The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-04-25
TROLLEY EXPRESS IS
 AN AID TO FARMER
It Has Made Farms More Valuable
 and Removed Isolation.

self from her farms yet the figures
 show that their productivity has di-
 unfinished rather than increased and
 that over sOO.00O acres of New Eng
 land farm lands were abandoned last
 year.
 The problem of keeping people on
 the farms Is largely one Of providing
 easy communication between asT1cul-
 tural communities and the more pop
 ulous centres, particularly such com
 munities as are not directly served
 by steam railroads. Let means be af- forded for the farmer to get his prod uce to the large market, and for both the farmer and the small storekeeper to obtain merchandise easily In re- turn, and life In such places instantly
 becomes more attractive and the eense Of isolation to 0 large extent removed
 How the electric street railroad can contribute to the solution of this prob lem is illustrated in the case Of the
 Rhode Island Company, which was a
 pioneer in furnishing an express
 freight service between the farm and the city. The Rhode Island Company operates the street cars in Providence and in other parts of that State For some years now it has had in opera lion fast freight lines to the farms and small communities within @ ridius of forty miles of Providence. The re- suit has been, that farms which could have been bought some years ago for the amount of the taxes are now held for high figures, and but few are to be obtained at any price. This com- pany has made profitable along one
 of these trolley freight lines covering thirty miles a large milk business where there was none at all before
 Today 1t is possible for a farmer living near one of these lines to order supplies by telephone in Providence in the morning and have them delivered in the afternoon. He can stop a fast electric express car in front of his farm, put on his load of apples or po- tatoes right by the roadside and get in return a bill of lading which he can turn into cash any time he wants to ride into town himself What is more
 the electric express car will take his produce, if he so desires, put it into a storage warehouse for him and give him a receipt for it. The farmers make frequent use of this, sending in their apples in the fall and selling them in the spring.
 One great advantage of the system as opsrafed by the Rhode Island Com pany it that 1t has given to the far mer what is virtually a fast express service at freight rates. Before the electric car brought goods to the door Of the farmer he had to wait two or three days for goods to be shipped to him by freight to the nearest railroad station. It meant then @ drive of from two to six miles His charges were the same as he pays for the trolley ex- press today
 Beginning back in 1eod, when it be- gan operating g few converted horse cars, the Rhode Island Company has extended this system until it now op- crates eleven lines extending in all di- rections from Providence and on these lines it runs from one to five cars a day. The longest line is that running from Providence to PutnanST Conn, traveF.siner three counties.
 On this line one car makes no stop beteween Providence and the Connect icut line. Every day at eleven o'clock this car goes out loaded with general and variety of freight, consigned not alone to farmers but to general stores and mills near the line It reaches Putnam, the terminus of the lines in four hours. On it's return trip the car picks up freight from Putnam to the Rhode Island line, spends the night at the power house at Rockland and reaches Providence early the next morning. Another car on the same line covers the distance between Prov iderce and the Connecticut line.
 Farms that were on the point of abandonment five miles either side of this line to Putnam have in the last few years been made highly prohta- ble. Formerly freight for these com munfttes had to go yer the Wdlliman- 6 over the Norwich and Worcester to- Danielson and Putnam.
 In regions such as this there was no express service to the farm Goods shipped by express had to be called for at the nearest railroad station the same as freight. The electric car takes goods for. either platform or roadside delivery It speeds along over the roads to any point where the farmers team is drawn up and at suitable dis tances there are platforms which may be used if desired
 Suppose that a farmer wants to send his produce to New York. He 1nay in fercept this express car by the road side and bill 1t over the boat line, the charge to be adjusted and sent to him the following day. The agent on the car will accept freight in like manner for the South or West.
 Before the electric express cars were put on between Providence and Mar Pier there was no milk bus tness in this region whatever, due to the fact that farmers had to drive to the station of the steam road at the Pier, a distance sometimes of over eight miles. The effect of the express l service was instantly to open up an new market for milk and the farmers were quick to take advantage | of 1t Today this. line. handles a -busi- 1 ness of over 200 cans day. The re- turns of the milk business of the com 1 pany last year amounted to $6 900 over the previous year, showing what this l service has meant to these comnuni- | ties in respect to one commodity alone. |
 The Rhode Island Company main | tains two freight depots in Providence. | from whence the cars are sent out over the various lines. Not only Prov idence and eastern Connecticut is So covered but points in Massachusetts as we'll. From the depot at Fox Point, | where freight is taken and received from the boat lines, three trips are made daily to Fall River and way points: three to New Bedford, two to Riverside and Harrington and two to Taunton, Brockton, Middleboro, Ply 1 mouth. Quincy and Neponset. By the 1 first of May a through service to Bos- ton will have been established in con nection with other lines.