The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-18
IS DELIGHTED WITH
 NEW BUS BUSINESS
Beatty Says First Days Op- eratiOn of Through Lines
 Is Highly Satisfactory

The first day of the extension of the
 service of the Norwood Transportation company busses to Chestnut Hill and the Country club yesterday was highly sat- isfa ctory to the officials of the company. While no figures as to the number of passengers handled had been compiled
 last night, I. Groom Beatty, general man.
 ager, stated that the patronage of the
 new line had been entirely satisfactory,
 despite the unfavorable weather condi.
 tions existing. He announced that in ad-
 dition to the large number of passengers
 handled on the Chestnut Hill and Coun-
 aNgratifying increase in the patronage on
 the Norwood end, due to the through
 service offered.
 we are thoroughly pleased with the
 business of the first day" said MT. Beat
 ty "Our new line, with through serv-
 ice from Norwood to Chestnut Hill and
 the Country club without change seems
 to have filled a much needed want We
 were especially impressed today with the fact that there has long been a need for through service so that children liv- ing in the Norwood section and other northern parts of the city can go to the junior high school without being forced to change cars. The same is true of the convenience our lines give for pupils liv- ing on the south side of the city who attend the Central High school. This new service also enables people living on the southern part of our line to go to and from the Terminal station without changing cars. The same may be said of the service given people in Norwood to the Country club. We make the trip from the end of the line in Nor wood to the Country club in 35 minutes, which in the past, counting time required for changing cars took more than one hour. Our service has placed the Coun- try club in convenient reach of the peo- pie of Norwood who desire to go on a car"
 wants of the railroads in the matter of stopping the use of the river. One large firm in this city received big shipment
 of goods from the east by steamship down the Atlantic coast to the gulf port and thence up the river. In spite of the lack of facilities for handling the freight on the river a big saving was made in the shipment and a duplication of the order by all water route was made. Then the local firm was surprised to learn that suddenly the rates by this steamship line on this particular class of goods from At lantic coast points to Mobile had advanced just 75 per cent. This 75 per cent advance was just enough to take up all the saving by water transportation and the shipment was allowed to come forward by all rail route
 | Men prominent in business and indus trial circles were quite ready to discuss 1 these and similar cases which are just coming to light, showing an alleged effort on the part of certain railroads to stran- gle the river traffic, but each insisted that his name not be used in connection with the cases at this time. All made ii plain, however. that there was to be no supine surrender ,and that the real fight was yet to come. That the railroads could be brought to terms and forced to cease l their quiet but effective fight against tho
 river was the general belief expressed yes. | terday..