Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1922-05-12
Transportation Matters

a community sense, to It's greater pos
sibilities. The Lord be praised!
The Board of Trade, the Lions Club,
the Golf Club, the Civic Club, the Boat
Owners Association and the fraternal
organizations located here are endors-
ing all movements for civic develop
ment and economic advancement, ir-
respective of where they originate.
This is an excellent criterion of a
healthy growing resort, which means
to the visitors and outside investors
a rich field for opportunities. Are you
taking advantage of yours RIGHT
NOW!
Our progressive men and women are
advocating the establishment of a per-
manent line on the beach front, the
building of a golf course, the compile
ton of the bridge at Grassy Sounds,
Fairgrounds, a million dollar hotel, a
state armory, a bigger post office and
the development of Cold Spring Har-
bor-aIl of these are worthy projects
and should, must and will be attained
if we fight unitedly for their accom-
plishment. However, the most impor-
tant and absolutely necessary thing to
do first is to secure better transporta-
ton facilities to and from this resort.
Neither the West Jersey and Sea-
shore Railroad or the Atlantic City
Railroad, which railroads we COM
monty term the Pennsylvania and
Reading railroads, respectively, have
made much real effort in the past five
years to improve the schedules for
later service and a greater number of
trains. Not that we haven't tried to
implore them to do so. They just will
not do it.
Fn the language of the street, we
may say-that when the chickens go
to roost u last train arrives from the
outside world, and when we prepare
to dress for dinner our last train, for
elsewhere, departs. 1t is a regrettable
situation when an Industrious, hard
working community striving for sue
cess, finds itself hampered by the
transportation companies which oper-
ate in and out of it's domain. The rail-
road companies know these facts and
when put up to them they usually say,
well, it won't pay us to operate a late
train to Wildwood" The answer l
have made to them is, Operate an
electric service, thereby reducing the
expensive steam propelled train and
one or two cars may be operated prac-
tically all night and be made to pay.
The boosters for this resort have not
become discouraged, rather they have
become enthused to- get what they
know we must have-better t~ransporta-
ton facilities into this growing resort.
We have pleaded, requested, urged,
solicited and tried every manner and
method to impress the railroad officials
of both systems, with the necessity OF
helping us in our striving for a
greater resort. Frankly, l would not
vote to give them the Nobel prize for
cooperation or sales efforts to in
crease their own business, incidentally
ours. True, their efforts have been OF
benefit to us, but they have only given
us what necessity demanded, brought
about by our own efforts and adver-
Using. Plainly speaking, we develop
the results and the railroads carry the
passengers who ask to come here; but
always at the hours convenient to
their train schedules.
Now you can understand why pro-
gressive men and women in this re-
sort want that bridge built at Grassy
Sounds-to give us another road for
motor travel, vehicles and pedestrians,
in case an act of the Almighty destroys
the one and only road to the main line
off shore, or in case the mechanism of
the Rio Grande boulevard bridge gets
out of order.
Some uninformed persons declare
that we only want that bridge to help
the golf course. Self-preservation is
the genuine reason for the necessity
of getting that bridge built at the earl
lest possible moment. All the other
eason arising from the completion of
the structure are secondary but i'm
portant. We need two roads to the
off shore road to help us grow and in
sure safety to the dwellers here, and
we are going to fight to get that bridge
built-SOON.
Likewise our future success points
out the necessity of building docking
facilities at Cold Spring Harbor, to get
steamships and boat lines to carry
passenger to and from this great City
bv-the-Sea. The competition between
the boat lines and steam roads will
bring reduced rates and additional
train service as we'll as bigger and
better hotels and a larger population
and per capita wealth.
On the railroads we must have night
service to and from this resort if we
are to gain greater development by
1926. Either the Pennsylvania or
Reading railroad must electrify or we
may expect little or no change in our
train schedules, because it is so costly
operating steam propelled trains. l
am taking the railroad men at their