Arizona republican., 1909-05-05
RULE GOVERNING LETTERS ON BRIDGE CONTROVERSY CHAMBER OR COMMERCE MUST FIRST PASS UPON ARTICLE
 BEFORE PUBLICATION M. ]. Galpin of Mesa Presents Argu- ment in Favor of Center
 Street Site.

In order that there may be no mis- understanding, it is desired to state at this time that the Mesa depart ment of The Republican will publish letters on the bridge controversy eith- CT for or against the Tempe site and vice versa under the one condition, and that is that a majority of the directors of the Mesa chamber of commerce at first pass upon them. The directors of the Mesa organiza- tion are broad enough to allow any thing within reason, to pass them, and it is with full understanding of this that the ruling is made. This precaution is taken to prevent per sonalities being hurled promiscuously here and there. This department in vites letters, so long as they are not of a nature calculated to tear down some other institution or some other town.
 M. J. Galpin, residing south of Mesa submits the following communi- cation which has been read by a ma- jority of the directors of the chamber of commerce and while it may not be their views throughout, they at least see nothing in it which can be of de- triment to any other section or insti- tuition.
 Mesa, Arizona, May 3, 1909.
 l noticed by the various articles ap- bearing in the Phoenix newspapers from Tempe, that an effort is being made to show that the best interests of the people of this section will be served by the construction of a bridge at Tempe.
 As this is a public question and one of great import, I take the lib- erty as a land owner and tax payer of Mesa to take issue with many of the statements contained in such ar ticles.
 l have, in my long residence in this valley, travelled many times over both routes in controversy, and while l have no criticism to make on either route, yet l wish to record myself as being in accord with the route that will be traversed by an electric street railway.
 The distance from Mesa to Phoe- nix is about eighteen miles and when a Mesa merchant or farmer has busi- ness in Phoenix, it requires an entire day to make the trip either by rail- road or team. Now what the people of Mesa want, and what they will support, is an electric street car line connecting Mesa and Phoenix-a line that will operate hourly between the cities named, thus affording our people an opportunity to make the trip and return within a few hours
 1t is apparent to our people who have visited Los Angeles, the won derful benefits the smaller cities and towns derive from suburban electric railways; all the products of their farms and orchards are shipped to Los Angeles by these lines at req sonable rates, thus greatly reducing the cost of marketing their products. This can, and will, be accomplished between Phoenix and Mesa by the construction of an electric car line system, and as the Center street route and bridge seems to offer the only opportunity for such a car line, I cannot but believe that the citizens of this community will be strongly in favor of the Center street project
 Suburban electric lines are the greatest developers of the age; they bring the producer and the consumer into close contact, and build homes by the thousands in communities where, otherwise, large farms would be found, and looking at this question from this standpoint, for the best in- terest of Mesa, I take pleasure in subscribing myself as a strong advo- cate of the Center street bridge and a suburban electric car line connect ing Mesa and Phoenix.
 Respectfully yours, M I GAIPIN