Milford chronicle., 1927-08-26
MILFORD. FRIDAY, AUG. 26. 1927

THE TELEPHONE is one of thu
most essential tools of progress ant
business. It is difficult to realize
what would be the result should its
scope be limited. A man sitting in
his Office is now in touch with the
nation. Fifty years ago, he was in
active communication with only his
Office force. Now the most important
deals can be closed during few
minutes telephone conversation with
cities many miles away, instead of
waiting for slow, uncertain mails.
Without the telephone, business
would be checked in a second from
the rapid, efficient thing it is today,
to the slow march of yesterday.
The universal service rendered by
the American telephone system, is
the greatest argument against the
shouters of "Trust" every time COM
panies merge for the sake of increas-
ing efficiency and greater service to
the public.
THERE is general lack of infor-
nation respecting the ownership Of
the railroads. Most uninformed peo-
pie believe they are owned by Wall
Street, by which they are used for
speculative purposes only. Nothing
could be further from the truth.
Capital invested in our railroads
has been gathered in relatively small
amounts from the people in all sec
tions of the country. According to
the reports of the Interstate Com
merce Commission, there are ap-
proximately one million individual
stock holders in American railroads
and as many more bond holders, not
to mention the insurance companies,
trust companies, endowment funds,
estates and fiduciary agents of all
kinds, which are heavy investors in
railway securities.
1t has been reliably estimated that
so million people in the United
States are directly interested in re-
turns from railway investments. 1t
is readily seen, therefore, that fail
ure of the railroads to pay fair re-
turns upon capital invested in them
affects very large per-
centage of the country's population.
~~~
DELAWARNANS who are in the
years of middle life, whose juvenile
probably will recall the long rail pro-
Vided in more than a few village
streets for free hitching space. When
the farmers came in for their Satur-
day shopping the patient steeds were
parked in a row, hitched to the rail
near the general store. Other rigs
were hitched under the hotel shed,
or left standing in some side street.
Parking was even then a serious
problem at the peak of the weekly
traffic rush. Today the old horse is
taking a well deserved rest, but the
parking problem in cities and towns
las swollen to dangerous proper
ions, because a populace trained to
,ld-style ways, insists on trying to
)ark in front of the door where the
business of the day or the hour is
o be transacted. Under present con- ;
litions it simply cannot be done, as
he engineers have shown by their
Igures.
AS the report indicates, change
q public sentiment toward the sub
ect might help in solving the park {
1g problem. Unless the public can {
e made to understand what is e
-rong, resistance to enforcement of t
arking regulations will continue. It v
lust be made clear that parking in t
ongested streets increases conges- Il
on, slows up traffic, promotes acci- fl
ents, drives trade into the suburbs, h
fuses endless irritation and annoy il
nee, and diminishes the business
iciency of the city or town, as a ii
hole. n
Se@ al
THOUGHTS of the county fair in sc
,riably are conducive of pleasant fr
collections. The county fair origi- 10
lily was designed to make urgent tn
ID wholesome appeal to the agri- of
lturists, and in some sections of
e state perhaps it still does strike of
e imagination Of the agrarian, but al
more recent years, it is impress 81
re to observe, there has been q de-
led change both in the manner of ar
these county fairs and sil
their character.
Town and city people have come ba
be the largest patrons Of these in Sc
tutions, though it is almost GER To-
n that the citizenship of the lar tn
r communities are drawn hither an
'gely by curiosity rather than be- bo
use they expect to come into more tn
innate contact with the farmer and eli
problems.
There are many evidences that we tn,
ID to reconstruct our county fair so
,grams in Delaware, in order the er
ter to educate the man in the city ch
h the affairs of his cousin on the to