The Cordova daily times., 1922-01-26
WEST POCKET ROAD VERCES
 ON RUIN

it pretty soon this midget line is
 liable to close up shop. At least
 that is what President Elisha K. Kane says.
 l This little railroad, which few pre-
 viously ever knew existed, became 1 famous last summer through a dis
 patch of the International News Ser
 vice, when President Kane issued
 his celebrated time table announcing
 that it would operate on only moist Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays" during summer months, when engine ] sparks might cause serious forest fires along the mountainside.
 1 The "Kushequa Route" is queer , little railroad a score or more miles
 long. Smethport, nine miles back
 from nowhere, in the wilds of Mo Kenn County, is the county seat The
 "Kusheque Route" is the only means of communication with the outside world At Backus, little flag stop.
 it connects with the Buffalo Roches- ter and Pittsburg Railroad.
 During sessions of County Court the little railroad is indispensable in getting to and from court
 ROAD LOSING MONEY
 For several years the road has been losing money. Kane, who is wealthy, kept it going, but he does 1 not feel like smelling out" perpetu- ally for the other fellows benefit so he has appealed to the Conopus Club of this town-.sort of a Chamber of Commerce-to dig up $2,250, if the road is to be kept in operation.
 Kane is perfectly frank about it. He says: "The members of the Conc pus Club are doubtless aware of the shortcomings of the kushequa Route in it's attempt to perform public service. Several times, for a period of month or more, the gross earnings from it's passenger service have been insufficient to pay for the coal consumed in the passenger runs"
 So Kane has doped it out that locomotive is too expensive to op
 crate in the hills. As a substitute he wants to buy what he calls notorious car. This will be con-
 bination baggage and day coach. It will carry seventeen passengers, if there are no big, fat ones. and they squeeze in good and tight. It will also carry light hand baggage. Then again. this notorious can be operat- ed by one man. In other words, Kane hopes to keep the "kushequa Route" in business even if it does become one-man railroad. Still another advantage, he says, in the | fact that whereas his locomotive hauls two trains day each way. the i motor-but can make four trips a day. That's putting Henry Ford's rail- roading into practical use--cutting down the operating force and doubling up the size of the service.
 BUY CAR ON PAYMENTS Again. President Kane is quite en- certainly frank. In his appeal to the Conoput Club he says: We have tried in vain to secure one of these cars on the installment plan, without down payment. The nearest we can come to it is one-fourth down and the balance in twenty-four monthly installments Even the most rudl- mentary figuring will show anyone that, even with the present small amount of passenger travel the rail- way notorious could save the amount of the deferred payments Kane is practical. Some say he's millionaire. At any rate, if you look him up in Dun or Bradstreet's, you will find he has a healthy rating. But E. K Kane, plain citizen, ana the "Kusheuua Route" are two diff ferent propositions, though Kane owns "Kushequa Route" In conclud- ing his appeal for a touch to the Conopus Club, Kane says: '1 ask the Conopus Club to secure for us loan of s2,250 at per cent interest for two years and thereafter to be re- dured by monthly installments Of $500 each. I will assume personal re- sponsibility for the amount of the loan"
 There you have railroad presi- dent telling how the indebtedness will be secured how it will be gradu- ally paid off but minus the usual verbiage and legal camouflage. Rut if the Conopus Cluh doesn't