USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Professional and industrial history of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Volume III > Part 29
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In 1886 an Act was passed by the Legislature authorizing the street railways running cars in or into the city of Boston to consolidate. This legislation was obtained owing to the efforts of the Highland and Charles River Companies, which had found competition unprofitable. By virtue of this act, the Cambridge and Charles River roads at once consolidated, under the old name of the Cambridge Railroad Company ; and shortly afterwards the Highland and Middlesex Companies united under the name of the Boston Consolidated Street Railway Company.
THE GENERAL CONSOLIDATION.
In the fall of 1886, two new street railway companies were formed under the general laws by the same men, the West End and the Sub- urban. The original incorporators? started as a land company with the
the purposes of the other members if possible. The dinner was always a good one, and there was a great appearance of cordiality and frankness : but in discussing business, the whole truth was not always spoken.
1 A business man who leaves his office to lunch at the same place every day will almost invari- ably take the same sidewalk, and cross the streets at the same points each time, though quite unconsciously. His partner, between the same points, may take a very different route, but it will be no less uniform. The staunchest advocates of the Highland and Charles River roads would abuse the old companies, but almost always ride in the old companies' cars to which they had be- come accustomed.
2 The idea of the Beacon street improvement originated with Henry M. Whitney, of Brookline, who purchased or bonded large tracts of land along the proposed avenue. His plans were so far matured while at his summer house in Cohasset, that he made them known to certain other gentle- men in Cohasset for the summer who became associated with him. The original West End Land Syndicate were Henry M. Whitney, Asa P. Potter, Henry D. Hyde, G. T. W Braman, and Isaac T. Burr. In addition to the above Jarvis D. Braman, Ezra H. Baker, Jonas H. French, Grenville D. Braman, M F. Dickinson, jr., Chas U. Cotting, N. W. Jordan, Elmer P. Howe, W. D. Forbes, and Dwight Braman, were among the original incorporators of the West End Street Railway Com- pany.
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design of uniting Beacon street, Boston, and Beacon street, Brookline, and widening the street in Brookline into a boulevard, and thus enhance the value of land owned by them along the route. In order to make this land marketable, it was necessary to provide transportation facili- ties; and at the outset these two railways were incorporated simply for that purpose. This Beacon street improvement was the most impor- tant in the recent history of Boston, and the West End Railway ob- tained the right to enter Boston through the new avenue and the Back Bay.
The Metropolitan Company opposed the new railway, regarding it as " another Highland;" but the advantage of the new line to the public was evident and irresistible. The two pioneer roads, the Metropolitan and the Cambridge, had always been friendly; and while these events were taking place, a plan to consolidate the two companies was formed and the details arranged. This alarmed the West End management, and they suddenly formed the purpose of buying a controlling interest in the stock of all the old roads except the Lynn and Boston, and unit- ing them ; and in a few weeks they had acquired enough of the stock to be masters of the situation; and shortly afterwards obtained from the General Court the necessary legislation to bring about this general consolidation.
The Act provided that the new company might purchase the other roads, paying for the same in its own preferred eight per cent. stock, providing, however, that the entire amount of preferred stock so issued should not exceed the total existing capitalization of the roads so pur- chased. This legislation naturally met with opposition, but on the whole was sustained by public sentiment, for the intelligent part of the community could see that competition over the same tracks was not in the public interest, and the stockholders of the old companies knew that the existing rivalries were not only unprofitable, but actually imperiled the financial soundness of their several properties.
The final consolidation under the name of the West End Street Rail- way Company took place November 11, 1887. 1
1 The original officers of the company were: Henry M. Whitney, president; Prentiss Cummings, vice-president and clerk of the corporation ; Calvin A. Richards, general manager; Joseph H. Goodspeed, treasurer ; Charles S. Sergeant, auditor ; Henry F. Woods, purchasing agent ; Henry D. Hyde, general counsel. These officers are unchanged at this date except that Charles S. Ser- geant has become general manager, and H. L. Wilson been chosen auditor in his place. Mr. Rich- ards was general manager till February, 1888, and was succeeded by D. F. Longstreet, who held that position till May, 1889. Then Frank H. Monks (a son of John P. Monks, one of the incorpor-
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There is no doubt that this consolidation was a public benefit Block- ades at once ceased, and for three or four years were of infrequent oc- currence; and while they are happening again in spite of the most care- ful management, the cause now is the insufficiency of the streets, and is recognized as being something for which the railway is not responsi- ble. The best evidence that the consolidated road has been better run in the public interest than formerly is the fact that the recent increase in its travel is beyond precedent, and has taken place much faster than the increase in population. 1
In making this comparison it is to be considered that increase in travel in former years grew largely out of extensions into new territory ; but the old roads in the main extended as far into the suburbs as is the proper mission of street cars to go, so that the West End road has made few extensions, and its increased patronage has sprung from better facilities on the old lines.
DIFFICULTIES OF THE BUSINESS IN BOSTON.
Owing to the narrow area which comprises the business district of Boston, and the fact that all of the eight or nine hundred cars, daily run by the company, pass through some part of that district on every trip, coupled with the further fact that the narrowest and most involved streets of the city are within that area, the problem of how the ever increasing business of transportation is to be handled has for many years been most perplexing, and has not yet been solved. The prob- lem is still further complicated by the position of the Common and Public Garden, and the fact that on one side they adjoin Beacon Hill, which is impassable for street cars or heavy teams, this forcing through Boylston street all street cars as well as other teams and vehicles com- ing from a wide area on the westerly and southerly side of the city. The Common was laid out as such when the Back Bay district was in
ators of the Broadway Railroad), became general manager, and was succeeded by Mr. Sergeant in April, 1892. From November, 1890, to November, 1891, while certain Power House construction was going on, Edmund H. Keardon was vice-president and clerk, Mr. Cummings meanwhile act- ing as counsel of the company and head of the Accident Department. Except as above stated the officers have remained the same.
1 The number of paying passengers for the years 1886-1892 were as follows : 1886, 86,246,780 ; 1887, 91,808,219 ; 1888, 97,039,919 ; 1889, 104,243, 150 ; 1890, 114,853,081 ; 1891, 119,264,401 : 1892, 126,210,781. It is estimated that the number for 1893 Will be about 135,000,000. The average length of a round trip in 1887 was 7.11 miles ; in 1892 it had increased to 7.74 miles, an increase of sixty-three one-hundredths miles of nine per cent. Since the introduction of electricity many more cars are run on the long lines than formerly. At present the company is running an average of abont 55,000 miles per day.
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fact a bay, and it was no obstacle to business: but now that the whole district is filled in between the old Mill-Dam and Roxbury and has be- come densely populated, and affords the most attractive of all the en- trances into the city, there is no doubt that the Common is located in the worst possible place, so far as interference with business is con- cerned.
This fact is to be taken into account in considering the street rail- way business in Boston. In fact, Boston is the most difficult and ex- pensive place for that business in the country, not only from the insuf- ficiency of the streets, but the ordinary severity of our winters, the great cost of supplies, the rates of wages, and the higher grade of service demanded.
THE ELECTRIC SYSTEM.
One of the first things considered by the directors of the West End Company was the adoption of some new motive power, in order to gain room on the streets by the disuse of horses. 1 All the old roads were operated by horse power, and the West End Company required in 1887 nearly ten thousand horses. With its present business, twelve to fifteen thousand would be needed, if horse power were used exclusively.
Long continued and costly experiments with storage batteries were tried without success. Then careful investigation was made of the cable system. The difficulties of using that system in Boston were very serious, owing to the crookedness of the streets and the large number of drawbridges; and when petitioned for the right to use it, the several city governments were very reluctant to consent. While this question was under general discussion, it was reported that the overhead electric system had been proved a success in Richmond, Va .; and on investigation, this report was so far substantiated that the West End Company determined to try that system on its new line on Beacon street. It was a street admirably adapted for the purpose. Consider- able opposition to the granting of the right to use overhead wires was
1 On June 1, 1893, the company owned 2,158 cars, including both box and open cars. Of these about 900 are in daily use, and, being mostly long cars, occupy about five miles of street space. Short cars, having the same aggregate seating capacity, with horses attached, would occupy about eight miles of space. In four horse time the discrepancy would be much greater. When all the cars are on time there would always, during business hours, be 305 of these cars within the limits of the congested district of Boston ; and thus one mile of street space would be there saved by the electric system. In case of a blockade there might be double that number of cars accumulated, in which case two miles of space would be saved.
STREET RAILWAY SYSTEM. 297
made, but was finally overcome by an agreement to use an underground conduit for carrying the wires on the Back Bay. The conduit proved a failure; but the overhead system gave so much satisfaction that a general right to use it in Boston was granted in 1889; and it is now in itse on abont seven-eighths of the road. 1
POWER HOUSES.
The power is supplied by three power houses belonging to the com- pany. The first was built in Allston, and contains a plant of 1,120 horse power. The principal power house is known as the "Central Station," and has a capacity of 14,320 horse power. It was begin in 1889 on the site of the old Hinkley Locomotive Works on Al- bany street. The third power house is located in East Cambridge on the old Glass Company site, and has a capacity of 4, 200 horse power. These power houses have had visitors from all parts of the world.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF STREET RAILWAYS.
The street railway has sometimes been described, not inaptly, as a "necessary nuisance." This is a concrete way of expressing a general truth applicable to most things in this world, that good and evil are united inseparably. I refer not simply to a union of different things, like that of the wheat and the tares mentioned in the Scripture, but to the fact that the same thing is both good and bad from different points of view. Thus a railway is impossible without a rail, and a street rail- way is impossible unless its rails and its cars occupy a street. ? All its distinctive advantages and disadvantages are necessarily involved in the same fact. The rail in the street is a nuisance to light vehicles ; 3 and the use of the streets by numerous cars is a source of danger and inconvenience in many ways. If the operation of street cars could be confined to some lonely field in the remote country, they would neither be unsightly nor in the way, nor a source of accident or apprehension ; and they could be run on time, never be crowded, nor offend by noise -in short, would be quite unobjectionable, and unfortunately, quite useless also.
1 On June 1, 1893, the West End Company owned 1,803 car service horses, 45 tow horses, and 338 driving and teaming horses.
2 On June 1, 1893, the West End Company had in the public streets 2431/2 iniles of tracks.
3 The rail is a positive advantage to heavy teams, particularly on country roads or other unpaved streets.
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SUFFOLK COUNTY.
Crowded thoroughfares are a necessary incident to a large city, and means of transit for a numerous population are indispensable, and the transit mainly must be through those thoroughfares. The problem is how it can best be accomplished. Four hundred thousand fares, 1 in round numbers, are collected daily on the West End lines, and substan- tially all the passengers, not to mention those who walk or use some other convenyance, pass through a small district in Boston. This is a fact, without which Boston would not and could not be Boston. Pro- vided the sidewalks were adequate to enable everybody to walk, which they are not, only a limited number would do so, and in a short time there would be no congested district, but the business, like the people, would be somewhere else. If some other means of conveyance were possible, it would necessarily be too expensive for free and general use; but such other means of conveyance is physically impossible for want of space, and would be vastly more dangerous than the street car, if attempted. ?
1 As the receipts of the company pass through the Receiver's and Auditor's Departments the fol- lowing explanation of how the business is done in those departments may be of interest :
The Receiver's Department consists of twenty-six employees, whose duties are as follows ; Eight station or division receivers, two collectors, six cash counters, five ticket and check counters. five entry clerks.
At the end of the day's work the conductor makes out a separate report for all cash, tickets, checks, etc., collected on each route run. These, together with the cash and the tickets, are en- closed in a canvas bag and deposited in the safe at the station from which he starts. This safe is an automatic affair with a hole in the top, into which the conductor drops the bag, which, falling through the shoot into the safe, rings a bell, which proves that it safely reaches its destination. Early each morning two collectors, with separate teams, drive to each of these stations, open the safes and bring all these bags to the receiver's office at headquarters. Here the money counters verify the cash, the ticket counters verify the tickets and checks, and the entry clerks enter the day_cards upon sheets provided for that purpose, under separate heads for each route. At the end of the day these sheets are totalized, which shows the earnings for that day. The sheets, together with all day-cards, are then forwarded to the auditor, where each entry is examined and each conductor's report compared with the register returns, which are sent direct to this office from the inspectors at the different stations. If a conductor turns in more than the register calls for, the money is returned to him ; if less than it calls for, he is charged with whatever there may be short. By this simple method the company is assured of every fare that is registered. A day's earnings of $20,000 is returned to the receivers, divided up about as follows : $10,000 in bills (mostly small), $500 in silver dollars, $1,700 in silver half-dollars, $3,000 in silver quarter-dollars, $2,000 in silver dimes, $1,400 in nickels, $1,400 in eight-cent checks, etc .- total, $20,000. The change is mostly dis- posed of to banks and retail merchants, who send for what they want daily. The Auditing or Ac- counting Department consists of thirty-eight clerks, each one of whom has some regular work assign ed to his charge : Seven clerks on revenue work, three clerks on disbursements, two clerks on pay rolls, two clerks on general accounts, two clerks on road department accounts, twelve clerks on inechanical, car and building department accounts, eight clerks on store and supply room accounts two stenographers and type-writers.
2 The accidents of the West End Company, though numerous in the aggregate, are relatively few considering the amount of business done and the crowded streets. A computation in 1891 showed that on the doctrine of chances a passenger riding twice a day would not meet with even a slight accident but once in 118 years, and would not be killed in less than 60,000 years, and that a person
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The use of the rail makes it easy to know the course a car will take, and to guard against it, but there is no such certainty as to a carriage; and cars following one another closely on a rail can carry these vast numbers and carry them exactly where they wish to go in comparative security and comfort, and for a nominal sum. Most of the criticism of street railways is inconsiderate, and grows out of an imperfect appre- hension of the truth that the advantages and disadvantages are insepa- rable. It is impossible for cars or any vehicles to go at a reasonable rate of speed and not cause many accidents, some of them fatal ; nor can cars enough be run to accommodate the people without occupying a great deal of space, and if they run where they will best accommodate they will occupy very important space.
Since it is the street car that has rendered possible the concentration of business in the city, and only the street car that can keep it so, it is worth considering what the advantages of concentration are, if any. They are several. It leads to great convenience and economy in doing .business. Men in the same profession or line of business find it a great advantage to be near each other and near those engaged in a kindred business, and all like to be near the banks and other similar institutions. The fact that a whole community can be brought to the very doors for five cents makes large retail establishments possible, and hence lower prices to the consumer, and larger assortments from which to select. The numerous employees, and the working classes gener- ally, can occupy cheap and wholesome houses in the suburbs, and yet reach their places of employment at a price they can afford to pay ; and thus are greatly benefited in a financial as well as a sanitary and moral point of view.
Thus life is made more cheerful and wholesome, and the cost of liv- ing is greatly cheapened. The aggregate of saving to the community from this concentration of business, in economy of doing business, and cheapening the cost of living, amounts to an enormous sum; and the benefit of suburban homes in the mere prevention of disease is mani- festly so great as to render street car accidents a trifle in comparison. Fifty deaths from typhoid fever would make less impression on the average person than a single fatal accident on the streets, but the ratio is none the less fifty to one.
born upon the cars, and riding all the time during the business day, would live to be 8,000 years old if he did not die till killed by an accident. I have used the cars constantly for over thirty years, much of the time officially, and never yet saw a street-car accident serious enough so that a claim was made upon it. I have seen a great many carriage accidents, though the number of people using carriages is insignificant in comparison.
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EFFECT ON THE VALUE OF REAL ESTATE.
But one of the most significant benefits from street railways is the effect on the value of real estate. That they enhance values in the sub- urbs is manifest; but in fact they effect a much greater increase in the congested district. In 1855, being the year before street railways started in Boston, the real estate valuation of what is now Ward 10 was $35, 120,500. It was then as thickly covered with buildings as at present, yet in 1892 the valuation of Ward 10 had grown to $127,252,- 200. Ward 11 (the Back Bay ward), which is the second ward in the city in valuation, and one of the finest residential districts in the world, had in 1892 a real estate valuation of $88,366,500, or $3, 765,200 less than the gain in Ward 10. Ward 11 itself could never have been built up as it has been, nor could it maintain itself to-day, but for the street railway. Not even the servants could be retained otherwise, and there is no substitute conveyance that would not change the whole character of the district. Transportation in carriages, even if it were physically possible without streets across the Common and Public Garden, would necessitate so many stables in that neighborhood as to ruin it and its value. The town of Brookline had very meagre street car facilities prior to the formation of the West End Company in 1886. Its real estate valuation increased during the thirty years between 1855 and and 1885 from $5,500, 000 to $16,000,000; but during the five years from 1885 to 1890 it had increased to upwards of $30,000,000 and in 1892 was $36,958, 100.
Excellent building land, if a mile distant from any public convey- ance, has a small market value; but no sooner is a street car line ex- tended to a point near that same land than it becomes available for house lots, and will command a large price. If that land be several miles from the city, the electric car service will cause a much more rapid increase in its value than a horse car service, since the latter is much inferior for long distances. Districts in Brighton, which had had horse car accommodations for thirty years, have made almost fabulous increases in valuie since electric cars were substituted. The value of all the real estate in the several towns and cities accommodated by the West End Company is, in round number, a billion of dollars; and it is a moderate estimate to say that twenty-five per cent. of this is depend- ent on the street car service. 1 The annual interest on that sum at
1 Of course many places derive comparatively little benefit, but in other localities the absolute withdrawal of street cars would destroy nearly all real estate value.
Cedoraul
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six per cent. would exceed the capital stock of the company ; and when all other pecuniary benefits to the community are added, it will be seen that the investment by the stockholders yields the public a revenue vastly greater than the stockholders themselves receive.
WHY STREET RAILWAYS ARE UNPOPULAR.
The question naturally arises why the street railway, being so un- deniably useful, is so unpopular. The Boston road is no wise ex- ceptional in this respect. If we go to any city in the country and pick up the daily papers, we find as many complaints, and the same kind of complaints, which so regularly appear in our papers. The cause in part grows out of the unreasoning belief, before alluded to, that by good management inconsistent things might be accomplished, as for example, that cars enough might be run to give every passenger a seat, and yet not occupy space in the streets. There seldom occurs a street railway hearing where there is not great complaint of lack of accom- modations, and an equal complaint that the road "owns the streets." Again, as to crowded cars, at times, it is not considered that the cars must run at stated intervals in order to serve their purpose, while peo- ple ride just when they please, so that the demand and supply cannot possibly coincide. Again, it is not considered that the cars must be so run as to pay, in order to run at all. It is here I think that we find the chief reason why the public are always so hostile to the street railway, -that they expect too much for five cents. I have many times asked our critics if they could tell me of any other way in which they could get so much for five cents as from the West End Railway; and there never has been one who has not admitted that there Was nothing. In fact, the low fares, considering the service rendered here, are noth- ing less than wonderful. Again, a road with three thousand drivers and conductors must have some who are incompetent and unfit, and who at times give way to infirinities of temper which is often severely tried, 1 The street car is in such universal use, and enters so intimately into our daily lives, that sooner or later, everybody has real as well as fancied grievances, and attributes to the malevolence or stupidity of the management mischiefs which must happen in the nature of things. In truth, all the employees of the street railway, from the president to the
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