The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1917-07-12
RAILWAY SYSTEM ROTTEN"
Mayor Ellison Insists on Being Inter
viewed and Declares Criticism rs
Meant In Kindly spirit-Sees
Great Future for Kenosha.

The Hon. Arnt Ellison, chief execu-
tive Of the city Of Muskegon, is frank
brutally so and possibly this is the
reason that the people took him away
from his bench where he worked as a
ma hinist for the Continental Motors
Go, and made him mayor of Muskegon.
III just want to remark that Keno
sha has rotten street railway sys-
tenn the mayor purred away on Tues
day evening as he dropped into a chair
in the News office. "Kenosha people
may not be caring a cent for what |
think, but if we had such a system
over in MGskegon would regard it as
a favor if some one would come and
tell us. / am not setting myself up as
a critic of other cities, but | could not
refrain from walking down here just
to tell you what / think of your rail
way system and if Mayor Pfennig will
come over to Muskegan and find our
defects will 60 half way to meet him
and more than half way in an effort
to correct them. | have been snoop-
ing around looking your town over
since ig altc a I gatsop
the railway car ! knew what was the
matter with Kenosha. With real
railway system leading the way / be-
lieve that Kenosha would be bigger
and a better town than Muskegon and
that would be going some.
After delivering himself of this the
mayor of Muskegon mopped his brow a
little and thought it all over. edo
you know" he sort of unused, Elf
Muskegon had the kind of street rail
way service you have here the people
would go out and tip the cars over.
Right now we are fighting for five
instead of seven and half minute
service. We have pay as-you-enter cars
but we have conductors to collect the
nickles as they come in and to pro-
tect the passengers as they go out. If
/ were to criticise your officials would
say that the one big thing lacking in
them is the fact that they are not fight
ing in court for real street railway
system and fighting hard. !"
"But the jitneys are taking away
the business in Kenosha," was sug-
gested to the mayor. "Well," he
responded, eve have iitneys in Mus
zegon too but they are not bankrupt
ing the street railway company. We
make servants of the jitneys over there
and they operate ON lines which are
beneficial to the people, rather than a
wrecker for the street railway traffic.
I could say lot of good things about
Kenosha if / could just find transpor-
tation facilities to take me out to see
lot of the city. You need extensions
of your street railway lines and you
need a rel building of the whole system.
You need ordinaces to give the com
pany a chance to earn money enough
to rebuild the system and you need
officials who will force the company to
spend some of its earnings or some
money that it has stored away to make
the system what it should be-"
Then the mayor told of how he had
watched Kenosha and Muskegon grow.
FtWe had time when things were 90
ing back ON us, but now we are going
ahead fast and with forty-fve thousand
people we are just a little ahead Of
Kenosha. You have a wonderful town
here and a lot OF opportunities to make
it real town. Improve your lake
shore like we have done. 1t was made
for parks and not public dumping
places Muskegon would be terribly
shocked az Kenosha on Sunday. Why
the saloons were open al day yesterday
and some time the fellows will find
out that this is mighty pool way to
keep Kenosha in wet territory"
How about a fifty dollar dog Ii
cense?" the mayor Of Muskegon was
queried, /" Absolutely absurd We
went through hydrophobia scare but
came out of it with muzzled dogs and
reasonable licenses. But the dogs are
muzzled over in Muskegon now and
they stay muzzled all through the sum
Iner season. We had to I'LL a thousand
Of them before the people understood
just what we meant, but then they got
Che idea and we never have any trouble
any more. You recall the fact that we
had hydrophobia scare with che state