Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-11-27

that you climbed in a rear door. much
after the manner Of country hotel
bus. They had only seats running
along the sides. The legs of passen-
gers sitting opposite often BECAME in
extricably mixed. because the side
seats We're very close together. Public
outcry secured a few cars a little bet
ter but yet not sufficient. Everybody
was dissatisfied.
Then came the desperate effort to
better conditions. brewer. an Ice
man and a gardener got together and
organized new company and secured
an overlapping franchise. They built
| n standard guage line from the Slavery
to the state house and a short one up
Fourth street hill. They used only
streets not otherwise occupied. The
old line fought the new one with means
either fair or foul There were mid
night raids upon unprotected streets
and more than once the police force
was called upon 10 guard against
bloody rioting. There was danger of
serious clashes. and vast amount of
bad feeling was engendered. For a
time the city was much divided as be-
tween the narrow guage" and "the
broad guage" systems. and the courts
and lawyers were busy.
Then came the tragedy. The federal
courts, as usual did the business. 1t
was decreed that the old franchise was
exclusive and the new franchise was
imperative. The big cars stopped and
| the bobtailed cars had the whole
streets. Right there came In a piece
of sheer luck. A short time before. 1t
| had been found that street cars could
be run by electricity. A line had been
operated in Richmond but the mules
had been reinstated penniless in
ventor had exhausted himself in per-
| fecting a street car motor and had
| sold to an aspiring company of max
ars Of electrical apparatus. They
wanted to try out the new device The
Des Moines company had cars and
/ track and didn't use horses TO pull
Them. A deal was made by which the
company down east equipped two or
three of the cars and put up the
trolley wires. taking stock in bank
rupt horse CT company as pay The
cars ran all right. much to the sur
prise Of everybody; and then COM
menced new fight In court to see
whether they might continue to run.
That which decided the case was the
fact that in framing up the old Turner
| franchise the shrewd lawyers had
mentioned. all the kinds of power then
known for propeiling street crs. but as
electricity was not known as such
power it was not mentioned. and as a
result the franchise was held to cover
everything except electricity. So the
electric car was emancipated
But what a struggle it was! The
old line had changed hands and even
the money of old Senator John Sher-
man. of Ohio. couldn't save 1t after the
trolley cars had been given right to
operate. But owners of both the lines
had become exhausted in the long
struggle, and JEFF Polk was induced to
buy and consolidate the systems. He
used his own means to the limit. then
borrowed more. And in his day Des
Moines rightly boosted OF splendid
J street car system, managed with due
Iresard to the interests Of the people,
responsive to public demands and prof
1 table After his death the manage
ment fell to a SON law, who soon
1 dissipated all the good will which had
been accumulated.
s,s "a NJ :
4 A year or SO ago when everybody
by those stock brokers and spectators
who had loaned money and taken
/ mortgages-men who had gone into II
| much as they might have plunged in
rubber stock or munitions factory Sc
curities-they sent man named Har-
rigan here to rehabilitate the line and
get 1t ready to be dumped into the
hands of real street car managers.
| Harrigan carle here from Chicago with
a great flourish. He knew how to run
a street car line He would crush out
the street car union and show street
car patrons that they ought to be will
ing to take what they could get and
be thankful. He ran the concern smash
l up against q strike and found that the
people of Des Moines were quite able
to decide for themselves what is right
! The street car spectators took a
new tack. They sent Schmidt from
Chicago to try his hand Having failed
to break the Des Moines spirit with
shillaleh fiourishing, they would try
German diplomacy, hence from Har-
rigan to Schmidt.
Finally he made the master
stroke by completely capturing the
second OF the booster organizations
There was one already organized in the
interest Of all public service corpora
tons. When he got the other, he haC
the situation corraled
There will be considerable vote
against the franchise on Monday. But
it will be carried. All the machinery
is for it. The mass of the people who
had hoped for good franchise have
become weary. The cry is all to vote
the franchise and help the boom. Il
will mean something for the prosperity
of the city. OF course 1t will. Thu
company has been advertising that thu
franchise will be worth at least mil
lion and a half to it: that is, it /.
promising to spend a million and 9
i half for betterments soon, and thi!
must be secured by issue of stock o.
borrowing. and the franchise alone will
add the value which can thus be cap
ltalized. What there is in the fran
chise to give this enormous increase II
value is not clear. The terms OF tn
franchise are vague. But the value Il
there.
When 1t Is done. the men who sen
Schmidt out from Chicago on a com
mission to secure franchise. will
chuckle to themselves over their vic
. tory In having converted very bat
speculative investment Of a dozen year
ago into a veritable gold mine. o.
their books the investment in De!
; Moines street car system will be n,
longer marked in red ink, it will show
as an asset instead of a liability.
=. - H.