The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1917-09-27
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER q, 1917.
Time to Get Busy.


ment of her transportation facilities.
Just about the time the wintry winds
blow the hardest and the SHOWS come
down ana make it hard for a man to
get from one place to another in the
city the people will awake to the fact
that the year has brought a complete
Generalization of her traffic problem.
The street cars have eliminated
themselves from consideration as a
real solution of the problem. The COM
pany maintaining the line has proved
itself q " Stacker" to every demand
Of The city and to every demand of its
own pocket book. With seeming don t.
care attitude the street railway serv-
ice has gone from bad to worse until
it is to be counted only as a minor
feature in the question of transpOrta
tion in Kenosha The only hope now
is the jtney. Most men Of Kenosha
who looked at the transportation prob
lem as a real problem refused to take
the jitney seriously. They held that
it was ar intruder. That it was tax
ing the place of Legitimate systems
and taking it poorly. They urged this
view with an idea that the railroad
commission could be brought to see
the necessity Of the elimination of the
.iitney and the issuance of strict orders
which woulG better the service of the
railway company. These men overshot
their mark The railroad company
showed no willingness to improve
service and the commission took a
disinterested view of the whole ques
tion and seemingly decided that it
was case where Kenosha would have
to work out it's own salvation.
Spasmodic appeals for the regula
tons of the iitneys have been made to
the Common Council, but without eff
feet, The aldermen seem to be afraid
Of the political effect of regulating
jtneys because the jitney is the "poor
man s automobile. The jitney driv-
crs have capitalized the hesitancy on
the part of the council until the jit-
ney seryice-once real convenience
+
nuisance. TIE driver of the jitney no
longer he's any idea Of being of service
to the people. His whole idea is to
Iun a car at time and over a route
that will bring him the most jitneys.
Ii the railroad commission has any pow
er 70 regulate it has failed miserably.
.Jitneys in Kenosha-that is with
the exception of a few fivvers-no
longer follow routes. They make their
tips where the nicklesN or the dimes
or the quarters are the most liable to
be picked up. They leave the routes
for hours to make excursions to the
lake regions On Saturdays and Sun
days the jitneys quit any semblance
Of regular service in order to pick up
quarters and shillings taking men
and women to the parks on the
outskirts of the city.
There is no special reason to blame
the iitney driver. He is in the game
for the money and so long as the city
is negligent and the railroad commits
sion forgetfpl, he is going to take the
"go-as-you- please" route to money
in his pocket book The teaffic prob
lem of the city, including as it does
the building up of service in new ter
rtory and the furnishing OF the peo-
ole of reliable service, never entered
into this consideration of the matter.
Let the flivvers take the route" is
the attitude of the man who has in
vested in high priced automobile.
and put it under the control of the
railroad commission as common car
Ter. The jitney men have formed
habits that are going to be hard to
break. City regulation of jitney busses
is going to be hard to secure even if
the council should ats this time pass a
drastic ordinance. If these men are
forced to serve the people rather than
to serve their own pocket books lot
of them are going to quit the road and
the city is going to be left without any
sort of transportation. If the whole
sapoodle Of them, including the rail
way company, would be forced out in
an hour Vhe result would undoubtedly
be a permanent benefit to the people
Of the city. People would then appre
ciate that the traffic problem of Keno
sha is one of the vital problems. Men
with money end men wh5 are interested
in the development of the city, would
at once see the necessity of action and
if the present owners of franchise
rights in the city could not overcome
their timidity there would spring up a
new company which would meet the
problem and meet it in way to pro-
vide permanent solution for it, 1t
5 not too much to hope that there are
men of this kind in Kenosha. Men
nave been found to NEE t other de-
nands eff Il e city and they would be
found to meet this demand.
The immediate question is one of
regulation With the street railway
eliminating itself from consideration
The city council must take some step
to get service and real service from
other traffic agencies. Other cities