnOE rAen =


much noise either. Some tine ago .
geutisnsn interested IN iunrurhsn
railways ssnt the follosing question
% TIE nsyon OF soze two hcndred
towns situated about twenty miles
m1rs or less from large trade and
commercial fcsnten Each sf 5ese
snail taWus vas connected with the
larger ones b an f~nserHrhan railway
running Ten 10 twenty trains q esy
Nhere tos local steam r0ads had ben
running two O. three trains hefors,
and. TIE interufoa1 ru4ds charged
les than 0ns1half the fare that the
people paid the steam roads The
question was do you know .of any
Increase or decrease o. trade over that
Of former years prior 10 the operation
q The internrb1n roadsgr More than
one hundred answers we're received;
some Of them are quoted; they are
al in the sane general tone:
MAYORS oPIxIos REGARDING BKSE-
FITS BROUGHT By uSTKKURRAEs.
Bowling Green, Ohio; pop. 1000; q
miles from city Of 10000 pop
Trade has increased to AL merchants
since the incoming Il electric roads.
We have two railroads and
south, east and west. Don't kick
about electricI rAilwHys-they are q
help to any city or town. We were
against the railway almost to q man,
but now we would not be without
them.
BelVideFe, H.; pop, 1000; Il miles
from city Of 5000 pop. Dry goods
men lost some trade at first but put
in q better line Of goods, and business
has now increased. Electric railroads
have helped our town in general.
Lebanon, Indiana; pop. 1000; q
miles from city OF 10000 pop. Bust
ness has increased. We notice great
Improvement Electric lines are good
things for aIlsstowns.
HUNTINGTON, Indiana; pop. 1850; "a
miles from city OF $1,000 pop.-In.
crease Of business Is to 30 Iper cent
Upton, Indiana; pop. 1900; 40 miles
from city Of 100000 pcp.-our mar
chants here claim al increase Of from
Is 10 40 per cent. Some Of our mer
chants here claim an increase OF from
25 10 40 per cent. Some Of our mer
chants objected very strongly and
there were all kinds Of arguments
used against 1t. / do not know Of on,
who would want 10 be placed wherl
we were before. There has been
srnaA tncsuase IN buiidingnlsnd popu
lation. II another company wanteI
10 build q railroad through in 'anothe
direction, the farmers would gre
right Of way and some OF them q DO
nus.
Springfield, OHIO; .pop. 5000; 4
miles from Columbus ll50, 0O0l land 2
miles from Dayton 100, 900. Trad,
has increased In this city constantly
as well as building and population
We would gladly grant admission {
the city Of other ~interurban railroads
although we now have s1x eiectri
roads running into Springfield. Tn
only trading done In Columbus an
Dayton, cities twice and three time
our population, is done by parties VIII
would go away from the city even I
we did not have electric roads.
Chicago Heights, Illinois; pop. IA,
900; % miles from Chicago.-This /
the best year we have ever had. Elec
trio railroads bring a great many pee
pie into our town to do their trading
Versailles, Kentucky; pop. 5000; j
miles from q city Of 0100, 900 pop
Electric railroads have not made ami
decrease in trade.
Lyons, New York; pop. 5000; 4
miles from city OF 1e5, 900 pop. and 3
miles from city OF $4,000 pop.-Be
fore operating the people were op'
posed to electric railroads. but since
It has proven a benefit both CONNER
cially and socially. 1 believe It vii
be the making OF Lyons instead o
otherwise. ! am in the hardware bust
ness, and l believe that 1 can truth
fully say that our increase In business
has been fully 10 per cent
xenia, Ohio. pop. 1900; 30 mile
from city Of 125, 600 .pop.-Trade haI
increased wonderfully. Population in
creased nearly double. Hundreds o
homes have been built. We have an
other road to Springfield, IS miles dis
tant. Building Of traction lines from
small places into large cities help botl
and II 1t Is an ordinary sized place liz
OURS the merchants. having cheape
rent, can easily compete with q large
city. WI have two electric railroad
and two steam railroads.
Elm Grove, w. Va; rop. 2,0OC
10 miles from city Of 40, 900 pop.-Eln
Grove was q small country town be
fore the electric railroad reached here
Now we have a bank, drug store, gro
Gerry stores, hardware stores, enamel
ing works and plumbing shop. w
have another electric line ia sight
Don't stop electric railroads. The,
are a good thing.
Columbus, Indiana; pop. 1880; A
miles from city Of 225, 900 pop.-Somt
OF our merchants complained at frat
but they have more than made up foI
the loss now. Our trade has gradual
" increased yearly, but much more 9.
after the electric line was built
The Interurban railroads are JUS
the stuff" 1t will not be many year
before they are just as important Al
the telephone and possibly as genera.
In their use.
Communities without them will be
at a discount as compared with those
that have them. Every town that
wants these facilities, however. ought
to bear In mind that 1t costs some.
thing to get them. They must ''chip
In" and pay for terminals, depots,
shops and all such necessities. They
ought to join hands with the farmer,