florae!! Iftmwwitg |f itatg BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF Hcnrtj m. Sage 1S9X A if .&&- Cornell University Library HE4411 .M4 1898 olin 3 1924 030 122 661 DATE DUE &tfeT? *£& 'Tsrrnp GAYLORD PRINTED IN U.S A ftuJo£Escr pLj&jrf($t 04^ Repoet of the Special Committee APPOINTED TO INVBSTISiTB THE RELATIONS BETWEEN CITIES AND TOWNS AND STREET RAILWAY COMPANIES. February, 1898. 7 I BOSTON : WRIGHT & POTTER PRINTING CO., STATE PRINTERS, 18 Post Office Squabe. 1898. Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030122661 HOUSE .... .... No. 475. REPORT SPECIAL COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO INVESTIGATE The Relations between Cities and Towns and Steeet Railway Companies. February, 1898. BOSTON : WRIGHT & POTTER PRINTING CO., STATE PRINTERS, 18 Post Office Square. 1898. AdTtLBd TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGB Extract from the inaugural message of the Governor, Jan. 7, 1897, .... 3 Act providing for the appointment of the Committee, 5 Membership of the Committee, 7 Report of Committee 9 Draft of bill submitted 41 Draft of bill for municipal ownership of tracks,. . 55 Report of secretary, 61 Abstracts of the statutes of the various States in relation to franchises and methods of taxation, .88 Conditions in American cities 110 Albany, N. Y 112 Baltimore, Md., 113 Buffalo, N. Y., 115 Chicago, 111., 117 Cincinnati, 0., . . 119 Cleveland, ." 123 Detroit, Mich 124 Indianapolis, Ind 126 Philadelphia, Penn 127 Providence^ R. I., 130 Richmond, Va., . 131 St. Louis, Mo., 133 Montreal, 134 Toronto, 135 European conditions, 137 Great Britain, 137 ' Tramways Act of 1870 137 Birmingham, 142 Bradford > . . 143 Leeds, 143 London, 144 Manchester, 146 Norwich 147 Sheffield 148 Glasgow, 149 Dublin, 150 CONTENTS. European conditions — concluded. page Germany, ... 151 Prussian Secondary Railway Act, .151 Berlin 158 Contract between city of Berlin and the street railway company, . . 162 Frankfort, 18 ° Hamburg, • • ■ 183 France • 185 Law relating to tramways, . 185 Paris 189 Rouen 191 Belgium 193 Law relating to tramways, 193 Holland, ..... 19i Abstract of law relating to tramways, 194 Amsterdam 195 Italy 198 Law relating to tramways, 198 Milan, 201 Austria 202 Abstract of law relating to tramways 202 Vienna, 202 Municipal ownership and operation of street railways in England, .... 205 Extracts from report of Rapid Transit Commission of 1891, 262 Extracts from report of special legislative Committee on Taxation of 1893, . . 263 Table showing the effect of proposed distribution of the corporation tax, . . 269 Table showing the effect of the commutation tax 275 Distribution of street railway mileage in Massachusetts 281 [Extract from the Inaugttral Message op His Excellency Governor "Wolcott, Jan. 7, 1897.] STREET RAILWAYS. The essential difference between street railway companies and railroad corporations lies in the fact that the former have the right to use, in common with other citizens, the public highways, whereas the latter have the exclusive use of their road-beds. In contemplation of law this right to use the public ways is granted such companies on the sole ground that it is for the " interest of the public " that they be allowed so to do ; this phrase recurring repeatedly in the statutes authorizing boards of aldermen in cities and the selectmen of towns to grant, refuse, extend and revoke locations. In theory, therefore, the granting of a location is an accommodation to the public, and not a privilege or gift to the railway company ; the franchise being granted solely for the convenience of all the citizens, as a method of affording cheap and convenient transportation over public ways. Upon this theory, if it is found that the right of thus using the streets is profitable beyond a moderate return upon the capital actually invested, it is just to require that the fares be reduced or the service improved. If this remedy were proved in practice to be easy of application, it would afford the best solution of a vexed problem ; but this has not been found to be the case, and, in consequence, contrary to the theory of our existing law, these grants have often proved of great pecuniary value to the companies receiving them. This has led to a general demand that a direct return shall be made to the treasury of the municipality, either by a fixed rental or tax, by a toll upon the cars using the streets, or by a percentage of receipts or profits. This can be justified only upon a different theory ; namely, that a valuable right is granted to the company, and therefore is taken away from the public. If such a direct return is exacted, it seems just, on the other hand, that the company, under a proper agreement, should, for a limited period, have the assurance that its franchise should not be revoked through caprice, unreasonable hostility, or the lure of a higher bid from would-be competi- tors. It is possible that in some municipalities one of these conflicting theories might be more acceptable, whereas in others the public con- venience might be better served by adoption of the other. Under existing legislation there is no authority to impose any tax whatever. I recommend that this authority be granted. The original theory of the street railways doubtless contemplated the granting of locations in the streets of a single town, or at most in the streets of two adjacent towns. But the improvements in electrical appli- ances have led to formation of companies for operating lines of consider- able length, passing through the territory of several towns. In these cases, and perhaps in all cases, it is a question whether there should not be the right of appeal from the local municipal board, upon questions of public convenience, to some higher tribunal, such as the Board of Railroad Com- missioners. dEtramurafaealib of UfassHrfjngjtits. [Chapter 509 of the Acts of the year 1897.] An Act to provide fob the Appointment op a Committee to inves- tigate the Subject op the Relations between Street Railway and Municipal Corporations. Be it enacted, etc., as follows : Section 1. The governor, with the advice and consent of the council, shall, within thirty days after the passage of this act, appoint a committee of three suitable persons, one of whom he shall designate as chairman, to investigate the subject of the relations between cities and towns and street railway corporations, the taxation of street railways and their franchises in this Commonwealth and in other states and countries, and the need, if any, of legislation in this Commonwealth to establish a more fixed tenure of franchises of street railways, and an equitable method of taxing the same. Sect. 2. The said committee shall forthwith proceed to investigate and consider the relations existing between cities and towns and street railway companies, the taxation of street railways and their franchises in this Commonwealth and in other states and countries, and shall consider what legislation, if any, is needed to establish a more fixed tenure of franchises of street railways, and an equitable method of taxation thereof in this Commonwealth. Sect. 3. The said committee shall have the power to summon and com- pel the attendance of witnesses and may administer oaths to such witnesses, and may establish rules and regulations for the conduct of its business, and shall be provided with suitable quarters by the sergeant-at-arms in the state house or elsewhere. It may employ experts and all necessary clerical and other assistance, as may be authorized by the governor and council. Before incurring any expense it shall from time to time make an estimate of the probable amount of expense to be incurred and shall submit such estimate to the governor and council for their approval ; and no expense shall be incurred by the committee beyond the amount so estimated and approved. The chairman of said committee shall receive as his compensation the sum of three thousand dollars, and each of the other members the sum of twenty- five hundred dollars. One-half of the expense of said committee shall be borne by the several corporations owning or operating street railways in this Commonwealth, according to their gross earnings, and shall be appor- tioned by the tax commissioner, who, on or before the first day of July in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, shall assess upon each of said corporations its just proportion of such expenses, in proportion to its said earnings for the previous fiscal year, and such assessment shall be collected in the manner provided by law for the collection of taxes upon corporations. 6 STEEET EAILWAYS. [Feb. '98. Sect. 4. Said committee shall complete its investigation on or before the first day of January in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and shall report the result thereof, in print, to the general court, on or before the first "Wednesday in February in said year. If said committee recom- mends any legislation, it shall accompany its report with drafts of such bills as are necessary to carry such recommendations into effect. The powers of said committee shall terminate on said first Wednesday in February. Sect. 5. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved June 11, 1897. On the 7th of July, 1897, the Governor nominated Charles Francis Adams of Lincoln, "William "W. Crapo of New Bed- ford, and Elihu B. Hates of Lynn, to compose the Committee, and they were confirmed by the Council on July 14, and were qualified on July 20. On the 2d of August Walter S. Allen of New Bedford was appointed Secretary of the Board. REPORT. The Special Committee on Street Eailways, appointed under the provisions of chapter 509 of the Acts of 1897, submit the following report : — The inquiry the Committee was directed to make proved, when fairly entered upon, far more comprehensive and labori- ous than was at first anticipated. A vast amount of experience of a most varied character, bearing on what may be termed the street railway problem in its 'different phases, has, during the last twenty-five years, been accumulated in nearly all portions of the civilized world ; but no comprehensive study and com- parison of results has been made, nor is there any publication or document, official or otherwise, containing a sufficient body of reliable data. On the general subject there is, it is true, much to be found scattered about in various official reports and investigations, as well as in almost innumerable short treatises, pamphlets and magazine articles ; but these, in the compara- tively rare instances where a degree of reliance can be placed upon them, have as a rule either been written for a specific pur- pose and in advocacy of some special theory, or they are of merely local interest. There exists, also, a vast and varied amount of popular misinformation as to results alleged to have been reached elsewhere, more especially in certain European cities. As regards these, indeed, statements are made of a character so wholly misleading that the Committee finally reached the conclusion that it was safe to accept nothing un- less verified by examination on the . spot ; for, even where the facts are in the main as alleged, varying conditions make the conclusions naturally to be inferred from those facts usually deceptive, and almost invariably in greater or less degree in- applicable here. While, therefore, two members of the Committee devoted . themselves to investigations in this country and in Canada, one 10 STEEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. member went to Europe, there to make such inquiries as might, under the circumstances, be practicable. As respects informa- tion, the foreign conditions proved similar to those at home, though, if possible, even more pronounced; at a sufficient cost in time, patience and money, a vast amount of interesting and instructive experience was attainable ; but the statistics are even less perfect than in America, and no comprehensive report or official publication exists. The Committee has no disposition to appear to exaggerate the importance of street railway developments, and the interest felt in them ; but as the investigation proceeded it became ap- parent that not only was the whole civilized world at work on improved municipal transportation, but every considerable town in both hemispheres is acquiring experience of more or less general value in regard to it, while at the same time seek- ing to learn the results of experience elsewhere. This is more obviously true of material and scientific appliances, — cars, motors, inductors and track laying ; but in its other and more abstruse aspects the problem is of the utmost hygienic and gov- ernmental importance. As a public agency the electric street railway is now fast revolutionizing the character of urban life, spreading it over a wider area and subjecting it to new influ- ences ; while entailing, in such items as paving, sewerage and police, a vastly increased municipal expense. Under these cir- cumstances, while there is a wide-spread call for a comprehen- sive report on street railways, its preparation implies a very considerable command both of time and money, as well as of governmental machinery. To make such a report of general value, it would, in the judgment of the Committee, be neces- sary that the person preparing it should be not only in official communication with the whole consular department of the gov- ernment, but he would himself have to give from a year to eighteen months of time to local examinations, and the com- parative verification of the statements which reached him. It is needless to say that neither the time nor the means at the disposal of the Committee sufficed for work of this description. On the other hand, it is distinctly work which mio-ht most properly as well as advantageously be made a feature in the next national census, and the Committee proposes at the proper time to call to it the attention of those in charge of that work. 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 11 Under the terms of the act ordering the inquiry, it was con- fined to certain phases of the problem. Limited specifically to what may be termed the franchise relations of street railways and to questions of taxation, it was not to include the mechan- ical or scientific apparatus in use, the facilities afforded, or, except incidentally, financial and economical results. The present report will, therefore, be devoted to a brief discussion of principles, and a concise presentation of conclusions reached. Though the street railway is in legislation as well as in the popular mind usually associated with the steam railroad, the two are, in law as well as in mechanics, quite distinct. Both are comparatively recent outgrowths of the tramway, which first came into use in the English mineral regions more than two centuries ago ; but, while the railroad was a use of steam power in a new direction, and a pure consequence of the dis- covery of that power, the street railway was merely an obvious development of the old tram applied to the omnibus route. In its case the process of evolution was, therefore, in the earlier stages quite simple. As the modern municipalities ex- panded, the demand for better facilities of urban, or, as it would be termed in Europe, intra-mural, transportation, made itself increasingly felt. Naturally the street car and the tram- way at length suggested themselves as convenient agencies, — the street car being nothing more nor less than an improved omnibus, and the tramway a special feature in the pavement of the public way ; a feature adapted, it is true, to the car's spe- cial use, but not necessarily excluding from general use the portion of the street in which it is laid. This is all the street railway was fifty years ago, when first laid ; it is all it is now, — an improved line of omnibuses, running over a special pave- ment. If this fact be firmly grasped and borne constantly in mind, the discussion, and the principles underlying it, are greatly simplified. The analogy throughout is with the omni- bus line, and not with the railroad train ; with the public thoroughfare, and not with the private right of way. Upon this distinction, indeed, all the questions now to be discussed, whether of taxation or of franchise privilege and obligation, will be found to turn. The economic idea of regulation by means of competition through private ownership was long at the basis of street 12 STEEET EAILWAYS. [Feb. railway, as of railroad, legislation. Having a strong hold on the public mind, this theory, in the one case as in the other, had, slowly and wastefully, to be outgrown. The motive power in use with the street railway for very many years also underwent no practical change. Steam engines of various de- scriptions were tried, and, indeed, may still be seen in use in some European cities, — notably in Birmingham, England, and Florence, Italy, — but their use proved unsatisfactory ; while the cable system, though still well adapted to certain conditions of topography and street movement, was too elaborate and costly for general adoption. It was not, therefore, until 1888, or practically within the last ten years, that the development of electricity as a motor introduced a new feature into street railway mechanism, and gave to the system an increased im- petus, the far-reaching influences of which have as yet but in part made themselves felt. The rapid development and increasing importance of the street railway as a public-service agency have meanwhile brought a new class of questions to the front, — a class of questions already considered in connection with the supply of water and of gas, but which now assume a somewhat different aspect. The idea of regulating street railways through com- petition of lines in private ownership, often for considerable distances of necessity using the same tracks, has by degrees been abandoned. The modern practice, as well as theory, is the consolidation of lines in a given municipality under one ownership, that ownership to be held to strict accountability as a recognized public agency. Through such a system it is believed the most economical results, public as well as private, can be attained, — a much longer carriage for the same fare on the one side, and the avoidance of duplicate machinery and organization on the other. Single ownership of some sort, public or private, may therefore be accepted as a condition of the problem. Competition is eliminated from it. The service to be rendered, and the agency through which it is rendered, involve, however, in this case a peculiar and to a degree exclusive use of municipal thoroughfares. Not only has a special feature in the pavement to be provided and kept in repair, but the movement of vehicles on that special pavement is such as often to necessitate, through street widening and 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 13 otherwise, provision of space ; for, as the street car cannot turn out of the way of other vehicles, other vehicles must have room provided in which to turn out of the way of the street car. Under existing conditions also the street car is kept in motion by an apparatus of cables or wires, — underground or over- head, — established for its sole and separate use, and which can neither be duplicated nor used in common by others. When it is added that provision in all these respects has to be made on the surface of the most frequented thoroughfares and principal business streets, the importance and difficulty of the questions sure to arise at once suggest themselves. The varied experience of the last forty years has already developed, or is now developing, three distinct lines of treat- ment of the relations between the street railway and the municipality. The first is the natural outcome of the original idea of private ownership of both track and vehicle ; the im- proved omnibus, in other words, runs over a special pavement, laid down by the omnibus company in the public way for its exclusive use. The company owning and operating the line is organized under a State charter, but holds its location in the streets under a municipal permit, usually granted for a fixed term of years, but in Massachusetts perpetual in theory, though in point of fact revocable at any time. This is complete private ownership, and it exists not only in America, but is almost equally well known and recognized in Europe. The second line of development is a recurrence to the original principles of ownership; the street and its pavements belong to the public, the vehicles that run upon the pavements to private parties, whether individuals or corporations. No distinction of ownership or control is under this system recognized between pavements, whether of wood, stone, concrete or iron, or a com- bination of two of those materials or of all ; in any and every case the pavement is laid down and cared for by the municipal- ity, which thus in no way surrenders or compromises its control of its own streets. Having laid, and owning, the pavement, it does, however, concede to a company, on such terms as may have been agreed upon, the exclusive right to run vehicles for a greater or less period of time on a specially prepared part of the pavement. In this case the vehicles and motive power only belong to the private company. The third 14 STEEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. line of development is in the direction of full public ownership, — what is known as municipalization. The analogy of the public water and public gas service is here followed, and both private ownership and private management cease, the munici- pality running the omnibus as well as controlling the street and owning the pavement. In the course of its investigations the Committee has enjoyed opportunities of studying each system in actual operation, and has heard the merits of each explained by managers and advocates. In a general way, and subject to limitation and exceptions, it may furthermore be said that, while the first, or private, ownership system is that most commonly in use in America, in Germany the development is in the direction of the second, or mixed, system, and in Great Britain there is a strong and growing tendency towards a thorough trial of the last system, known as municipalization. But whether, in the process of development, the tendency is towards the adoption of one or of another of these three systems, it seems to be recognized everywhere as a fundamental principle that the application of the system is of distinctly municipal or local concernment, the community as a whole having only a broad interest in the prin- ciples involved. In other words, in Europe, as in America, the use made of streets and thoroughfares, as well as their care, is essentially a municipal matter. The town or city, whether technically owning the public ways or not, is responsible for them, and, under certain broad general regulations, is free to control and regulate them in such way as it sees fit. The use of the highway for street railway purposes, in Europe, as in Massachusetts, was at first an innovation, and, as such, leo-al provision had to be made for it ; but when that provision was made, either by general law or special enactment, it became largely an extension of municipal, and not of state, functions and control. The officers of the municipality were authorized to permit the occupation of streets for tram or railway purposes under provisions of law ; but the control of the municipality over them was subjected to the least possible interference from without. In passing upon every question which may arise this principle of municipal street control also should be clearly kept in mind. That the street railway, like the thoroughfare it partially occupies, has in many instances outgrown municipal 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 15 limits, and so become an instrument of inter-urban travel and communication, is apparent, and this fact also has to be recog- nized as introducing new elements into the problem ; but the fundamental principle of local control is thereby no more de- stroyed in the case of the railway than in the case of the street itself. Starting, then, from this basis, the present elaborate, street railway system has by degrees been evolved. The whole de- velopment has taken place within the last half-century, and vastly the greater portion of it within the last ten years ; it has, moreover, been essentially American. That the system now in use, whether in Massachusetts or elsewhere, is in all respects perfect, no one, of course, would maintain ; that it is rapidly developing in answer to a public demand is apparent. So far, however, as Massachusetts is concerned, it may not be out of place here to say that a comparison of systems does not tend to show, either as to practical workings or results ac- complished, any grounds for serious criticism. As a working machinery for the daily accommodation of vast numbers of per- sons, the street railway companies of the Commonwealth fulfil their function quite as well, with as little friction and at as rea- sonable a cost as any other similar machinery elsewhere which the Committee h:is had an opportunity to study. On this head, as already intimated, it is not safe to accept loose assertions, no matter how positively made or frequently reiterated, as evidence of what really exists. In every community, persons claiming to speak as authorities are apt to be in evidence declaring that somewhere else, in this case in Baltimore perhaps, or in Toronto, in Glasgow or Birmingham, or in Berlin, an ideal condition of affairs has been reached, in which perfect street railway accom- modations, low fares, rapid transit, and contented officials and employees are working in harmony with a thoroughly well- satisfied municipal government, to the expenses of which the railway company contributes a liberal share, while at the same time paying reasonable dividends to its stockholders. The members of the Committee have only to say that, if such a street railway Utopia anywhere exists, they have in the course of their investigations failed to find it. That the street rail- ways of Massachusetts have, as a whole, cost much more than they could now be replaced for, is as indisputable as it has been 16 STEEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. unavoidable ; that in some cases they have been over-capital- ized, through questionable processes of financiering, is more than probable ; but these, after all, are to a greater or less ex- tent incidents inseparable from an unusually rapid development along new lines and in untried fields. And this statement at once suggests a consideration of im- portance, — a consideration, in fact, going to the very root of the matter the Committee was appointed to investigate. It is not merely a question of greater or less expenditure, but, if the account is to be correctly balanced, what has been gained through that expenditure, or would have been lost had the expenditure not been incurred, must also be considered. To institute a comparison, for instance, between the street railway transportation of Boston as at present developed and that of Birmingham, of Glasgow or of Berlin, is so absurd as to sug- gest ignorance. The appliances in use in the European cities named may, and probably do, answer the demands there made upon them ; but they pertain to conditions of urban life and of urban movement wholly different from those which now prevail in Massachusetts. A single illustration will suffice. Glasgow has a population of some 800,000, served by 73 miles of tram- way, measured as single track ; Leeds has some 400,000, served by 27 miles ; Boston has nearly 500,000, served by 220 miles. In the neighborhood of 400,000 passengers are each day carried on the Boston street railways, while the combined railways of Glasgow and Leeds, serving a population more than twice as large, carry but 300,000. In other words, with more than five times the population to each mile of street railway track, the number of passengers daily carried in the two cities of Great Britain is only three-fourths of those carried in Boston . While the Committee was conducting its investigation in Great Britain a sanitary congress, at which some 800 delegates were present, was held in Leeds, one of the cities above re- ferred to. The eminent medical authority who presided over the sessions of this congress referred in his opening address to the distribution of urban population over a wider area as one of the most crying needs of the day. In regard to it he used the following language: "What is urgently needed in Great Britain to-day is, firstly, drastic and radical legislation, by which local bodies may be able to acquire land compulsorily, 1898.J HOUSE — No. 475. 17 on paying full compensation, for building workmen's houses, and then quick and cheap early travelling, rendering it possible for city workmen to live in the surrounding country." So far as the work here referred to is concerned, that of dis- tributing urban population over a wider area, with all the re- sults, direct and indirect, therein implied, a most superficial examination will suffice to show that Massachusetts is far in advance of any portion of Europe. This has, too, in large .degree been brought about in an extraordinarily short time, not by " drastic, radical legislation," such as that contem- plated in Great Britain, but through the rapid and energetic expansion of the street railway system, seen in the compar- ative statistics just given. That in effecting this expansion much costly experimenting, not always successful, has been paid for, is undeniable ; but it remains to be proved that the work, though done through private corporations, either cost them, or through them cost the community, more than from a public point of view it was worth, or a portion even of what it would cost if done in the way suggested at the Leeds Sani- tary Congress. This is the other side of the account ; and that the work in Massachusetts represented by the items which appear on this side was done in response to a public demand, at once outspoken and urgent, is matter of common knowledge. One feature in the franchise granted to the Massachusetts companies immediately attracts notice ; from the beginning they were, and still almost invariably are, in terms perpetual, while in reality legally revocable at the discretion of local boards. In this respect they are peculiar, almost anomalous ; for, as a rule, both in this country and in Europe, concessions have been granted private companies for fixed periods of time only, during which the franchise, or concession, is in the nature of a binding contract. These contracts, especially in European cities, are almost infinite in their variety. They run from periods of fourteen to a hundred years, and, like leases between private parties, are framed so as to provide in advance for every contingency likely to arise. In Massachusetts, on the other hand, the grants of location have, as a rule, been of the simplest possible character, drawn in the most general terms, and with a noticeable absence of technicalities, reservations and safeguards 18 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. against contingencies; and yet, while by these locations the local boards apparently granted the corporations rights in per- petuity in the public ways, the law, at the same time, reserved to the boards the power to revoke those rights at discretion. In theory, such a franchise is to the last degree illogical. It can be compared only to a lease, terminable at will by the lessor, and without provision for the compensation of the lessee. Such a system, if suggested, would naturally be pronounced impracticable, if not absurd, and it would be assumed that private capital would never embark in ventures so lacking in the element of permanence and security. Yet in Massachusetts this has not proved to be the case ; nor can it be said that the system has, for the half-century it has been in use, worked otherwise than on the whole satisfactorily. A more fixed tenure of franchises is, however, by the terms of the act creating the Committee, one of the two points it is especially instructed to consider. The substitution for the present indefinite concessions of a specific and binding contract, covering a fixed term of years, setting forth the rights and obligations of the parties thereto and containing a rule of com- pensation for the purchase of the property in case of failure to renew, at once suggests itself as a measure of reform ; and yet, in the course of the protracted hearings before the Committee, it was very noticeable that no such change was advocated by the representatives of the municipalities or of the com- panies, nor, apparently, did the suggestion of such a change commend itself to either. Some amendments in detail of the existing law, and partial measures of protection against pos- sible orders of sudden, ill-considered or aggressive revocation were suggested ; but it was evident that, while the municipali- ties wanted to retain as a weapon — a sort of discussion bludgeon — the right of revocation at will, the companies pre- ferred, on the whole, a franchise practically permanent, though never absolutely certain, to a fixed contract tenure for a shorter term, subject to the danger of alteration at every periodic renewal. It is a generally conceded principle, that in dealing with matters of public policy it is not wise to disturb existing meth- ods, no matter how illogical or inconsistent with theory they seem, provided they work reasonably well in practice. The 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 19 community is accustomed to certain ways of doing business and reaching results ; and if the results, looked at as a whole and through a sufficient period of time, are satisfactory, it is ques- tionable wisdom to scrutinize too closely either the logic or the symmetry of the ways in which those results are reached. The term-franchise, or concession for a fixed contract period, is, moreover, open to serious objections. As the members of the Committee found wherever they studied it in operation, in this country or in Europe, it is apt to operate practically as a check on enterprise, and a bar in the way of any development involving the investment of fresh capital or of earnings Avhich might be divided. The inducement is strong to get the largest profit possible out of the time conceded, without increasing the value of a system a renewed lease of which will at some speci- fied time be under negotiation.* This has been markedly the case in Great Britain. The term-franchise has there been uni- versal since 1870, and the rights of the municipalities are so very carefully protected that their best interests have been sys- tematically sacrificed. The municipalities have, in fact, been so afraid they would in some way be out-bargained that they have as a rule fairly over-reached themselves ; and now, after the lapse of twenty years, they are naturally served by unde- veloped lines, with antiquated appliances, simply because they made it the distinct interest of the companies operating those lines to provide nothing better. The Massachusetts franchise, with its terminable-perpetuity feature, may be illogical, — it seems, in fact, a contradiction in terms, — but it recognizes an ownership under limitations, and the holder of the franchise works with the incentive of gain. It is the familiar case of the free-holder as compared with the lease-holder ; and human in- genuity does not seem as yet to have devised any tenure under which men, much less corporations, will develop a business with * " The street railways of Berlin have only a traction service of horses. It is the wish of the municipal authorities to have electricity, by the conduit system, substituted; but the chief company, Der Grosse Berlin Pferde-Eisenbahn Actien-Gesellschaft, is un- willing to incur this increased expense, for the reason that after a number of years the street constructions of all kinds revert to the city, and the company does not care to forfeit an unnecessary amount of property by investing the fresh capital needed to make these improvements." (Extract from the special report of Osborne Howes, Jr., Rapid Transit Commissioner, on the transportation of passengers in and around the cities of Europe, Appendix A (page 184) of the report of the Rapid Transit Commis- sion of 1891.) 20 STKEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. the same degree of enterprise when they are working for the ultimate advantage of others as when they are working for themselves. Indeed, there is no feature connected with the street railway development of Europe, and especially of Great Britain, as compared with that of America, which is so notice- able as this. The companies are there all in the nature of ten- ants, or lease-holders, trying to get everything they can out of their concessions during the term for which they hold them. They care nothing for developments of which they are not likely to enjoy the results. In the end, therefore, the com- munity suffers ; and it is this sense of loss, and consequent dis- content with the situation, which is the chief inducement held out for the experiment of municipalization ; although, on the other hand, it is recognized that municipalization may involve an attempt at development on political rather than on business principles. The same thing was noticeable in the American cities visited by the Committee. The term-franchise here, too, has been productive of dissension, poor service, scandals and unhealthy political action. There is probably no possible sys- tem productive of only good results and in no respect open to criticism ; but, in fairness, the Committee found itself forced to conclude that the Massachusetts franchise, which might perhaps not improperly be termed a tenure during good behavior, would in its practical results compare favorably with any. Certainly those results are as immeasurably as they are undeniably better than the results as yet produced in Great Britain. While, therefore, the tenure by which the Massachusetts street railways now hold their locations is calculated to excite uneasiness in the minds of security holders, yet that uneasiness is, so far as the public is concerned, not without its compen- sating advantages in management. Questions involving hard- ship and litigation may at any time present themselves, and this possibility, there can be no doubt, does stand in the way of the sale of street railway company securities at a price they would otherwise command. The investigations of the Com- mittee have not, however, led its members to believe that the public would derive benefit from the substitution of any form of term-franchise now in use in place of the prescriptive Mas- sachusetts tenure. But, even if such a substitution were on the whole deemed desirable, it would be futile to propose so 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 21 radical a change, for existing companies at least, if, while no serious public detriment can be alleged, neither companies nor municipalities appear in advocacy of it. As was apparent at the hearings before the Committee, what the companies desire is a tenure as nearly as possible in perpetuity, with a restricted power of revocation only in the hands of the municipalities ; what the municipalities desire is to retain, as a weapon con- venient to have at hand, the legal power of revocation at will. In the course of the hearings before the Committee, attention was called to certain features in the existing law, which, it was urged, might be changed to advantage. On behalf of the gen- eral public, it was asserted that, heretofore, concessions of great value had been much too freely granted by those tempo- rarily in charge of the affairs of municipalities ; that insufficient franchise obligations had been imposed on the companies ; that no provision had been made in the franchises to compel com- panies to bear their reasonable share of expensive improve- ments rendered necessary by locations freely given them ; that practically no limits had been set to profits, or provision made in case of excessive profits for a division of the same, or a re- duction of fares ; and, finally, that locations had been, and now occasionally were, made in streets and thoroughfares without any, or without sufficient, regard to the wishes and feelings of residents and property holders thereon. On the part of the corporations it was alleged that the existing system was defective mainly through the insufficient protection afforded against the arbitrary revocation of locations, and the constant imposition of new and unjustifiable burdens through the threat of such revocation. They claimed, and submitted evidence to show, that the profits of the system were not unduly large, and that the constant changes necessitated by the advance of scientific apparatus, and the demand of the public for new ap- pliances, the best accommodations and the most effective service, were such as to tax to the utmost the resources of the compa- nies, while preventing any accumulation of profits beyond what was necessary for purposes of renewal, — if, indeed, proper pro- vision for renewal could now be made. So far as the greater part of these grounds of complaint is concerned, whether advanced on behalf of the public or by the corporations, and however well founded they may be, the}- do 22 STEEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. not, in the judgment of the Committee, call for any considerable changes in the law as it now exists. The Committee is aware that different views exist on the meaning of the present law. By some it is held that the "restrictions" of street railway locations in the several statutes relating thereto are limited, and that any additional terms ex- acted or conceded are, in legal phraseology, ultra vires, and cannot be enforced in law. This, however, is not the view usually taken, and, confessedly, the practice has been and now is widely at variance with it.* Such a literal construction of the statute, if sound in law, would result in a noticeable breach in that principle of local self-government which is the basis of the Massachusetts polity. It would, indeed, carry the prin- ciple of centralized State control in this matter far beyond the point even, to which it is carried in the countries of continental Europe. In the view of the Committee, however, the present Massa- chusetts system, while somewhat undefined and even contradic- tory in character, — as is not infrequently the case with a system built up by degrees as the work of a succession of legislative bodies, — tends to treat this whole matter of street railways as one of local concernment. It is regarded as simply a question of the use which a given municipality sees fit to make of its thoroughfares. The municipalities are held to be the best, and, indeed, within broad limits, the only, judges of that use ; just as the railway corporations are the best, and again the only, judges as to the degree of protection afforded by the grants they accept. If municipalities or corporations choose, from over-eagerness or for other reasons, to enter into ill-advised or improvident agreements, which they afterwards repent, that is their affair ; and the officials entering into such agreements are responsible to their constituencies, whether the body of citizens or the holders of the company's stock. It * " The law is very simple upon this point. It says that locations may be granted with such restrictions as in the judgment of the selectmen or the aldermen the public interests may require. But these local officials have in practice enlarged the word 'restrictions' so that it is made to include ' terms and conditions ' also? To all prac- tical intents and purposes the law might just as well read that locations shall be granted upon such ' terms, conditions, provisions and agreements ' as the selectmen may in any case decide." (Argument of E. W. Burdett, counsel for the Massachusetts Street Rail- way Association, before the Committee, page 103.) 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 23 certainly is not the part of the Commonwealth either to pre- scribe the terms of grants, or, after they are made, to examine those terms with a view to seeing that they contain nothing of which the parties to them may thereafter repent. In this view of the matter, it would seem, on the one hand, that improvi- dent concessions of an apparently perpetual character may have been, perhaps were, made by the agents of the municipalities, and valuable privileges were conferred, not coupled with corre- sponding obligations. On the other hand, in their eagerness to secure these valuable concessions and privileges, the cor- porations may have seen fit to regard the reservation which accompanied them as a mere matter of form. Under the system in use in Massachusetts, it was, as it now is, in the power, as it was and is the duty, of those representing both municipalities and companies to insist on more specific and better-considered grants, covering, if thought best, a given term of years, and binding in law during that term. Taking this view of the principles of polity and the public and corporate interests involved, the Committee recommends certain changes in the present law, intended to make that law conform more closely to established practice and existing conditions. On the one hand, it would grant the local au- thorities explicit power hereafter to impose such terms and conditions as they deem the public interests demand, on origi- nal grants and locations in the localities over which they have jurisdiction ; while, on the other hand, it would protect companies whose tracks have been already located from new and perhaps unreasonable conditions sought to be imposed in grants of alterations and extensions, which may be called for not less for public convenience than by corporate interests. These suggestions are incorporated in the draft of the act here- with submitted. With the above exceptions, the Committee has seen nothing which would lead it to suppose that any detriment, so far as the public is concerned, has been or is likely to be sustained under the present system, except in one possible contingency. The representatives of the corporations asked that, throughout the Commonwealth, appeal should be allowed from municipal authorities ordering the revocation of a street railway location to the Board of Railroad Commissioners, as is already the rule 24 STEEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. within the territory served by the West End Street Railway system. (Acts 1887, chapter 413, section 8.) While it is true the revocation of a location may be arbitrarily ordered, not only at a possible serious loss to a railway company, but at no inconsiderable inconvenience to a local public, the local public can generally be trusted in such cases to make its influ- ence felt on its representatives for its own protection. So far as the corporation is concerned, the concessions made to it are general, valuable and unlimited. The corporation might per- fectly well have declined to accept the concessions coupled with the power of revocation, and refused to lay its tracks. With a full knowledge of what it was doing, it accepted the location, coupled with the right of revocation ; and it is not easy to see on what ground, still holding the location, it can now ask to have the counterbalancing burden of revocation limited, as being liable to abuse, but without being able to instance numerous cases of such abuse, or, indeed, to show that the relations between the municipalities and the street railway com- panies had, on the whole, or indeed in any respect, been less friendly or productive of fewer good results in Massachusetts than elsewhere. Cases may, however, at any time arise in which a dispute between a municipality and a corporation, and consequent revocation of the location of the latter, might occasion serious public inconvenience outside of the locality in which the diffi- culty occurred. It has already been pointed out that street railways are now largely agencies of inter-urban communica- tion, or travel between towns. The same company not infre- quently operates roads in several connecting municipalities. Under these circumstances, it would seem but a fair degree of protection that no outside community should find itself suddenly deprived of its accustomed railway facilities by the removal of rails and wires as the result of a complication in some neigh- boring town. An examination of the street railway map of the Common- wealth discloses the fact that such a provision of law would though nominally limited in its operation, be practically o- e n- eral. All the considerable street railway companies operate routes in two or more cities or towns ; and it would be a simple matter for the few smaller companies which now would not 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 25 come under the protection of such a law to extend their lines so as to bring themselves within it. Such being the case, it has seemed to the Committee better, under the existing condition of street railway development, to establish one general rule for all. A provision to this effect, authorizing the Board of Rail- road Commissioners to revise the findings of the local boards, has accordingly been included in the draft of an act herewith submitted. The allegation that local authorities are in the habit of grant- ing locations in streets against the wishes, or without due regard to the wishes, of residents in such streets, will next be con- sidered. The Committee is not disposed lightly to recommend exceptions to the principle of local self-government. In the great majority of cases the municipal authorities are unques- tionably better judges than an outside tribunal of both the wishes and the requirements of those dwelling in a given local- ity. Nevertheless, cases have arisen, and may again arise, where thoroughfares laid out with great care, and developed at large expense by those dwelling upon them, have been need- lessly selected, against the remonstrance of residents, for rail- way location, when other routes, to the use of which no objec- tion would be made, were almost equally available. Provision to meet such cases seems not to be unreasonable. The Com- mittee, therefore, proposes, and herewith submits in the accom- panying draft of an act, a provision that, where a majority in value, or a certain minority in numbers, of those owning real estate immediately abutting on any public thoroughfare protest in writing against the grant of a location for a street railway in such thoroughfare, the location shall be valid only after a hearing before the Board of Railroad Commissioners, and on the approval of that Board. The extensive and costly street improvements often necessi- tated by the operation of street cars in the narrow streets of New England towns is a question which was often reverted to in the hearings before the Committee. In order to grant a location in it, a street not infrequently needs first to be widened ; for other purposes it is sufficiently wide already. In this case it does not seem reasonable to impose the whole cost of the widening on the municipality. It is true that voluntary con- tributions have been made by street railway companies for such 26 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. purposes, but the question may be raised that such contributions are ultra vires. Moreover, in cases of original location the pro- portion of cost which should be borne by the railway company should be clearly within the power of the municipality to determine. If the street railway corporation does not care to accept its location if burdened with such cost, it may refuse it. A somewhat different situation, though of the same general character, arises when the growth of a community brings about an over-crowded condition of streets. The over-crowding is clearly in part caused by the necessities of the street car ser- vice. The widening of such streets is also a distinct benefit to the railway companies. In such cases, also, contributions to cost have heretofore not infrequently been made by railway companies, without any question being raised or intervention of the courts invoked. The technical legality of such transac- tions is, however, open to question ; and it is but natural the companies should, when they can, seek to avail themselves of this point as an excuse for not contributing to a public im- provement which they see must be made, but of which they prefer to secure the benefit without helping to bear its cost. Under the construction put upon the existing law, also, contri- butions by the companies for this purpose cannot be repre- sented by additional issues of capital stock. If made, they must be provided for out of the company's net earnings, and, presumably, at a sacrifice of dividends. While, therefore, it is on the one side not unreasonable to give to the municipalities the right to assess upon street railway companies, as upon other beneficiaries, a certain proportion of the cost of such im- provements, on the other side, the money so expended should be looked upon as part of the cost of construction, and provision made to capitalize it on that basis. The Committee recom- mends legislation to cure this defect ; and has accordingly in- corporated in the draft of the act herewith submitted certain provisions from the laws relating to the assessment of better- ments. Reference has been made to the three lines of ultimate devel- opment into which the relations of street railway interests and municipalities seem now in this and other countries to be natu- rally working : that of (1) regulated private ownership ; that of 1898. j HOUSE — No. 475. 27 (2) the municipal ownership of a permanent way, to be oper- ated by a private company as lessee; and (3) municipalization. The first of these lines of development is that through which the street railway interests of the Commonwealth have grown up, and its advantages and defects are well understood. The chief objection to it is obvious, — it necessarily involves a divided control of streets, resulting in continual jealousies, misapprehensions and disputes. While, because of its appar- ent simplicity, as well as from the analogy of the steam railroad, it naturally suggested itself in the early and experimental stages of street railway development, it certainly does not now commend itself as a permanent or scientific arrangement. Even should it be continued indefinitely, the Committee is clearly of opinion that it would be conducive to a better state of affairs were the municipalities to assume full control of the streets, meeting all charges for paving, for street cleaning, etc., and receiving therefor from the companies a net annual money pay- ment in lieu of work in kind. This would be in the nature of a commutation, — a pavement and cleaning tax to be paid by the company in consideration of the special provision made in streets for its exclusive use. While clear as to the expediency of this readjustment of burdens, the Committee has had great difficulty in devising a satisfactory basis on which to recom- mend it. The cost of paving, etc., is included in the accounts of the street railway companies under the general head of "(35) Repair of Roadbed and Track," and the items for paving are not separated from others. On many country roads, also, the obligation to pave is nominal; in city ' thoroughfares it is heavy ; while in other cases the amount of work to be done and expense incurred depend on the terms of particular loca- tions. Again, the cost of removing ice and snow is another obligation which pertains distinctly to the care of streets. The tracks of the street railways are in the nature of sidewalks and footpaths. In winter the public convenience demands that they should be immediately broken out, and kept constantly clear. In the case of the track, as in that of the sidewalk, the snow and ice, when removed, are necessarily thrown, tempo- rarily at least, upon the travelled way. If they cause an ob- struction, it is obviously the duty of whoever is legally respon- sible for the condition of the travelled way to remove them ; 28 STKEET EAILWAYS. [Feb. and for that condition the municipality is, of course, responsi- ble. This has proved a fruitful source of misunderstanding between the companies and the town and city governments ever since the street railway system originated ; and the singu- lar spectacle has not infrequently been witnessed of one gang of men, in private employ, shovelling snow from a track, while another gang of men, in public employ, shovelled it immediately back. In this case two propositions seem to the Committee equally clear : first, that it is the business of the city or town to keep its streets properly clear of obstructions ; and, secondly, that, under the circumstances, the street railway companies should, in this specific instance, compensate them for so doing. Yet, in the matter of removing ice and snow it is, under the New England climatic conditions, difficult to reach any rule of compensation, the expense actually incurred year by year varies so greatly. In certain years it is nominal, in others it is ex- tremely heavy. Nevertheless, in the opinion of the Committee, some rule should be established. After a careful study of such data and statistics as could be found bearing on this subject, the Committee has formulated certain provisions in the draft of a proposed act herewith sub- mitted. They establish the legal obligations of the parties, restoring to the municipalities, in so far as may be, the full control of their public ways, and making them solely responsi- ble for the condition of those ways, both as respects pavement and freedom from obstruction ; and, on the other hand, so far as the street railway companies are concerned, the present obligations for labor or pavement work are commuted into fixed money payments, in the nature of a tax. While the fair- ness of this commutation as respects amount, etc., cannot be demonstrated mathematically, it has been reached after careful study of the reports, and is believed to represent approxi- mately existing conditions reduced to an intelligible basis. But, whether it does so, or in some respects fails quite so to do, in its working the benefits will greatly outweigh any possible shortcomings, if it removes from the relations be- tween municipalities and the street railway companies a fruit- ful cause of ill-feeling, recrimination and arbitrary dealing. The system of private ownership of street railways, in the shape and to the extent now in use in Massachusetts, is not, 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 29 however, that which most commends itself, in theory at least, to the judgment of the Committee. A better and more logical system would seem to be that already described, not unknown in Great Britain and elsewhere, but to which the experience of Germany is more especially tending, — a system under which the municipality both owns and controls the whole surface of its streets, whether paved with other material or with iron, and leases to a private company the right to run vehicles over pre- scribed routes on tracks therein specialty provided. The process through which this result has been, or is now being, brought about in foreign countries is simple and well worth the careful consideration of American municipalities. It is as follows : In the first place, European street railway fran- chises, or concessions, are never perpetual. They are always granted for a fixed term of years, this term being sometimes established by general law, and sometimes by special govern- mental authority. The average term is perhaps in the vicinity of twenty years ; and the details of the individual concessions made under the general authority are then, as matters of local concernment, worked out in an almost infinite variety of forms, — the result of protracted negotiations between the officials of each municipality and the representatives of a company, or the concessionaires, as they are termed. When this agree- ment is thus completed, executed and approved by the proper ministerial authority, it constitutes a binding contract, en- forceable on both sides during its continuance, and subject to change, termination or extension only by mutual consent, and in the way in it provided. It is not necessary now to discuss the practical working of this system. It varies greatly under different conditions, depend- ing largely on the traditions, character, political methods and business capacity of communities, but with a continual tendency towards some approved standard. For example, the municipal contracts recently entered into by Berlin and Frankfort, and that now under consideration in Hamburg, are in Germany re- garded as models, and consequently are in the main adopted in other German municipalities. These contracts, as showing the extreme caution practised in foreign countries in dealings between street railway companies and municipalities, are printed in the Appendix to this report. In the judgment of the Committee, they merit and will repay 30 STEEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. careful examination, being in curious contrast to the similar contracts entered into in America. As a rule, these foreign concessions are framed with special provision for the ultimate ownership by the municipality of whatever is a part of the streets. In some contracts it is provided that, at the expiration of the term, everything of this sort shall become the property of the municipality, at once and without any payment being made for it, the company during the term of the contract secur- ing itself against loss through a system of amortization ; in other cases a measure of compensation is provided, the munic- ipality agreeing to take and pay for the property, in case of inability to agree on a renewal of the concession. In any event, the settled policy is to have everything pertaining to the street and pavement pass into the ownership of the municipality at some not remote future time, leaving the municipality free then to enter into contracts for the operation of the tracks, or to make such other arrangements as it sees fit. But the essential point to which the Committee desires to call attention is the dis- tinction here drawn between the ownership of the pavement, and consequent full control of the street, and the running of the vehicle. The ultimate full control of the street, and exclusive ownership of whatever may be part of its surface, by the munic- ipality, is, it may be said, now accepted in European countries as a fundamental principle of politj r . In the judgment of the Committee, this principle is correct, and could be advantageously incorporated into Massachusetts practice as applying to all street railway companies hereafter organized and locations granted. Even if the concessions in future are not made for a specific term of years, during which they shall be binding contracts to be changed only by mutual con- sent, — a change the Committee does not advise, — the general law should at least be so modified as to secure in every loca- tion hereafter granted a clear, well-considered rule of procedure and compensation, under which the municipalities may, at any time they desire so to do, assume, readily and at an understood and reasonable cost, the ownership of everything appurtenant to their streets. But it will probably be said that this applies only to fran- chises hereafter granted, — that Massachusetts is now already well provided with street railways, and that some provision 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 31 should be made to cover the system already existing. The Committee has given careful consideration to this phase of the problem. Should the question arise on any large scale, — should any particular municipality, for reasons good and sufficient to itself, desire to resume complete control of its streets and pavements, or of any part of them, — the case would, probably, be dealt with individually. The course of procedure would be simple. The municipality would ask of the Legislature a special act, probably framed on the precedents which already exist for the public taking of the property of water or gas light companies, and proceed in the way therein prescribed. Meanwhile, cases may at any time arise in which local com- munities, in the care of their public ways, might desire to take over certain tracks in particular streets without necessarily taking over all connecting tracks in other streets, or portions even of the same street. The Committee has framed, and here- with submits, a form of act intended to meet such cases. This act, drawn up on principles already laid down, explains itself. It in no wise disturbs, much less provides for the revocation of, any franchise or location of a street railway company. The franchise is treated as a license to run cars over certain routes in cities or towns, for the public convenience. In the case of a street railway such a franchise no more necessarily involves the ownership of tracks than the license to run a line of omni- buses involves the ownership of the pavement. If, then, under the proposed act, a municipality takes over the tracks in a cer- tain street or streets, by so doing it in no degree impairs either the right or the duty of any railway corporation holding a fran- chise to run cars, whether through that street or elsewhere. The tracks specified merely pass into the ownership and care of the municipality, the corporation is compensated for them, and thereafter the cars are run over them, the corporation paying trackage to the municipality. The distinction is the familiar one between the omnibus line run by a private com- pany, and the stone or iron pavement owned by a city or town ; except that in this case the company, running its vehicles in exactly the same way as before, pays the city or town for the use of a particular species of pavement laid down for its special and exclusive convenience, instead of itself laying down and 32 STEEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. owning that pavement. In other words, the essence of the franchise, or location, is the right to run vehicles to carry pas- sengers on certain routes, and the laying and ownership of the tracks is a mere incident, and not an essential incident, thereto. The act proposed deals only with the incident ; it in no way affects the essence of the franchise. Under its terms, it will hereafter be in the power of any municipality to retain in its own hands full possession and control of those of its streets in which no street railway location has yet been granted, and then gradually, as occasion offers, to extend that possession and con- trol over other streets in which locations have been granted, until the street railway corporation would by degrees be re- duced to its original functions, — those of a private company licensed to run public vehicles over specified routes under fixed regulations, and in consideration of certain rentals and other money payments. It would become, in short, an improved omnibus line, run on scientific principles and adapted to mod- ern conditions. The third line of development remains to be considered, — that known as municipalization. This has been mucb discussed of late, and in the hearings before the Committee was advocated by some as the best practical solution of the problem ; but even its warmest exponents admit that, as respects street railways, municipalization is a most important and far-reaching proposi- tion, yet in the experimental stage. The tendency towards it in Great Britain is pronounced, and, as a system in practical operation, it can now be studied in its tentative stage in Glasgow, in Leeds and in numerous other places. In thus studying it, however, one thought immediately suggests itself to an American. So far as development, activity, and material and scientific appliances and equipment are concerned, apart from permanent way and track surface, the American street railway service is so far in advance of any to be found in Great Britain as not to admit of a comparison. Without exaggera- tion, it may be said that, while the street surfacing, and merging of track with pavement, are there far in advance of what we ordinarily find in America, all the other appliances and accommodations are either antiquated and positively bad, or recently taken from this side of the Atlantic and installed by 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 33 American companies. In other words, in the field of scientific apparatus and mechanical development, America has experi- mented at immense cost, as our street railway capitalization shows, while Europe has patiently waited, and is to-day rapidly and quietly appropriating the results for which we have paid. As respects municipalization, the conditions are likely to be reversed. Foreign countries, and more especially Great Britain, seem disposed to experiment, and experiment on a very considerable scale ; and perhaps it would be wise for America to allow these countries in this matter to bear the cost of so doing, sure of our ability at any time to appropriate all the useful results of foreign experience. As yet no attempt at the municipalization of street railways has been made in any country on a sufiiciently large scale and for a long enough time to be of real significance. Glasgow and Leeds, for instance, are the two European instances more frequently referred to. From the statements often met with in the press, and the assertions heard in discussion, it might well be assumed that the experiments made in these cities amounted to an indisputable and established success ; whereas, in point of fact, such is in no degree the case.* So far from being a demonstrated success, it may, on the contrary, be confidently asserted that nowhere, as yet, has the experiment of munici- palization of street railways been worked out to any logical and ultimate results whatever, nor can it be so worked out for at least a score of years to come. Even then, political habits, social traditions, and material and economical conditions vary so greatly, and enter to so large an extent into the problem, that it will not be safe to infer that what may have proved safe and practicable in one community is either practicable or safe in another. At the present time, the municipalization of the street railways is not accepted as by any means indisputably desirable in Great Britain, while in Germany it is regarded unfavorably. This last fact is the more noteworthy, as Ger- many has been the field in which State ownership and manage- ment of steam railroads has been developed to the fullest extent, and with results pronounced to be unquestionable, as * Those seeking further information on this subject are referred to a very interesting, as well as instructive, paper submitted to the committee by Robert P. Porter, superin- tendent of the United States Census of 1880, printed in the Appendix to this report. 34 STEEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. well as most satisfactory. The grounds for this apparently- illogical action and contradictory policy were, during the last summer, briefly set forth to a member of the Committee by the highest German authority. They were purely practical. The State official referred to simply said that Germany had carried officialism as far as, in his judgment, it was prudent to go. The government employees tended always to increase ; and there, as here, it was found that employment by the govern- ment signified much which did not at once appear. The line had to be drawn somewhere ; and it was not considered expedi- ent to add to the number already existing the numerous officials and employees of all the street railway systems in the Empire. So far as Massachusetts is concerned, the Committee appre- hends that grave difficulties of a practical as well as theoretical character would present themselves, should a serious attempt be made at the complete municipalization of street railways. The public ownership of tracks in the streets, like the control of the streets, is a simple matter. Each municipality might own those in its own streets, or in a portion of its own streets, and a private company could run vehicles over the tracks, whether belonging to itself or to the public, in one or several cities and towns. It would be merely a matter of arrangement and contract. Not so municipal operation. It is necessary again, in this connection, to observe that the larger individual street railway systems are in Massachusetts rarely, if indeed ever, confined to one city or town ; the largest of those sys- tems — the West End — holds franchises from and locations in no less than eleven different towns and cities, and the Lynn & Boston in nineteen. Under these circumstances, complete municipalization obviously becomes a difficult problem. It is not supposable that one town or city could own, as well as' operate, not only tracks but the buildings and appliances in- volved in the operation of tracks, in a number of adjacent cities and towns. For instance, complications could hardly fail to arise were the city of Somerville to decide to municipalize its street railways, and operate them as distinct in every respect from the system which served all the adjacent cities and towns ; while, on the other hand, it is scarcely probable that Somer- ville would care to own lines of its own in all those cities and towns, or, if she did, that those cities and towns would regard 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 35 the scheme with complacency. A community of action through some common organization would, therefore, have first to be devised. Though obviously a necessary preliminary, this, in itself, is an intricate problem, to the solution of which the Committee has not felt called upon to address itself. Should it arise, it will have to be dealt with under conditions not now apparent, and by the Legislature itself.* The existing law does not provide for it ; nor, in the light of the investigations it has made, is the Committee prepared to suggest any altera- tions of the law in this respect. One subject, specially referred to in the act creating the Committee, remains for consideration. The Committee was directed to consider and report whether any uniform system of taxation should be adopted as applying to the street railway companies. This does not specifically raise the question of the disposition to be made of the taxes, already under the existing law collected from the street railway companies in common with all other corporations. That subject has, however, heretofore been considered, and notably by the Boston Rapid Transit Commission of 1891, and the Joint Special Tax Committee of 1893 . Both of these bodies, for reasons stated in their reports, extracts from which will be found in the Appendix (pages 202— 268), recommended an exception to the general rule in the case of street railways, and the payment of the corporation tax levied upon them to the towns in which the companies operated lines, instead of to the towns in which the holders of the stock resided. A bill to this effect was introduced in the Legislat- ure of 1893, passing the House of Representatives by a large majority, but failing in the Senate by a single vote. The con- siderations in favor of such a disposition of this tax advanced in the two reports referred to commend themselves to the judgment of the Committee, and the change has been incorporated in the form of act herewith submitted. So far, however, as a further special street railway franchise tax is concerned, grave popular misapprehension seems to exist * A form of law devised to obviate this difficulty, by providing for the joint own- ership of street railway tracks, and their operation, by a number of municipalities, was introduced into the Legislature of 1897, and was printed as House No. 774 in the legislative documents of that year. 36 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. as to the burdens in the way of taxation to which street railway companies are already subject, — a misapprehension due in no inconsiderable degree to the indirect and anomalous character of those burdens. It seems to be generally assumed that the street railway companies received, and are now receiving, public franchises of unusual value, for which they pay no money con- sideration and render very inadequate public service ; that their profits consequently are inordinately large is also assumed, and that those profits are in some way concealed through a system of vicious financiering and deceptive book-keeping. The facts, however, do not seem to be as assumed in this presentation of the case. A more careful investigation fails to disclose those Massachusetts franchises of great value given away without consideration, or unduly large profits on the part of the companies as a whole, or more than exceptional cases of vicious financiering, or a deceptive general system of book- keeping. There are in all 77 street railway companies in op- eration in the Commonwealth. Of these, one, the Boston Elevated, or West End, Street Railway, may be left out of con- sideration, its case being exceptional to such a degree as to make it necessary to put it in a separate class, as has in fact been done through recent legislation (Acts 1897, chapter 500). Of the 76 remaining active companies, 34 paid no dividends in 1897, while 42 paid dividends of from 1.25 to 10.5 percent., averaging 4.29 per cent., — a return certainly not excessive. Upon this point the inquiries of the Committee tend to confirm the conclusions of the Board of Railroad Commissioners in their report for 1896 (page 110). While in the business of operating street railways, as in every other business, there are — as, within reasonable limits, there should be — exceptional cases of large profit offsetting cases of failure to earn reason- able profits, yet the idea sometimes entertained that the electric railway is likely to prove a source of extraordinary or abnormal profit must apparently be abandoned. " It is a close business, yielding with skilful and prudent management only a fair aver- age return, quite within the limit allowed by statute and con- servative opinion as adequate and proper for investments of this character." * * The large increase in the operations of the street railway companies, due to the application of electricity, has occurred almost wholly since 1893. The following table 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 37 But it is often alleged that the capitalization of the companies is excessive and fictitious, and that, if measured by actual cost, the percentage paid in dividends is deceptive. This is a diffi- cult question to decide ; but the laws of Massachusetts as to capitalization have been strictly drawn and rigidly adminis- tered, nor has any evidence been adduced showing that they have been peculiarly ineffective. On the contrary, using round numbers only, the capitalization per mile in stock and bonds ($46,600) is less in Massachusetts than the average ($49,500) in the New England States, not a third of what it is in New York ($177,800) or half what it is in Pennsylvania ($128,200), less than half what it is ($94,100) in the United States as a whole; and it is less than that in Great Britain ($47,000), where both construction and appliances are far less costly and elaborate, and over-capitalization has been guarded against with the utmost care. The truth of this allegation in the case of the Massachusetts street railway companies remains, therefore, to be demonstrated, the weight of attainable evidence being dis- tinctly the other way. The Committee has already discussed what may be termed the special contributions made by the street railway companies to the cost of paving and the removal of snow and ice, and also to their participation in the cost of certain street widenings ; and schemes of law are herewith submitted, looking to the better regulation of these matters. The changes therein recommended by the Committee are in main part commuta- tions of burdens already imposed from payment by work to shows the percentage of net earnings of the street railway companies of Massachusetts, exclusive of the West End Company, to their capital investment for each of the five years specified, and for the whole period. It will be observed that, without any provi- sion being made for a reserve fund, the average profit on the capital invested has, dur- ing the whole period, averaged a trifle only above 6 per cent, per annum. Capital Investment. Net Earnings. Percentage of Earnings to Investment. 1893, 1894, 1895, 1896, 1897, $24,343,010 26,341,333 29,147,714 33,878,948 37,230,924 $1,256,647 1,400,912 1,983,248 2,273,552 2,405,904 Average for five years, 5.16 5.32 6.80 6.71 6.46 6.16 38 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. payment in money; the present proposition is of a different nature. It looks to the imposition on street railway companies of a special franchise tax. The idea of such a tax is not new. The draft of a proposed act providing for one was specially referred for consideration to the large and exceptionally able Rapid Transit Commission of 1891, already referred to, and the portions of the report of that commission relating to the subject are printed in the Appendix. The Committee concurs in the general conclusions on this subject reached by the Rapid Transit Commission. The sys- tem of taxation of corporate franchises in use in Massachusetts is well defined, and, in general, works satisfactorily. All cor- porations, including street railway corporations, pay to the State their proportionate share of the general taxes according to the market value of their capital stock, which is perhaps the best index of their ability to contribute. The distribution of this tax is a distinct question, and, so far as the street railways are concerned, has already been discussed. Aside from the matter of distribution, there seems to the Committee no suffi- cient reason to suggest any additional taxation of street rail- ways except in the following particular. It is a well-recognized principle in the treatment of street railway and other public service corporations in Europe, as well as elsewhere, to pro- vide that, after the owners and organizers have received a reasonable return upon their enterprise and investment, any excess of profits over and above a fixed amount should in part be paid to the government in the nature of a franchise tax. This principle commends itself to the Committee. It is not subject to the criticism, which appears to be sound, that a limitation of dividends hampers enterprise and improvement. Where a corporation is not limited in the amount of dividend it may earn, but is simply required to pay over a sum equal to the excess of dividends actually paid over a fixed and reason- able percentage on its capital stock, it will be constantly spurred to render such service that its profits will increase. Bein«- a public service corporation, owned and operated for private profit, it seems just and in accordance with sound principles that, when the private ownership has received a reasonable return upon its investment, the public should share, through a 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 39 form of special taxation, in the increment of profit, provided it can do so without the danger of offering an inducement to those in control of the property to stint or conceal their profits. A provision to this effect is incorporated in the draft of the act herewith submitted, similar in its general character to that recommended by the Rapid Transit Commission of 1891. (Eeport, pages 119, 124, 281.) Respectfully submitted, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. WM. W. CRAPO. ELIHU B. HAYES. (EommontDealtl) of Jttaasactjusett©. In the Year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Ninety-eight. AN ACT Relative to Street Railways. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : 1 Section 1. In the construction of this act, unless 2 such meaning would be repugnant to the context, ' ' street 3 railways" and "railways" shall mean all railways, in- 4 eluding tracks, poles, wires, and other appliances and 5 equipments connected therewith, which are constructed 6 on, in, under or above the public highways or streets, 7 and operated by any motive power other than steam. 8 ' ' Street railway companies " and ' ' companies " shall 9 mean all corporations, persons, partnerships or asso- 10 ciations constructing, maintaining or operating street 11 railways. 1 Section 2. In the case of street railway companies, 2 the return to the tax commissioner under the provisions 3 of section thirty-eight of chapter thirteen of the Public 4 Statutes shall also contain a statement under the oath of 5 the treasurer of every such company giving the length 6 of the tracks operated by it in each city and town in the 42 STKEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. 7 Commonwealth on the thirtieth day of September next 8 preceding the date of the return, which length shall be 9 determined by measuring as single tracks the total length 10 of all tracks operated by such company, including sidings 11 and turn-outs, whether owned or leased by it, or over 12 which it has trackage rights only ; and said return shall 13 also contain a statement under the oath of the treasurer 14 of every such company showing the amount of the capital 15 stock of the company and of the dividends paid thereon 1 6 during the year ending on the thirtieth day of September 17 last preceding and during each and every year from the 18 organization of the company. [Sections 2, 4 and 5 relate solely to the disposition to be made of the franchise tax collected from street railway companies, in common with other corporations, under laws now in force. This tax is now paid into the State Treasury, and then paid over to the cities or towns in which the owners of the stock of the companies reside, or, in the case of non-resident stockholders, retaine'd in the Treasury. For reasons set forth in the report (page 35) . it is now proposed, by means of the sections named, to make an exception to the general rule in the case of street railway companies, and to pay the cor- poration tax collected from them over to the cities or towns in which the tracks operated by those companies are situated, and from which their revenues are derived, instead of to the cities or towns in which the owners of the stock reside. This matter was specially referred to by the Rapid Transit Com- mission of 1891 (Report, pages 116-119, 281), and by the Joint Legislative Special Tax Committee of 1893 (Docu- ments, 1894, Senate, No. 9, pages 27-29). It is alluded to in the report of the Tax Commission of 1897, recently pub- lished (pages 76-77), but no recommendations in regard to it were there made. It was discussed during the hearings' before the Committee. That now recommended has been recognized by the Legislature as the proper rule for dis- tribution in the case of the street railways included in the so-called West End, or Boston Elevated, system (Acts 1897, chapter 500, section 10), and is now, by the foregoing sec- tion, made of general application.] 1 Section 3. Whenever a street railway company has 2 paid during the year ending on the thirtieth day of Sep- 3 tember next preceding the date of the return referred to 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 43 4 in section two of this act, dividends exceeding in the a°-- to & 5 gregate eight per centum upon its capital stock, said 6 company shall, for every such year, in addition to the 7 tax upon its corporate franchise for which it is liable 8 under the provisions of chapter thirteen of the Public 9 Statutes, pay to the treasurer of the Commonwealth a 10 tax equal to the amount of such excess : provided, ho to- ll ever, that no company shall be liable to pay such addi- 12 tional tax which has not from the date of its organization 13 paid dividends equivalent in the aggregate to at least six 14 per centum per annum upon its capital stock from year 15 to year. Said tax shall be determined and paid in the 16 manner provided in said chapter thirteen in relation to 17 taxes upon the corporate franchises of street railways. [Section 3 provides for a special franchise tax in addition to the regular corporation tax now assessed on street railways. (In regard to this proposed additional tax, see Report, pages 37-39; Report of Rapid Transit Commission of 1891, pages 119, 281 283 ; Acts 1897, chapter 500, section 10.) While imposing in certain cases, and under special conditions, a further franchise tax on street railways, the foregoing section merely extends the principle of taxation contained in the Boston elevated railway act of 1897 (chapter 500, section 10) so as to include, as far as conditions warrant, the other street railway companies of the Commonwealth.] 1 Section 4. Prior to the first day of November in each 2 year, the tax commissioner shall apportion the amount of 3 the tax for which each street railway company is liable 4 under the provisions of chapter thirteen of the Public 5 Statutes, and under the provisions of section three of this 6 act, among the several cities and towns in proportion to 7 the length of tracks operated by such company in said 8 cities and towns respectively, subject to appeal to the 9 board of appeal constituted by sections sixty-one and 10 sixty-two of said chapter thirteen. The tax commissioner 11 shall notify the treasurers of every such city and town 12 of the share of said tax so apportioned to each city and 44 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. 13 town, and he shall also certify to the treasurer of the 14 Commonwealth the shares thus apportioned as finally 15 determined in case of appeal. [See note to section 2. ] 1 Section 5. As soon as practicable after the receipt 2 of said tax and of the certificate of apportionment thereof 3 by the tax commissioner, the treasurer of the Common- 4 wealth shall credit and pay over to the treasurers of the 5 several cities and towns the shares of said tax appor- tioned to them respectively as aforesaid. [See note to section 2.] 1 Section 6. Every street railway company shall on 2 or before the fifteenth day of October in each year make ,3 and file in the office of the board of assessors of every 4 city and town in which any portion of the railway oper- 5 ated by it is situated, ,a return signed and sworn to by its 6 president and treasurer, stating the length of tracks 7 operated by it in such city or town, and also the total 8 length of tracks operated by it, determined as provided 9 in section two of this act, and also the amount of its 10 gross receipts during the year ending the thirtieth day 11 of September next preceding, which gross receipts shall 12 include all amounts received by it from the operation of 13 its railway, but shall not include income derived from 14 other sources. [Sections 6 to 11 inclusive relate to the same subject. The con- siderations on which they are based are discussed in the Report, pages 26- 2«. Certain burdens in the way of street paving, clearing of ice and snow, etc , now imposed on the street railway companies in labor, etc., are commuted into their fair equivalent in money payments The sections are designed to restore to the cities and towns complete control of their streets and responsibility for their condition, while providing for money payments from the companies equal to the cost of the work in connection with streets done by them under all provisions of law now in force.] 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 45 1 Section 7. On or before the first day of November 2 in each year, the assessors of every city and town in 3 which any street railways are operated shall assess on 4 each company operating such railways therein, a tax of 5 an amount equal to such proportion of the following per- 6 centages of the gross receipts of such company as the 7 length of tracks operated by it in such city or town bears 8 to the total length of tracks operated by it, to wit : — 9 In case of companies whose annual gross receipts per 10 mile of track operated are seven thousand dollars or less, 11 two per centum of the total annual gross receipts ; in 12 case of companies whose annual gross receipts per mile 13 of track operated are more than seven thousand dollars 14 and less than fourteen thousand dollars, two and one- 15 quarter per centum of the total annual gross receipts ; 16 in case of companies whose annual gross receipts per 17 mile of track operated are more than fourteen thousand 18 dollars and less than twenty-one thousand dollars, two 19 and one-half per centum of the total annual gross 20 receipts ; in case of companies whose annual gross re- 21 ceipts per mile of track operated are more than twenty- 22 one thousand dollars and less than twenty-eight thousand 23 dollars, two and three-quarters per centum of the total 24 annual gross receipts ; and in case of companies whose 25 annual gross receipts per mile of track operated are 26 twenty-eight thousand dollars or more, three per centum 27 of the total annual gross receipts. 28 The tax provided by this section shall be in addition 29 to the taxes now provided by law. [See note to section 6.] 1 Section 8. Prior to the fifteenth day of November in 2 each year, the assessors of every city and town shall 3 notify the collector of taxes in such city or town of the 4 amount of the tax assessed therein on every street rail- 46 STEEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. 5 way company under the provisions of section seven of 6 this act, and the collector shall forthwith notify the treas- 7 urer of every such street railway of the amount of the 8 tax so assessed on it. Said tax shall become due and 9 payable to such city or town within thirty days from the 10 receipt by such company of said notice of the amount of 11 said tax. 12 All the provisions of law relating to the collection of 13 taxes on property taxed locally, so far as the same are 14 applicable, shall apply to the tax assessed under said sec- 15 tion seven. [See note to section 6.] 1 Section 9. All amounts paid to cities and towns 2 under the provisions of sections five and eight of this 3 act, shall be treated by such cities and towns as a sepa- 4 rate fund, and shall be applied to the construction, repair 5 and maintenance of the public ways within such cities 6 and towns. [See note to section 6.] 1 Section 10. Street railway companies shall not be 2 required to keep any portion of the surface material of 3 streets, roads and bridges in repair ; but whenever the 4 same is disturbed by reason of the original construction 5 or subsequent alteration or extension of any railway, or 6 by reason of any repairs or renewals of any railway or 7 any part "thereof, the company owning or operating such 8 railway shall at its own cost renew and replace said sur- 9 face material with the same form of construction, or 10 with such other form as the superintendent of streets, or 11 other officer exercising like powers, shall approve, and 12 shall restore the same to as good condition as the same 13 was at the time of such disturbance. Every street 14 railway company shall be liable for any loss or injury 15 that any person may sustain by reason of the careless- 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 47 16 ness, neglect or misconduct of its agents or servants in 17 the construction, alteration, extension, repair or renewal 18 of its railway, or in the renewal or replacing of the 19 surface of the streets disturbed as aforesaid. [See note to section 6.] 1 Section 11. Street railway companies may clear 2 snow from their tracks in such manner as may be 3 approved by the superintendent of streets, or by any 4 other officer exercising like powers, and shall, under the 5 direction of such superintendent or officer, level the snow 6 thrown upon the streets by them so as to make the high- 7 ways safe for public travel ; but they shall not be 8 required to remove from the streets snow displaced in 9 clearing their tracks as aforesaid. [See note to section 6.] 1 Section 12. The board of aldermen of a city or the 2 selectmen of a town, upon the petition for an original 3 location of tracks in such city or town by the board of 4 directors of a corporation organized under the provisions 5 of sections two to six inclusive of chapter one hundred 6 and thirteen of the Public Statutes, or under a special 7 legislative act, shall give notice to all parties interested 8 of the time and place at which they will consider such 9 petition, at least fourteen days before the meeting of 10 such board or selectmen for considering said petition, by 11 publication in one or more newspapers published in said 12 city or town, and if none such is published then by pub- 13 lication in one or more newspapers published in the 14 county in which said city or town is located ; and after 15 hearing, if in their opinion public convenience and ne- 16 cessity require, they shall grant said location or any 17 portion thereof. In granting said location, they may 18 prescribe the manner in which said tracks shall be laid, 19 and the kind of rails, poles, wires and other appliances 48 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. 20 which shall be used, and they may also impose such 21 other terms, conditions and obligations in addition to 22 those applying to all street railways under the general 23 provisions of law, as the public interest may in their 24 judgment require ; and the location thus granted shall 25 be deemed and taken to be the true location of the tracks 26 of the railway, if an acceptance thereof in writing by 27 said directors is filed with said board of aldermen or with 28 said selectmen within thirty days after receiving notice 29 of the granting of the location. 30 If either the majority in value as determined by the 31 last preceding assessment for taxation, or not less than 32 ten in number, of those owning real estate abutting on 33 any public way in which a location of a street railway 34 has been granted shall, within thirty days after the 35 granting of such location, file a written protest with the 36 board of railroad commissioners, such location shall not 37 be valid so far as such way is concerned until approved 38 by the board of railroad commissioners after public 39 notice and a hearing. No company shall commence 40 construction under an order of a board of aldermen or 41 of selectmen granting a location as aforesaid until the 42 expiration of the time in which such protest may be 43 filed with said board of railroad commissioners, nor, in 44 case such protest is so filed, until said board of railroad 45 commissioners has taken final action thereon approving 46 the same. [The first paragraph (lines 1-29) of section 12 modifies the exist- ing law regulating the grant of locations only in so far as is necessary to make it conform to the interpretation of that law which has in practice grown up (see pages 22 and 23 of the Report). The second paragraph (lines 30-46) is discussed, and grounds on which it is recommended are set forth, on page 25 of the Report.] 1 Section 13. The board of aldermen of a city or the 2 selectmen of a town, upon the petition of the board of 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 49 3 directors of a street railway company whose tracks are 4 located in said city or town, and after notice and hearing 5 as provided in section twelve of this act, may grant a loca- 6 tion for the extension of the tracks of such company and 7 prescribe the manner in which said tracks shall be laid 8 and the kind of rails, poles, wires and other appliances 9 which shall be used; but they shall not impose as terms 10 or conditions of such grant any obligations other than or 11 in addition to those applying to all street railways under 12 the general provisions of law, except such as were im- 13 posed in the original grant of location. The provisions 14 of section twelve of this act as to acceptance, and as to 15 protest of abutters and approval by the board of railroad 16 commissioners, shall apply to grants of extensions under 17 this section. [Section 12 provides for original grants of locations, and section 13 for extensions of locations under grants already made. The purpose of the section is to put a restriction on the ten- dency of local boards to take advantage of the public necessity for some extension to impose on companies new, and perhaps unreasonable, burdens and restrictions, not contained in the original grant, or provided by the general laws (see Report, page 23).] 1 Section 14. The board of aldermen of a city or the 2 selectmen of a town, upon the petition of the board of 3 directors of a street railway company whose tracks are 4 located in said city or town, or upon the petition of any 5 interested party, after notice and hearing as provided in 6 section twelve of this act, may alter the location of tracks 7 of said company in the manner and subject to the pro- 8 visions contained in section thirteen of this act. Such 9 alterations shall be made by the company within such 10 time, and the expense thereof shall be borne by such 11 party, as the board of aldermen or selectmen may de- 12 termine. 50 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. [The foregoing section is intended to provide for alterations of locations, as distinguished from original grants and from extensions, provided for in the two previous sections (sections 12, 13) . It is framed on the same principles as those sections.] 1 Section 15. The board of aldermen of a city or the 2 selectmen of a town, after the expiration of one year from 3 the opening for use of a street railway in their city or 4 town, if the interests of the public require, may order 5 that the location of any tracks shall be revoked ; but no 6 revocation of a location of a street railway shall be valid 7 until approved by the board of railroad commissioners 8 after public notice and hearing, unless the company con- 9 sent thereto in writing within thirty days after such 10 order of revocation. Upon revocation as aforesaid, the 11 company shall remove the tracks in conformity with the 12 order of revocation, and shall put the portion of the sur- 13 face of streets disturbed by such removal in as good con- 14 dition as the adjacent surface of said streets. If the 15 company neglects to execute such order after thirty days' 16 notice thereof, the board of aldermen or selectmen may 17 cause the same to be executed and the work done at 18 the expense of the company, to be recovered in an action 19 of tort. [Section 15 relates to the revocation of locations by local boards. The subject is discussed, and the principles upon which this section is framed are set forth in the Report, pages 17-21, 23-25 (see also the Twenty-seventh Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners (1896), pages 110-113).] 1 Section 16. Street railway companies may provide 2 cars for special service and may make special rates there- 3 for. They may furnish free transportation for their own 4 employees, for policemen and firemen in uniform, and for 5 children under five years of age. They may also on the 6 request of charitable associations furnish free transporta- 7 tion for children's excursions, and they may make special 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 51 8 rates for pupils in day and evening schools ; but they 9 shall not give free tickets or passes to any municipal offi- 10 cial or to any person in the employ of any city or town, 11 nor shall they transport over their lines for less than the 12 established fare any persons except as hereinbefore au- 13 thorized. The violation of the provisions of this section 14 by a company may be alleged as a misdemeanor in any 15 hearing before the board of railroad commissioners, upon 16 appeal from an order of a board of aldermen or of select- 17 men revoking the location of such company, and if the 18 board of railroad commissioners in its discretion so 19 decides, shall constitute valid and sufficient ground upon 20 which to approve of the revocation of such location or 21 any portion thereof. [The foregoing section has been framed in the interest of both the public and the street railway companies. It is intended to put a stop to a recognized existing abuse from which pub- lic as well as corporate interests are believed to suffer. The usual penalty in such cases has not been imposed, for the reason that its inefficiency has been established by experience.] 1 Section 17. Whenever a street or highway in which 2 there are no street railway tracks located, is widened 3 under the provisions of chapter fifty-one of the Public 4 Statutes by an order declaring the widening to be ren- 5 dered necessary for the public convenience for the pur- 6 pose of granting a location of street railway tracks 7 therein, as prayed for by a pending petition for such 8 location, a proportionate share of the expense of such 9 widening may be assessed upon a street railway company 10 whose tracks have been located in said street or highway 11 so widened, provided the amount of such assessment, in 12 addition to the amounts assessed on real estate, shall not 13 exceed the total cost of said widening. [Sections 17-20 are recommended for the reasons set forth on pages 2.5 and 26 of the Report. In cases where streets are widened in order that the tracks of a street railway may be 52 STEEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. located in them, it would seem obviously just that the com- pany should be empowered to assume such portion of the cost of widening as may be agreed on between the parties in mak- ing the location ; and that the money so invested should be treated as part of the construction account of the street rail- way company, and included in its capitalization. On the other hand, where, at the expiration of a reasonable period after a location has been granted, the street widening is made necessary either by the presence of railroad tracks or by increased traffic, the railway company, as enjoying a franchise practically exclusive for the carriage of passengers through the street in question, derives presumably a direct resulting benefit from the widening proposed. For the reason stated in the Report (pages 25, 26), therefore, it would seem just that the franchises of street railway corporations should be assessed for betterments on the same principle as the ad- jacent real estate, and the community at large For reasons already stated, this payment also should be regarded as in the light of a construction investment, and provision made for the issue of capital stock against it.] 1 Section 18. Whenever a street or highway in which 2 the tracks of a street railway company have been located 3 for a period of five years is widened under the provisions 4 of chapter fifty-one of the Public Statutes by an order 5 declaring the widening to be in part rendered necessary 6 for the public convenience on account of the location of 7 said tracks, a proportionate share of the expense of such 8 widening may be assessed upon said street railway com- 9 pany, provided that no such assessment shall exceed the 10 aggregate amount of all the betterments assessed upon 11 real estate, and that no such assessment shall exceed 12 one-quarter of the total cost of said widening [See note to section 17.] 1 Section 19. The provisions relating to notice, time 2 of payment, interest, appeal by party aggrieved, and all 3 other provisions of chapter fifty-one of the Public Stat- 4 utes and of all laws relating to the assessment of better- 5 ments on real estate, so far as the same are applicable, 6 shall apply to assessments made under the provisions of 1898.] HOUSE— No. 475. 53 7 sections seventeen and eighteen of this act. Said assess- 8 ments shall be collected in the manner provided for the 9 collection of taxes assessed locally. [See note to section 17.] 1 Section 20. Under the provisions of law relating to 2 the increase of capital stock of street railway companies, 3 a street railway company may issue capital stock to the 4 amount which may be paid by it under the provisions 5 of sections seventeen and eighteen of this act. [See note to section 17.] 1 Section 21. The board of aldermen of a city or the 2 selectmen of a town in which a street railway as located 3 may apply to the board of railroad commissioners, who, 4 after due notice to the parties interested and a hearing, 5 may revise and regulate the fares established by said 6 company ; but such fares shall not, without the consent 7 of the company, be reduced below the average rate of 8 fare charged for similar service by other street railway 9 companies, which, in the judgment of the board of rail- 10 road commissioners, are operated under substantially 11 similar conditions. [Section 2 1 is proposed as a substitute for section 44 of chapter 113 of the Public Statutes, which relates to reduction of fares, but provides that no reduction shall be made without the consent of the company, by which fares shall " be so reduced as to yield, with all other profits derived from oper- ating its road, an income of less than ten per cent, upon the actual cost of construction," etc. The law as it stands tends to defeat itself. Circumstances can be readily imagined in which the growth of traffic is prevented by an unreasonable scale of fares. The company operating the street railway may not earn ten per cent, upon the cost of construction, for the very reason that the growth of traffic is impeded by the scale of fares charged. Nevertheless, under the existing law it would seem to be impossible to reduce those fares. The measure for what constitutes reasonable fares here proposed is that now in practical use, which it is thus sought to incor- porate into the law in place of the old rule above referred to, which is either inoperative, or open to the objection stated.] 54 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. 1 Section 22. Sections fifty-seven and fifty-eight of 2 chapter thirteen of the Public Statutes, so far as said 3 sections relate to the distribution of taxes assessed and 4 collected upon the corporate franchise of street railway 5 companies ; section thirty-two of chapter one hundred 6 and thirteen of the Public Statutes ; so much of section 7 twenty-seven of said chapter one hundred and thirteen 8 as relates to the removal of snow and ice ; and sections 9 seven, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty- 10 four, forty-four and forty-five of said chapter one hun- 11 dred and thirteen and all other acts and parts of acts 12 inconsistent herewith, are hereby repealed. 1 Section 23. This act shall take effect on the first day 2 of October in the year eighteen hundred and ninety- 3 eight, except as to sections six and seven, and, as to 4 those sections, this act shall take effect on the first day of 5 October in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-nine. [Under the foregoing section, two different periods have been fixed for this act to take effect. So far as it relates to the dis- tribution of taxes or the imposition of new taxes, and in other miscellaneous respects, it is proposed that it shall take effect at the close of the present street railway year, the taxes assessed during the current year being paid over to cities and towns, in accordance with the provisions of sections 2-9. As the commutation tax provided for in sections 6 and 7 affects, to a greater or less extent the methods of book-keep- ing, etc., of the companies, these sections are not to take effect until the first of October, 1899, thus giving the com- panies an opportunity to change their methods of accounting on the first of October next after the passage of the act, so as to make them conform to its provisions.] 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 55 (UrnnmoraDcaltt) oi Jtta00ad)U0£tts. In the Year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Ninety-eight. AN ACT To authorize Cities and Towns to construct Tracks of Street Eailways in Public Ways, or to acquire the Same. Be it enacted by (lie Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : 1 Section 1. Any city or town ma} r construct street 2 railway tracks in any public way within the limits of 3 such city or town, or put down such tracks as part of 4 the street pavement thereof, whenever it may adjudge 5 public convenience requires. Such tracks shall be main- 6 tained and kept in repair like other portions of the streets 7 or ways in which they are laid, and any street railway 8 company may run cars over the same with the consent 9 of the proper authorities of such city or town, and upon 10 such terms and regulations as may be mutually agreed ; 11 but nothing contained in this act shall be held to author- 12 ize towns or cities to run cars upon such tracks, or other- 13 wise to operate street railways. 1 Section 2. Any city or town may take and possess 2 the tracks, poles and fixtures located in any street or 56 STEEET KAILWAYS. [Feb. 3 public way of such city or town, and constituting part 4 of the surface or substructure of such street or way, 5 when owned by any street railway company, upon giving 6 to such company six months' notice in writing of its in- 7 tention so to do ; but such taking shall not constitute a 8 revocation in whole or in part of the location of such 9 street railway company, or affect its obligations or right 10 to run cars over the tracks so taken. 1 Section 3. Compensation for all property taken 2 under the foregoing sections shall be paid by the city or 3 town to the company owning the same, such compensa- 4 tion to be ascertained in the manner now provided by 5 law in case of the taking of property for the laying out 6 or widening of streets ; but such compensation shall not 7 exceed in amount the actual value of the property as 8 measured by the estimated cost of replacing the same in 9 its condition at the time of the transfer of possession. 1 Section 4. After the taking and transfer of posses- 2 sion of street railway tracks as provided in the two 3 preceding sections, the railway company or companies 4 holding locations in such street shall have the rierht and 5 be under obligation to run cars over the said tracks in 6 the manner provided in their franchise, but they shall, in 7 addition to all payments otherwise provided by law or 8 special agreement, pay a further sum for the use and 9 maintenance of the tracks and fixtures so taken, to be 10 from time to time fixed by mutual agreement for periods 11 not exceeding seven years during the continuance of the 12 franchise ; and, in case the parties are unable to a°ree on 13 the amount of the sums to be so paid, such amount shall 14 be fixed by the award of three referees to be appointed 15 by the supreme judicial court on the petition of either 16 party after thirty days' notice in writing to the other 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 57 17 party or parties concerned. The award of said referees 18 shall be based on the payment of interest on the actual 19 cost of the tracks in question, together with a reason- 20 able allowance for the repair and renewal of the same, 21 but shall include no other items and no additional fran- 22 chise tax ; and it shall continue in force for the period of 23 seven years, unless set aside by a revocation of loca- 24 tions, or altered by mutual consent. [See Report, pages 29-32 ; also Sixth Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners, January, 1875, pages 23-25, 67. Section 1 of the foregoing act applies to the case of street railroad companies hereafter incorporated and locations granted. Section 2 provides for the taking over of tracks in locations already granted. Sections 3 and 4 establish the rule of compensation in case of the taking over by municipalities of the tracks of street railway companies.] APPENDICES. Appendix A. REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. To the Committee to investigate the Subject of the Relations between Cities and Towns and Street Railway Corporations : — Gentlemen: — It must be evident that corporations using the streets for the purpose of carrying on their business are by their very nature monopolistic ; that this use is such as to render it impossible for two or more to occupy the same street and leave the surface in condition for the ordinary use of the public. It is clear that, if cities or towns grant locations to two or more street railways in the same street, or even in parallel streets, competition, which at first will be fierce, must soon lead to such financial results as will make it neces- sary for the railways to unite, as a measure of self -protection ; and as soon as this consolidation takes place, competition will cease. The public must suffer, often severely, from the increased capitalization which results from this competition, as the consolidated road inva- riably has a capitalization equal to the sum of that of the competing roads, and when competition ends, there remains much track laid in different streets which is not needed by the consolidated road, but is a burden on it and a nuisance to the public. This principle of the impossibility of competition among public-service corporations using the highways has been fully recognized in Europe, and seems to be approaching the same point in this country. The street railway law of Massachusetts provides means by which one railroad may, whenever the local authorities consider it expedient, use the tracks of another road ; and the law in relation to gas and electric light companies allows an appeal from any decision permitting a second company belonging to either of these classes to use streets already occupied by a similar company. It is clear that, as com- petition is impossible and a monopoly the only means of securing street railway service under conditions which will allow the free investment of capital, regulations must be established which will prevent the company in control of such service from oppressing the 62 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. public, and compel it to share its prosperity with its patrons. These regulations may be made directly by the State itself, or may by the State be delegated to agents, and these agents may be either a board of commissioners appointed directly by the State authorities, or local officials of the city or town, acting under authority granted by the Legislature to the municipalities, and the power of regulation may be employed in various ways. The history of street railway legislation in Massachusetts shows the evolution of the law concerning them. The first grant made by the Legislature for the construction and operation of such a road in the public highways was that to the Metropolitan Eailroad Com- pany of Boston, created by authority of chapter 353 of the Acts of the year 1853, approved May 21 of that year. A similar charter was granted by chapter 383 of the Acts of the same year, approved May 25, to the Cambridge Street Railroad Company. These two companies, created at nearly the same time, were the only ones char- tered in that year, but in the years immediately following many special charters were granted. The earlier of these are identical in form, and provide for certain privileges in the streets, and authorize the city authorities to impose certain restrictions upon the corpora- tions. These charters provide that the mayor and aldermen shall determine in what streets the railway company may lay its tracks, the distance from the sidewalk at which the rails shall be laid, the grade and the gauge ; and they contain, also, a provision that the mayor and aldermen shall at all times have power to make such regulations as to the speed of the cars and mode of use of the tracks as public safety and convenience may require. The company is given power to construct, maintain and use such tracks on the location granted by the municipal authorities ; subject, however, to a pro- vision that the existence of the corporation shall be limited to a period of fifty years from the date of the passage of the act. In the next year supplementary acts were passed for both of these companies, providing that at any time after the expiration of one year from the opening of the road for use the mayor and aldermen may by a majority vote determine that any of the track which the board sees fit shall be discontinued, and thereupon the tracks of the company shall forthwith be taken up and removed in conformity with the vote or order of the mayor and aldermen. In these supplementary acts it is also provided that notice shall be given to the abutters before any grant is made, and that rates of fare within the city of Boston shall never exceed five cents, unless by consent of the mayor and alder- men. From this time the section relating to the revocation of the location was inserted in each new charter. 1898.J HOUSE — No. 475. 63 All these charters require that the corporation shall maintain and keep in repair such portion of the streets and bridges as shall be occupied by its tracks. As early as 1857 a provision is made in a charter (chapter 230, Acts of 1857), allowing one road to run over the tracks of another, thus recognizing at a very early date in the history of street railway legislation the infeasibility of permitting two lines of track in the same street. One act, that incorporating the Dorchester Avenue Railroad Com- pany (chapter 435, Acts of 1854) , required it to keep in repair the whole of the bed of any road in the town of Dorchester in which it might lay tracks ; but in the next year this act was amended by the repeal of this clause, and the substitution of a proviso that only that part of the road occupied by the tracks of the railway should be kept in repair, and further defining that portion "to be the space between the rails and so much on each side thereof as shall be within the per- pendicular let fall from the extreme width of any car or carriage used thereon, being the space from which the public travel is excluded during the passing of said car or carriage." The earlier charters all contain clauses allowing the purchase by the municipality of " all the franchise, property, rights and machinery of the company at any time after the expiration of ten years from the opening of any part of the road, by paying for these rights such a sum as will reimburse to each person who may then be a stockholder therein the par value of his stock, together with a net profit of ten per cent, per annum from the time of the transfer of said stock to him on the books of the corporation, deducting the dividends re- ceived by said stockholder thereon." In 1863 a general law was passed governing the use of the tracks of one road by another, and in 1864 a general law in relation to street railway companies was enacted, covering the whole subject of the organization of such companies and the construction and opera- tion of the roads. In this general law the proviso allowing for the municipal purchase of tracks and property was omitted, as was also any limitation of the life of the charter, — provisions which had been up to this time inserted in the special charters. The requirement as to the maintenance of the street was by this act made to cover the space within the tracks and eighteen inches on each side. The same year a resolve was passed for the appointment of a commission to consider the whole general subject of street railways ; and the commission appointed under this resolve made a report early in 1865, and submitted a bill, which, however, failed of passage. In the report and the bill it was recognized that in many cases un- just restrictions were inserted by the local authorities, and it was 64 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. provided that, wherever any conditions other than those in relation to pavement were inserted, good and sufficient reasons must be stated, and these reasons must be good in law. The clause relatiug to revocation of locations was also amended in the same way, in order to allow an appeal to be taken to the courts. Provision was made, in the event of a refusal on the part of a board of aldermen or selectmen to grant a location, that an appeal might be taken to the supreme court, which should appoint commissioners to pass upon the question, and these commissioners were to have the full authority of the aldermen in the premises, and their finding was to be final. This commission also recommended that, in the event of the appointment of a board of railroad commissioners, a subject then under discussion, such board should have the same jurisdiction over street railways as over steam railroads. In 1871, shortly after the creation of this board, the entire law was codified, and various modifications which had from time to time been enacted were incorporated therein. This statute, which has since that date been more or less amended to meet changed conditions, especially as regards issues of stock and the introduction of electric power, remains the fundamental law of street railways, and, under chapter 113 of the Public Statutes, governs their organization, con- struction and operation at the present time. It was undoubtedly the intention, in passing these general acts, to do away with the necessity of asking the Legislature for the incor- poration of every road ; but in spite of their existence a large num- ber of special charters have been granted from that time to this, some, even, at the last session. A few of these charters were per- haps necessary, because of some peculiar local condition not cov- ered by the terms of the general law, or because of conditions which possibly did not exist at the time of its passage ; but in the great majority of cases they are asked for because of the erroneous idea existing in the community that such special charters carry with them greater privileges than do those of companies organized under the general law. While this development of the legal relations of the companies and the municipalities has been going on, and the law has slowly adjusted itself to the changed condition of affairs, a much greater change has taken place in the street railway itself, if considered from a commer- cial and technical stand-point. The last ten years have seen an enormous development of the street railway system, beginning about 1887, when electricity was demonstrated to be a practical form of traction and a probable commercial success. In this period electric lines have been equipped within this Commonwealth amounting to 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 65 about fifteen hundred miles, while those operated by horse power have diminished from a maximum, in 1888, of five hundred and thirty-three miles, to less than thirty, the total mileage having in- creased in the ten years more than one thousand miles. Since 1887 the relations existing between the railways and the municipalities and the railways and the public have changed with great rapidity. For- merly the street car was a small affair, drawn by one or two horses, moving at a speed not to exceed eight or ten miles an hour ; now we have large cars, moving at high rates of speed, often exceeding twenty-five miles per hour when away from the crowded streets of the city. The most important result of the introduction of electricity as a motive power was undoubtedly this increase in speed, which led directly to a great increase in the area served within a given time. It may be assumed that one hour represents the limit to which people are restricted as the time to be spent on the journey from house to work ; that is, the limit of the availability of the suburban district as a place of residence. A street car drawn by horses moving at the rate of eight miles per hour could serve an area of two hundred square miles, within which people might reach the centre of a district by one hour's travel. "With electric power and the speed of the cars reaching an average of fifteen miles an hour the area which can be served within an hour's journey from the cen- tral point reaches seven hundred square miles, or three and one-half times as great as was the case when horses were employed. The spread of population due to this increased speed of transit has been very marked, and many benefits accrue therefrom. Instead of being obliged to reside within limited areas, where land is expensive and rents consequently high, the population may be spread out into districts where land is of less value, and where each house may stand detached from its neighbors. This spread of population over a larger area is also a great advantage to the street railways ; for, when people lived within limited urban areas the majority of them were able to walk to and from their work, but now the railways obtain a steady patronage from those who desire to live outside of the heart of the cities beyond walking distance, and must therefore use the railway cars at least twice in each day. Another class which benefits greatly by rapid street car service is the land owner, who finds his fields commanding prices greatly in excess of any which could be obtained for them for agricultural purposes. As time went on, these suburban street railways were extended ; lines starting from different centres of population were connected, and in this way the interurban lines were created. These lines, giving frequent and rapid service between the cities and towns, hold 66 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. a position in the transportation of passengers similar to, bat yet different from, that of the steam railroads. They operate single cars at frequent intervals, making stops at any point at which a passenger wishes to get off or on, and serve more conveniently those people living along the main highways in which such cars are run than do the cars of the steam railroads. On the other hand, the speed being less than that of the steam railroad and the number of stops very much greater, the time consumed in the journey is often excessive ; and a natural limitation is placed on the use of street railways by those whose time is more valuable than the increased convenience due to ready accessibility. On the street railways the rates of fare are generally lower than on the steam roads for the same distance, since street railway rates are not, as a rule, governed by the distance run. In the case of suburban and interurban lines rates are often established merely by the town boundaries, — a plan resting on a wholly illogical basis. It may in general be said of street railways that their rates of fare provide for a long ride for a small cost and a short ride at a relatively high cost, while the practice of steam railroads is governed by the distance travelled. It is undoubtedly true that any passenger carried the full distance allowed by a street railway for a five-cent fare is always carried at less than the actual cost to the road, the profit coming from those passengers who use the street cars as a luxury for a short ride, or from those to whom the saving in time in a short ride as compared with walking amounts to more than the sum paid. Street railway fares in Europe are, on the contrary, based on the theory of the steam railroads, and the rate is governed by the distance travelled. This fundamental difference between the bases on which fares are established prevents any practical comparison between European and American rates, and all such comparisons are of extremely doubtful utility. The employment of electrically driven cars in the suburban and rural districts, running at high rates of speed upon country roads, has presented an entirely new set of problems for the consideration of the officers of the towns ; and it will be generally admitted that they have not always proved themselves capable of dealing with these questions to the advantage of all. Sometimes, in their eagerness to obtain a railway within the limits of the town, grants of locations in the public highways have been given entirely without adequate pro- tection to the interests of the town, the officials thinking only of the benefits to be derived by the people from being placed in close com- munication with some neighboring town or city. Later they see their mistake, and try to make up for the error by imposing extra require- 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 67 ments whenever locations for extensions are desired. These new requirements may place burdens on the roads greater than fairness should demand ; but when a road is already established in a portion of the town, it must make its extensions or see some syndicate build competing lines into its territory, and divide the business. The orig- inal road is therefore unable to resist demands which are unjust, but which impose light burdens as compared with those imposed by the entrance of a rival, who could jeopardize the whole capital originally invested in good faith. Moreover, the increase in the business of manufacturing electric appliances and the advance in new inventions have, in these ten years of electric railway operation, so reduced the cost of all forms of apparatus that a road may now be built and equipped for very much less than the cost of a road built only seven or eight years ago ; and a new road can afford to offer greater induce- ments to the town than is the case with a road which, as a pioneer in the development of the industry, has as a part of its capital the cost of the experiments which have led to this marked diminution in the cost of all material. The older road, burdened with a greater capital charge, has not been able to charge off from earnings for deprecia- tion amounts equal to the reduction in value of its equipment clue to wear and tear and to reduction in cost. Most roads have attempted to charge off something, but as a rule the amount is insufficient to properly cover the depreciation. Still worse handicapped is the road which is changed from horse to electric power. The entire plant of the horse railway has been wiped out, leaving only the real estate and the right to use the streets. Horses, cars, tracks, buildings, in short, everything has had to be sold as old material, and be replaced with new equipment. Expensive machinery has been installed in power houses, new and heavier rails have been laid and wires and poles erected over the entire system. In the cities the demand for the removal of overhead wires has compelled in many cases the building of expensive under- ground conduits, through which the feeder wires must be taken. The capital represented by the abandoned horse railway system cannot be charged off all at once, and the road must drag along, writing off little by little this depreciation. It is essential to success that low fares be charged for long rides, and this policy, demanded by the public, forbids the accumulation of any large amount of surplus which might be used for depreciation. The general condition of affairs to-day in this Commonwealth and in most of the other States is this, — that, apart from the roads located in the larger cities, very few street railways are making a fair return to the stockholders, and writing off anything approaching the proper amount of depreciation ; in other words, the public shares 68 STREET EAILWAYS. [Feb. with the investor the advantages of the introduction of the improved system. Much of the friction existing between municipalities and street railways arises from the fact that the authorities in cities and towns learn that other places, possibly near neighbors, have obtained more favorable conditions from the railway than they themselves ; and in our modern interurban systems it often happens that grants made by different towns to the same road vary in the most essential con- ditions. The law of this Commonwealth allows boards of aldermen and selectmen to impose restrictions on grants of location ; and this word restrictions has been very generally construed to mean conditions, and these officers have imposed conditions and compelled agreements which have in matty cases exceeded the powers of the city and town, but, as others are always ready to take the grants if refused, the municipal authorities have remained unchallenged on this point. If the general law had defined accurately what class of restrictions might be imposed by the local authorities, much trouble would have been avoided. So also witli the power of revocation. It probably would never be used harshly by the local authorities to force any railway to remove rails which were serving the public ; but since, recently, syndicates and promoters have stood ready to intimate to municipal officers the great benefits that might accrue to the town if the grant in some particular street or highway should be taken from a road now in operation and the same location re-granted to a new road, the danger to capital and also to the public becomes great, and the arbitrary power of revocation probably needs restraint. In this country these franchises, or rights to use the public ways, have been granted with great liberality ; and, while this system has led to chaos in the legal relations existing between municipal corpo- rations and street railways, this very freedom has led to an unpre- cedented technical development. In Europe the careful study of the problem, and the rigid restrictions imposed on railways desiring to use the streets, have led to very well-defined legal relations, but have restricted technical development to such a degree that it may be said that there scarcely exists in any European country a street railway which approaches in its technical and commercial methods those of an ordinary American city. In England the general law relating to tramways has imposed such burdens that no company has felt justified in making proper extensions ; and we find the develop- ment of street railways in London and in the larger provincial cities behind that of cities in the United States with populations far smaller than those of these great towns. 1898. J HOUSE— No. 475. 69 On the continent the matter of grants of location rests on yet another basis. It stands purely on a formal contract, concluded between the municipality and individuals or a company. These con- tinental contracts are invariably for a limited term of years ; contain elaborate provisions as to all the details of building and operating the road ; provide, so far as is possible, for all conditions which exist, or for contingencies which may hereafter arise ; and usually include a clause by which, at the expiration of a given term of years, the entire property of the company becomes the property of the city, sometimes free of cost, but always under conditions explic- itly laid down in the contract itself. Methods of taxation also vary so greatly within our own country and in Europe that it is almost impossible to treat them in any gen- eral way. In the following sections all the varying methods of granting rights to use the streets and the plans both of direct and indirect taxation will be taken up in sequence and treated as exhaustively as prac- ticable. Locations in Public Highways. The right to use the public highways for the construction and main- tenance of the tracks of a street railway company is commonly spoken of as the franchise of the company. In strict legal phraseology this is not a correct name for the kind of grant which these companies receive from municipalities to enable them to carry on their business. The franchise of a company is the right which it obtains from the Legislature to be a company, and, speaking accurately, these munic- ipal grants are merely licenses to use the surface of the highways, granted by the municipalities under authority conferred on them by the specific action of the Legislature. The use of the term franchise is now so generally understood to cover these municipal licenses that it will in this section be used in the limited and narrow sense of a grant from a municipality. This permission to use the streets may be, and sometimes is, given directly by the Legislature to a company, not through the intermediary of a municipal corporation. In this country a few of the States have required the organization of all street railway companies by special acts of the Legislature, and in such acts it was formerly customary to include the grant of the use of the streets. This was the case in California, in Delaware, in Connecticut, in Maine, in North Carolina, in Oregon and in Vermont. In Connecticut and in Vermont the law has now been amended so that the plans submitted by the railways must be approved by the local authorities, and from this decision an appeal may be taken to the courts, or to the Board of Railroad Commissioners. In California local authorities must now sell the 70 STEEET EAILWAYS. [Feb. franchise by public auction. In Delaware all companies must be in- corporated by special charters, and the local authorities are, in some cases, given a slight degree of control over the streets. In Oregon variations are to be found in the charters of the cities, some of which have power to control their streets, whilst others have never received the requisite authority from the Legislature. These grants of power made directly by the Legislature have some- times been for an indefinite period, and have not contained any reservation of the power to amend or alter the conditions. Few street railway charters exist in this form, since nearly all have been granted since 1850 ; and the principle of the Dartmouth College case, — that a charter is a contract beyond the power of the Legis- lature to amend, unless such power has been reserved by the terms of the original grant, — has been recognized so universally that it may be said that in practically every case the power to amend, annul or repeal at the will of the Legislature has been inserted in the charters. A more common practice than that of granting charters to companies of any kind for unlimited terms, reserving the power to amend or re- peal, has been their creation for a term of years. In the newer States, whose constitutions are elaborate in form, containing many provisions relating to matters which in the days of the earlier consti- tutions were considered to be proper subjects for statutory legislation, not for the constitution, this limitation as to time is found in the con- stitutions. The length of time for which a charter may be granted varies greatly in different States, and runs from twenty to ninety-nine years. Even in those cases where the life of the charter is limited, either by constitutional provision or by statute, the power to amend or repeal is almost invariably .retained by the insertion of a special clause reserving this power to the State. Far more numerous, however, are those oases in which the Legis- lature, instead of directly exerting its powers of control over high- ways, has delegated these powers to the local authorities ; and, either in the charters incorporating the municipalities or in the charters in- corporating the street railway companies, power has been given to the local authorities to grant or withhold their consent to the use of the streets for the purpose of laying tracks. In some of the more modern constitutions this power of regulation has been granted to the local authorities by the constitution. The grant by the local authorities may be for an indefinite period, and their power may be confined simply to refusal or consent. In such cases as, for example, iu Connecticut, power is given to the railway to appeal from the decision of the local authorities to the courts ; but in the great majority of the States these franchises are 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 71 granted by the municipal authorities for a term of years, the maxi- mum term being sometimes fixed by statute and sometimes by the municipal charter. The tendency seems to be towards grants for short terms wherever such limitations are fixed. "Wyoming has restricted the powers of the cities to granting loca- tions for a length of time not greater than ten years. In other States the terms vary up to a maximum of ninety-nine years. The following table shows the maximum periods for which such franchises may be granted in the several States. Except in cases where the statute makes the time during which the grant in the streets may be made less than the life of the company, these periods show the limit of the charter : — Alabama, . 25 years. Nebraska, 5 . no limit. Arkansas, . no limit. Nevada, . no limit. Arizona, . 50 years. New Hampshire, . no limit. California, 1 . . 50 years. New Jersey, . . no limit." Colorado, 2 . 25 years. New Mexico, . 50 years. Connecticut, . . no limit. New York, 6 . . no limit. Delaware, . no limit. North Carolina, . 60 years. District of Columbia, . no limit. North Dakota, . no limit. Florida, . . no limit, Ohio,' . . 25 years. Georgia, 3 . 30 years. Oklahoma, . 20 years. Illinois, . . 50 years. Oregon, 8 . no limit. Indiana, . 25 years. Pennsylvania, . no limit. Iowa, . 25 years. Rhode Island, 9 . no limit. Kansas, . . 20 years. South Carolina, . no limit. Kentucky, . 50 years, South Dakota, . 20 years. Louisiana, . 99 years. Tennessee, . no limit. Maine, . . no limit. Texas, 1 " . . 50 years. Maryland, . 40 years. Utah, . . 50 years. Massachusetts, . no limit. Vermont, . no limit. Michigan, . 30 years. Virginia, . no limit. Minnesota, . 50 years. Washington, . . 50 years. Mississippi, . . 99 years. West Virginia, . 50 years. Missouri, 4 . 50 years. Wisconsin, . no limit. Montana, . 20 years. Wyoming, . 10 years. 1 Sacramento is limited by tjie city charter to granting a twenty-five year term. 3 Denver is limited to making a grant for twenty years. 3 Special charters are often granted for fifty years. 1 Unless specified in the charter, may only be for twenty years. 6 Omaha has an exclusive grant for fifty years. 8 The Greater New York charter limits such grants to twenty-five years, and allows a renewal for twenty-five years more. ' An extension is allowed for fifty years. 8 Some city charters provide for a limitation. ° May be made exclusive for a term of twenty-five years. w If not specified in the charter, granted for twenty years only. 72 STEEET EAILWAYS. [Feb. In Louisiana an agreement may be made either by a notarial contract or by ordinance ; and if this ordinance has been accepted by a company, it becomes a valid contract, and may not be interfered with. It must be understood that in very many cases the municipal authorities have assumed the power, even when not specifically granted, to limit the duration of franchises in the streets to shorter terms than those expressed in the above tabulation. In Massachusetts a form of grant exists which allows revocation at the will of the local authorities. This form of franchise has, however, been discussed at length in the report of the Committee. Some municipalities have incorporated provisions in their grants, the violation of which void the franchise ; and in nearly every State, either by general statutory provision or by conditions inserted in the grant from the local authorities, it is provided that the disuse of a track for a period of time, varying from three months to a year, annuls the right to maintain the track in that street, and it may be ordered immediately removed at the expense of the company. There is often a provision that, if work is not begun within a certain time after the grant has been made, the permission becomes null and void. This clause, which has been introduced in several States, is for the purpose of preventing companies from obtaining charters under which they never intend to build, but merely desire to hold rights in the streets for the purposes of sale to some other company. In many States the consent of a majority of the abutters, either in front feet or in value, along the line of the proposed railway is requisite before the municipal authorities can grant permission to lay the tracks. In Illinois and South Dakota this statute takes a somewhat different form from that in other States. In these States the consent must be in the form of a petition addressed to the municipal authorities, asking that a company be allowed to lay a railway through that street. In the other States it is a consent on the part pi the proprietors, given in writing. Those States in which such provisions exist in the statutes are Colorado, Kansas, New Jersey, New York, Nebraska and New Mexico. The general plan under which an American street railway company obtains its corporate existence and its franchise in the streets is as follows : A number of persons meet together and organize a com- pany, which then takes steps to obtain its charter. This charter is obtained from the State, either under the provisions of a general law which authorizes some State official to issue a charter when certain preliminary steps in the organization have been taken, or under a 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 73 special act of the Legislature. When the charter has been obtained the company is legally complete, and may elect its officers, pay in its capital, build its road, and do business under its corporate fran- chise ; but before the road is built and operated the company must obtain its municipal franchise, and this grant fixing the conditions for the use of the streets must as a rule be accepted in writing by the company. This permission, which is usually granted in a city by the board of aldermen, is often carefully drawn up, and as a rule contains many conditions. The municipality has been given the right to regulate the use of the streets, and this right it exerts to the fullest degree ; many times restrictions are inserted beyond the power of the road to fulfil. The promoters of the road are in most cases ready to accept almost any condition in order to get the chance to build, rely- ing upon the probability of finding purchasers for their shares and bonds, and planning to get their profit out of this transaction rather than from the operation of the road. In this way much of the surplus capital found in some of our roads has been brought in ; it was issued merely to enable a profit to be made by the original pro- moters, not to represent the cost of the road. Examples may be found where the total cost of the plant is represented by the bonds issued, and the stock stands for nothing. In Massachusetts there has been for some years a strict super- vision in regard to the issue of shares and bonds, and restrictions often considered burdensome by promoters have been imposed by the Commonwealth. Capital may now only be issued by permission of the Board of Railroad Commissioners, and must not exceed the amount of the actual property of the road. If a floating debt has been created, this must be represented by property before stock or bonds may be issued to pay off the debt. The Board has established a uniform system of accounts, and has power to compel the roads to conform to this. The municipalities in making their grant have often inserted a great variety of conditions, but these, being in a large measure in- direct forms of taxation, will be considered under that head. The above briefly summarizes the methods employed in the United States ; but in Europe entirely different methods exist, and these may be divided into two groups, that of contract and that of municipal ownership. In continental countries roads almost invariably have their rights established by the terms of a definite contract between the municipality and the company, and in England, and to a slight extent on the continent, may be found municipalities which have built or purchased the street railways within their limits. Considering .first those roads established under definite contract, we find very elaborate agreements existing, under which the rights and 74 STEEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. the powers of each party are set forth explicitly. In Germany, where the system of contract is universal, these contracts or concessions enter not only into the question of the legal relations of the roads and the municipalities, and define carefully the interests of each in the surface of the streets, but prescribe, often at great length, all the details of the management of the road, specify the number of trips to be run, the rates to be charged for fares, the hours of labor, the dimensions of the cars, and even the kind of uniforms to be worn by the employes. These contracts are always drawn for a fixed term; and one point which is given especial attention concerns the condi- tion of affairs at the expiration of the contract, — a subject upon which almost all of the limited franchises granted in the United States are absolutely silent. These European concessions specify the amount to be set aside for the amortization and redemption of capital, specify what shall be done in the way of repairs and maintenance, declare what extensions, usually naming the streets, shall be built from year to year, and provide at the expiration of the concession either for the free transfer to the municipality of all the property of the company, or else provide specifically the conditions and the valuation at which the municipality may buy the plant. As a rule, provision is made for the amortization or repayment of the larger part of the share capital, so that at the termination of the concession the stockholders may receive, from the sinking fund thus established and from the payment made by the city for the road, the full amount originally invested. Competition between the firms supplying electric machinery has become, especially in Germany, very sharp, and in their eagerness to obtain contracts for equipments these companies engage in very bitter competition among themselves. Conditions are imposed by the municipalities which are extremely burdensome, and which in many cases will restrict the earning power of the road to such a degree as will make it almost impossible for any considerable amount of profit to be realized by operating the railways ; but, in order to take the contract for the equipment of the road away from some busi- ness rival, these conditions are accepted, because the contractors do not intend to hold the stock of the company, but to place it on the market as soon as possible. This competition does not affect the earnings of the manufacturing companies, as the reduction in the price of machinery brought about by competition does in this country, but affects the stockholder who may acquire his stock after the road is built. The manner of starting a street railway company in a German city follows : — For the formation of a company it is only necessary for a group 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 75 of persons to associate themselves, and after the adoption of by-laws register the company and its by-laws with a government officer. Such a company or an individual must then obtain permission to use the streets, and on this point the law varies somewhat in different parts of the empire. In Prussia it is governed by the general Prussian statute ; in Saxony, by the Saxon code ; in Baden, in the Pfalz, in the Ehine Provinces and Rhenish Hesse by the French code (Code Napoleon) ; and in the remainder of Germany by the common law, which is based on Roman law ; but, in general, permission to use the streets must be obtained from the local authorities, who by law are the owners of the streets. It is contrary to both the Imperial code and the codes of the differ- ent States to allow the formation of companies by special charters. The police authorities must first approve the permission to use the streets, and this permission suffices if the cars are to be drawn by horses ; but in the event of the use of mechanical power of any kind, the State railroad authorities must act with the police authorities. After this approval has been obtained, the consent of the authorities in control of the streets must be had. All details in relation to the operation of the road, so far as they concern public safety and health, are in the hands of the police, who also, under the terms of the concessions, have the power to see that the contract requirements are lived up to by the road. The present development of the street railway system in Germany has led the principal cities which now have street railways to desire the conversion of horse traction into electric traction, and many smaller places which have never possessed a street railway have decided that they would like to have one within their boundaries. Under these conditions they let it be known that such a change is desired, and negotiations are begun with some manufacturing firm to build and equip an electric road. After a great many provisional contracts have been submitted, an agreement is finally reached, embodying the conditions agreed upon. The manufacturing company then enters into an agreement with some great banking house, which undertakes to finance the enterprise. A stock company is formed, the stock sold to investors, and the bank and the manufacturers are soon out of any interest in the company, and both have made their profit, — one from the machinery it furnishes, the other from its commissions for placing the stock. In France the construction of street railways is governed by the law of June 11, 1880, which allows the building of railways with the consent of the local authorities in the towns ; or, in the case of the national and departmental roads, with that of the State or department. 76 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. France has a very elaborate system of public ways, maintained partly by the towns, partly by the departments and partly by the gen- eral government. The main thoroughfares of travel between the large places are known as national roads, and are built and maintained by the general government ; the roads connecting the principal places in a department are known as departmental roads, and are maintained by the departments. Between the smaller places, and acting as feeders to the national and departmental roads, there exists a system known as vicinal roads, and these are supported by the communes, with aid from the general government. The law has annexed to it a type of contract, and all contracts must, so far as practicable, conform to this type, and the operation of the railway must be governed by the terms of this contract. By later decrees of the Council of State very elaborate conditions are laid clown as to the methods of construction and operation of railways, and powers are given to the police for their regulation. In the concessions a provision is always inserted allowing the gov- ernment to purchase the rights of the concessionaire at any time, and the conditions are laid down under which this purchase may be completed. All contracts must be approved by the Minister of Public Works. In Belgium, street railways are governed by the law of July 9, 1875, which in its essential features is the same as the French law of 1880, and contains the same provisions relating to the different classes of roads. In Holland, the general law of 1887 permits the making of conces- sions by the local authorities, and requires their approval by the pro- vincial authorities. In Italy, the law of Dec. 27, 1896, relative to the introduction of mechanical traction on street railways, provides for the making of con- tracts for a period not longer than sixty years, and in general follows the same lines as that of France. In England, street railways are established under the terms of the tramways act of 1870, the principal provisions of which are : — A provisional order may be obtained from the Board of Trade,* either by a local authority or by a company, and this provisional order may cover more than one district. If the consent of the dis- tricts within which two-thirds of the length of the line is located * The Board of Trade in England exercises general supervision over all the public service corporations, and consists of a president, who is generally a member of the cab- inet, a parliamentary secretary and a permanent secretary, besides five assistant secre- taries, each of whom has charge of some especial department. The Board has a very wide jurisdiction over commercial, marine and transportation matters. 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 77 has been given, the Board of Trade may make an order covering all the districts, although some may have refused their consent. Provisions are made for the position of the road in the street and for the rate of tolls to be charged. This provisional order must be confirmed by an act of Parliament within two years. The Board of Trade is given authority to revoke, amend, extend or vary the provi- sional order, and this action must have the same confirmation by ■Parliament. The work must be begun within one year and completed within two years, or the powers given will lapse, but the Board of Trade may extend the time. In the event of a lapse, whatever road has been built is to be regarded as a tramway. A tramway built by a local authority may be leased for operation, or it may be left open for the use of the public and tolls may be collected for this use, but no local authority can be authorized by anything except a special act of Par- liament to operate a tramway. A lease made by a local authority which has built a road shall not be made for a longer term than twenty-one years, and non-use of the tracks for three months breaks any lease made under this authority. Clauses are to be inserted in the provisional order in relation to the gauge of the track, the manner of construction, the authority to open the highway, the repair and maintenance of the space between the tracks and eighteen inches on each side ; and this work, if not prop- erly done, may be done by the highway authorities and charged to the company. Provisions are made for the protection of under- ground work in the streets, and authority is given to the owners of this underground work to interfere with the operation of the tramway for the purpose of repairs. Notice must, however, be given to the tramway company of such intended repairs, and any extra expense due to the location of the tramway in the streets must be paid by the tramway company. Carriages with flanged wheels may be used, and those of the com- pany or the lessee shall be the only carriages with flanged wheels which may use the tracks, unless specially provided for. These carriages must not extend more than eleven inches beyond the wheels. After the tramway has been open for three years, twenty rate payers or the local authorities may petition the Board of Trade, stating that the public are deprived of the full benefit of the road, and, after a hearing, the Board of Trade may grant licenses to others to use the tracks with carriages approved by the Board under these conditions : — (1) The license shall be for not less than one nor more than three years, renewable by the Board. (2) The license shall be to use the whole or part of the tramway. (3) The license shall direct the 78 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. number of carriages to be run, the mode and times. (4) The license shall specify the tolls to be paid for the use of the tramway. (5) The license shall allow one person to be authorized by the promoters to ride free on each car. (6) The Board of Trade may at any time revoke, alter or modify a license, for good cause shown. If a tramway be disused for three months, the tracks may be ordered removed at the cost of the company. If a company becomes insolvent, the Board of Trade may order the removal of the tracks, unless the same are bought by the local authorities. Provision is made for a compulsory sale to the local authorities at the expiration of a period of twenty-one years from the time of opening the road ; and if no advantage is taken of the option at that time, no further action can be taken for seven years. The action of the local authorities must be by a majority vote in a meeting at which two-thirds of the total number of members are present, and one month's notice must have been given of the intention to purchase the road. With the consent of the Board of Trade, a sale of the road may be made by agreement at any time after six months from the opening of the road for operation. Under these clauses several municipalities have acquired the owner- ship of the roads within their limits by purchase, while others have built roads under the authority given in the first part of the act. The local authorities may make by-laws to regulate the rate of speed, the distance apart of the cars, the stopping of the cars, and the traffic on the road where the tramway is laid ; and the company may make regulations, by by-laws, in relation to nuisances, and these by-laws may impose penalties, but must have the approval of the Board of Trade ^ Penalties are laid down in the general law for obstruction to the laying out of the tramway, for obstruction to the operation of the road and for evasion of fare. Power is reserved to the local authorities to widen and alter roads in which tramways are laid, and the public is given full right to use the tracks with carriages without flanged wheels. The local police are authorized to regulate the traffic. The section of the act which provides that at the expiration of twenty-one years from the date of a road's beginning operation the local authorities may compel the sale to themselves of the plant of the company, contains these words : " upon terms of paying the then value (exclusive of any allowance for past or future profits of the undertaking, or any compensation for compulsory sale, or other con- sideration whatsoever) of the tramway, and all lands, buildings, 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 79 works, materials and plant of the promoters suitable to and used by them for the purposes of their undertaking within such district, such value to be in case of difference determined by an engineer or other fit person nominated by the Board of Trade on the application of either party." The interpretation of this purchase clause has been submitted to judicial determination by the highest court under the following cir- cumstances. The London County Council gave notice to the Lon- don Street Tramways Company of an intention to acquire their road, and an arbitrator was appointed, who, in his findings, determined that this clause meant the replaceable value of the tracks and prop- erty of the company, less a proper charge for depreciation. The company maintained that its property should be treated as that of a going concern, and should be valued at what it was worth for the purposes of rental, and appealed the case. The decision of the arbitrator was revised and remanded by the Divisional Court of the Queen's Bench, but the Queen's Bench Appeal Court, on the appeal of the County Council, sustained the arbitrator. (Law Reports (1894), 2 Q. B., 189.) About the same time the city of Edinburgh desired to take over the tramways in that city, and these two cases were taken to the House of Lords for the determination of the meaning of the words used in this section. (Edinburgh: — Law Reports (1894), A. C, 456; London :— Law Reports (1894), A. C, 489.) The decision of the House of Lords, one justice dissenting, is given mainly on the grounds that the words ' ' exclusive of any allowance for past or future profits " preclude the consideration of the question of rental value, since rental value can only be determined from the amount of the profits, and, as profits from their very nature must be the result of past operations, there cannot therefore be any such thing as present profits. The court, however, considers that the in- tention of the act is plainly to consider the value of the tracks in their place in the street and as adapted for the purposes of the road, — not merely as old material. Since this decision was rendered another case has been passed upon by the lower courts, and on this an appeal to the House of Lords is now pending. Municipal ownership of tracks may, as provided in the tramways act of 1870, exist without municipal operation; and such is the present condition in many English cities. In London the County Council, after acquiring the tracks and fixed property of the London Street Tramways Company and the North Metropolitan Company, has leased both to the latter company. A portion of the line of the London Street Tramways Company was 80 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. acquired by the County Council in 1895, and was leased back to tbat company at a fixed rental. A proposition was afterwards made by the North Metropolitan Company to sell its tracks within the county to the County Council, and to take a lease of the whole, both of its original tracks and those of the London Company, for twenty-one years, for a fixed rent of £45,000 a year, and 5 per cent, of the in- crease in gross receipts from the existing lines of the two companies, both within and outside the county, over the gross receipts for the year 1895. This proposal was not accepted, but eventually a lease was made for fourteen years, at £45,000 fixed rent, and 12£ per cent, of the increase in gross receipts. Any extensions were to be built by the County Council, and the company was to operate these and pay 6J per cent, on the outlay of fresh capital. An agreement was also made that the County Council should pur- chase the buildings, and lease them to the company, the Council to receive as rent 5 per cent, on the cost to it of those on freehold land and 6 per cent, of those on leasehold land, the Council paying the ground rent. If a new system of traction should be introduced, the company is required to make, at its own expense, a trial on one mile to be selected by the Council, and if the experiment prove successful the initial cost will be repaid to the company. When such a system has been fully adopted, the County Council is to receive the fixed rent, £45,000, 6J per cent, on the outlay of fresh capital made by it, and four-fifths of any additional profits earned after the shareholders shall have received 5 per cent, on their then capital. Liverpool has just taken possession of its road, the tracks of which were owned by the city ; and Manchester is now before Parliament asking authority to operate its cars, the tracks there, as in Liver- pool, having been the property of the city. Glasgow, Sheffield, Not- tingham, Leeds and Huddersfield are some of the larger places which operate their street railways, but power to do this has been especially conferred on them by act of Parliament. Birmingham and Bradford are two of the larger towns where the tracks are owned by the city, but are operated by a company. For a discussion of the results ob- tained by municipal operation, reference must be made to the details given under the names of the different cities, and to the paper relat- ing to that subject, to be found in the Appendices. Methods of Taxation and Franchise Charges. In this country no general statement as to methods of taxation can be made, as these vary in almost every State, and even in almost every city. A large sum is collected from street railway companies 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 81 under the name of a tax, but also much through the operation of conditions contained in the grant ; and these amounts may be con- sidered to be a charge for the franchise, for the right to use the public streets for the purpose of carrying on business. Considering, first, taxation in the form of a direct tax charged on the actual property of the company, we find a tax invariably laid on the valuation of the real estate and machinery which is owned. The question of the taxation of personal property is, however, treated very differently in different communities. In some, personal prop- erty includes poles, wires and tracks, as well as the movable property belonging to the company, and is taxed in the municipal boundaries within which it is used. In other places all personal property is taxed wherever the principal business office of the company is located. All other taxes, excepting those on actual tangible property, may be classed together as franchise charges, and these charges may be made either by the State or by the municipalities. The State, as in Ohio, may assess a tax of a definite percentage on the capital em- ployed, whether that capital be shares or bonds ; or we may have a plan like that in use in Massachusetts, where the tax is assessed on the excess value of the share capital over and above the value of the tangible property. This excess value, which represents the value of the corporate franchise, is determined by taking the market value of the stock and deducting from it the valuation laid by the local assessors on the tangible property of the company, the difference being assumed to be the value of the right to carry on business, — a right obtained from the State by the granting of the charter, and therefore rightly subject to a license fee or privilege tax. Some States make provision for taking a share in the profits of the company after a certain amount has been earned on the stock ; and this is done by taxing dividends, the State considering that it is justified in taking a portion of the surplus profit after allowing a fair return on the money invested. Many municipalities make charges for the franchise rights in the streets, and these charges take a great variety of forms. The most common perhaps is that of a tax on the gross receipts of the company, and this tax has the advantage of being flexible ; that is, when the business of the company is good, and its receipts increase, the municipality shares in the increase ; when the company is new or business is poor, and the gross receipts small, the tax of course is small, and does not act as an extraordinary burden. A method some- times employed, and found, for example, in Chicago, is to place a tax on each car. This tax, which is a definite sum per year per car, has one serious drawback. It must be evident that the imposition of a 82 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. tax upon the number of cars in operation will cause a company to operate only as many cars as may be necessary to carry on the business without crowding them to such an extent that passengers cannot be taken on. It renders it impossible, or nearly impossible, for companies to maintain a service which will supply due accommo- dation to all who may desire to use the cars, especially during the hours of heavy travel, since for every car a fee must be paid. In Cincinnati a modification of this method exists, and there cars are taxed by the foot of length, making it an advantage to the rail- way to use short cars, in order to reduce taxes. The indirect taxes put upon railways by the insertion of conditions in their grant of location are often heavy. The largest charge of this nature is due to requirements in regard to' building and main- taining streets. Sometimes street railways have been required to pave and maintain the whole width of streets in which the tracks are located, and this charge has in certain cases reached a very large figure, notably in Philadelphia. It is undoubtedly true that the location of a street railway in narrow streets increases the cost of maintenance of the street surface, either by narrowing the space which can be used for the purposes of general traffic, or by throwing this traffic into parallel streets, thus causing the street in which the rails are located to be abandoned to the use of the railway. This latter condition has been found to arise more frequently since the introduction of electricity as a motive power, as, owing to the higher speeds of the cars, the public is practically unable to use the portion of the street containing the rails, and consequently avoids this street altogether. Wear and tear on carriages caused by the turning in and out over rails not flush with the surface of the roadway also throws travel into other streets. It is evident, therefore, that certain burdens are laid on the public by the use of the streets for the pur- poses of carrying on the business of a street railway, and these should be paid for. So long as these requirements are equivalent, or nearly so, to the actual charges imposed on the municipality and on the public, they must be considered as incident to the expense of constructing and operating the road. When, however, these charges are excessive, their cost, which becomes necessarily a part either of the capital or of the operating expenses of the road, leads to a greater capitalization than the business can sustain, or to a re- duction in earnings, resulting, in either case, in a much diminished return to the investor or in deterioration in the equipment or the service, owing to the attempts made to increase earnings in order to secure dividends. Most cities and towns have required the railways to cart off all the snow thrown from their tracks into the streets, and also all snow in 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 83 the roadway ; this, in narrow streets, includes that which fell on the street and much of that which fell on the sidewalks and roofs as well as that thrown from the track. This charge must necessarily be very variable, and it is practically impossible for a road to determine with any degree of accuracy what it may amount to in any particular year. In addition to these items, many minor charges are found, which, while not great in themselves, make up altogether a very considerable amount. Among these charges are the following : sprinkling streets, recently introduced ; street lighting in towns unprovided with such a system where the street railways, operated by electricity and running through their streets, are required to supply those streets with electric lights free of charge, — a requirement which often places a consider- able burden on interurban roads ; requirements that the poles sup- porting the wires should be painted at least once a year, if the town judge it necessary; and a condition that- the roads shall furnish places on their poles for wires used for municipal purposes, such as for the fire alarm. Heating cars might possibly not be regarded as a form of taxation, but it is certainly an extraordinary form of expense, and, as it is re- quired by legislative act, may also be included in this enumeration. All the conditions above noted call for annual expenditures, and partake strongly of the nature of a tax. But in addition to these a number of indirect charges may be assessed at the commencement of operation which remain fixed, and the amount of these can easily be known to the company. Con- sidering first the requirements which have been inserted in the charter obtained from the State, we find, as the principal ones : a re- quirement that the franchise be sold at public auction, and a charter limitation placed on the rates of fare. The statute governing the sale of a franchise may require the payment therefor to be made in a variety of ways. In Ohio the provision is that the company bidding the lowest rate of fare shall be the one to whom the franchise shall be granted. In New York it is provided that the sale shall be for a percentage of the gross earnings, and this form is perhaps the most common. In the case of roads already in existence, where the law, as in Wisconsin, provides that extensions shall only be allowed after the sale of the privilege, the price to be paid for such an extension is made a gross sum. Often charters fix the maximum fare to be charged, or the general statutes governing the operation of street railways determine the maximum rate to be collected. This limitation was in the earlier charters for Boston, and now exists in many States. When the indirect charges inserted in the franchise grant from the municipality are considered, great variations are to be found, scarcely 84 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. any two cities inserting similar clauses. Provisions are made in the grants as to the style of the poles used for supporting the wires, or restrictions and requirements are inserted in regard to the forms of the cars or the attaching of vestibules in winter, or of fenders at all times. The widening of streets at the expense of the street railway is a condition inserted in very many of these franchises. In narrow streets it may often be the case that the laying of a railway track seriously interferes with the use of the streets for the general pur- poses of public travel, and this is especially the case since the intro- duction of electric traction. In country roads, where the travelled way represents, as a rule, not more than one-third to one-half of the entire road, many of the local authorities have required the company to lay its tracks so far on one side as to allow the same width of trav- elled way as before the construction of the railway. Requirements are very often inserted fixing the work to be done by the railway as regards driveways, as regards the disposal of surface water and the paving of gutters. In this way many municipalities, especially those of a rural char- acter, have obtained construction work on their streets which would not have been done at the expense of the town for many years to come. The increased weight of electric cars has oftentimes ren- dered bridges unsafe for public travel, and railway companies have been obliged not merely to strengthen existing bridges, but to build entirely new ones, and to build these new ones in such a manner that they should be of as much use to the general public as to the railway. Another item which is of more consequence in Massachusetts than in most of the other States is the condition often found in the fran- chise grants requiring the street railway companies to pay a large proportion of the cost of abolishing grade crossings, wherever it becomes necessary for a street railway to cross the tracks of a steam railroad. The law in this Commonwealth provides for a distribu- tion of the cost of the separation of grades between the State, the steam railroad company and the municipality ; and, in cases where a street railway desires to avail itself of the highway wherein such a grade crossing is to be abolished, the cities and towns have often required that the whole or at least a portion of the town's share of this work of separation should be borne by the street railway. These charges for widening streets, building biidges and separating grades are all in the nature of capital charges. They either are or should be represented by capital, and go to make up a part of the cost of the construction of the road, becoming detrimental to the service if increased excessively. 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 85 Other conditions imposed are not capital charges, do not require the expenditure of any money, but do restrict the revenue of the companies, reduce the earning powers, and therefore are to be consid- ered as in the nature of taxes. These conditions are the establish- ment by the terms of the permission from the local authorities of a maximum rate of fare on certain lines, or of a proviso for tickets to be sold at reduced rates, and very often by the grant of half rates to school children on their way to and from school. Sometimes there is a requirement that at certain hours of the day reduced fares shall be given, or conditions relating to free transfers are inserted. In the case of interurban roads a provision is often found prescribing the minimum number of trips per day which shall be made between cer- tain points on the line. The forms of indirect taxation above considered relate entirely to American conditions. In Europe the contract system calls for very many similar charges ; percentage of the gross earnings ; sharing in dividends when the rate exceeds a certain amount ; paving, cleaning and watering streets ; and also in many cases a share of street widening, as, for example, in Great Britain in the recent act of Parliament allowing the construction of tramways in Norwich. Moreover, wher- ever this contract system exists, and a provision for turning over the property of the company to the city free of charge at the ex- piration of the concession has been inserted, a further charge must be laid by the company on the earnings for the purpose of redeeming the share capital originally invested ; and the rate of this charge de- pends of course on the duration of the concession, but in any event it must be sufficient to completely retire all share and bond capital at the time when the company is obliged to give up its property. The following shows in tabular form the principal methods employed in the treatment of the subjects of locations and taxation : — Locations in the Highways. Granted directly by the Legislature : — For an indefinite period. For a term of years. Terminable at the will of the Legislature. Granted subject to the consent of the local authorities : — Grant by local authorities : — Without limit as to time. For a definite period. Terminable at the will of the local authorities. Dependent on compliance with various conditions. Roads owned by municipalities : — Operated by the municipal authorities. Operated under lease to an operating company. 86 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. Roads established under a definite contract : — At the expiration of the contract the road becomes the property of the city free of all charge. At expiration of the contract the city has a right to buy. For the structural value of the plant. For the value of the company as a going concern. Methods op Taxation and Charges for Franchises. Direct taxation by local authorities : — On all real estate and machinery. On personal property within the municipal limits On all personal property of the company assessed in the place where the principal office is located. Franchise charges made by the State : — Definite percentage on the capital employed. On excess value of the stock above the value of the tangible property. On dividends. Franchise charges made by the municipalities : — Tax on gross earnings. Car licenses. Sundry annual charges. Paving. Lighting streets. Sprinkling streets. Cleaning snow. Painting poles. Heating cars. Indirect charges: — Inserted in the charter by the State . Requirement for sale of franchise by public auction. For a gross sum. For a percentage of the gross earnings. Maximum rate of fare fixed. Inserted in the franchise grant from the municipality. Style of construction established. Street widening required. Payment towards cost of abolishing grade crossings. Bridges required to be built. Municipal wires to be carried on poles free of charge. Minimum number of trips per day fixed. Maximum rates of fare fixed. Tickets to be sold at reduced rates. Reduced rate of fare at certain hours of the day. Reduced rate of fare for school children. Free transfers required. 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 87 Conclusion. To make a complete and detailed report on each of the plans em- ployed in America and in Europe in regard to the granting of franchises and the methods of direct and indirect taxation would involve a very extended search through statutes, decisions and reports of special committees not easily obtainable, so that this report is only intended to cover the general methods employed. In the following appendices may be found detailed statements as to the conditions actually exist- ing in many cities in this country and in other parts- of the world, and to these special attention must be directed. The essential features of the concessions granted in continental countries will be found under the names of the different cities, and some attempt has also been made towards giving an intelligent state- ment of the statutes which govern such concessions. There will also be found a brief summary of so much of the statute law of each of the States as relates to franchises and methods of taxation as may be necessary to give an idea of the variable forms which legislation has taken in this country, and a special section is devoted to the results of municipal operation of street railways in England. A table show- ing the track operated by the different railways in this Commonwealth and the towns in which it is located, with the length in each, is also added. Respectfully submitted, WALTER S. ALLEN, Secretary. 88 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. Appendix B, ABSTRACTS OF THE STATUTES OF THE VARIOUS STATES IN RELATION TO FRANCHISES AND METH- ODS OF TAXATION OF STREET RAILWAYS. Alabama. Companies must be organized under the general law, and are lim- ited in life to twenty years, but provisions are made for renewal. Charters may be altered, amended or repealed at any time. Taxes are levied on all property, real and personal, and the amount of tax that may be levied by a municipality is limited by the constitution. Taxes on capital stock may be levied either on the cor- poration or the shareholder, but property otherwise taxed to the cor- poration may be deducted. A license tax is imposed by the State. Street railways must obtain the consent of the local authorities before opening the streets, and authority is given to towns and cities ' to contract with street railway companies. There is no limitation upon the time for which a municipal franchise may be granted, but the usual term seems to be twenty-five years. Street railways may contract with municipal authorities as to the compensation to be charged, and are entitled to reasonable compen- sation for their services. It is especially provided that such a con- tract may be modified by mutual consent. No municipal franchise can be assigned without the consent of the municipality, and the right of the city to purchase the plant is retained in street railway charters. Arkansas. Charters are granted for an unlimited period, subject to revocation or alteration at any time, in such a manner, however, that no injus- tice be done to the corporators. Municipal taxation is limited by the constitution, and is levied on all property, stock of the company not being taxable in the hands of the holders. The consent of the local authorities must be obtained by street railways, and municipalities are authorized to contract with any per- son or company for building street railways. Local franchises are 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 89 granted without limitation as to time, but are subject to modification by ordinance. Authority is given by statute to the mayor and coun- cils to contract with any person or company to construct and operate street railways, and the authorities may grant for the time which is agreed upon the exclusive privilege of using the streets for such pur- poses. Arizona. Companies must be incorporated under the general law, and their life, which must be stated in the charter, is limited to a period of fifty years. The consent of the local authorities must be obtained before open- ing the streets, and full power is given them to regulate the operation of the roads. California. The charter must state the length of time for which the company is to exist, not exceeding fifty years, and is subject to alterations or repeal by the Legislature. All property, including franchises, is taxable, but shares of stock are not assessed at all. Corporations doing business in a city may be required to pay a city license tax. Franchises in the streets were formerly granted by direct act of the Legislature, but now only by the local authorities. Franchises for street railways must be sold at public auction, after due advertise- ment, and are awarded to the person or corporation offering the greatest percentage of the gross earnings. No franchise which has expired can be renewed unless advertised for sale, but this sale can- not be made until within one year of the expiration of the old grant. The minimum rate which may be accepted is three per cent., but no tax is to be imposed during the first five years. It is unlawful to grant any street railway franchise within ninety days before or seventy days after a general election. The city charter of Sacramento limits the term for which franchises may be granted to twenty-five years, and specifies the regulations to be imposed upon the companies. Exclusive grants are forbidden by the constitution. Maximum rates 0*. fare have been fixed by the Legislature at a rate not exceeding ten cents for any distance under three miles, and in cities of 100,000 inhabitants the fare must not exceed five cents for any distance. Colorado. The constitution prohibits the granting of irrevocable or exclusive franchises, and limits the time for which such franchises may be granted in the city of Denver to twenty years, and in other cities and towns to twenty-five years. 90 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. Taxes are assessed on all property of the company, but stocks and bonds based on such property are not taxed again. The right to use the streets is granted by the local authorities, but in the case of street railways the written consent of the owners of the land representing more than one-half of the frontage of the street desired to be used must be obtained; and no franchise can be granted on that part of any street upon which any other company is operating cars without the written consent of a majority of the front- age in each and every block abutting upon the track already down upon the street. No bill granting a franchise may be passed by the council of Denver until the expiration of one week from its introduction and until after advertisement for five days, and any amendment adopted must be advertised in the same way. The authority of municipalities to prescribe a maximum rate of charges, and in the case of street railways to establish a maximum rate of speed, has been assumed and acted upon without question. Connecticut. All street railways operate under special grants from the Legislat- ure, and these are subject to amendment or repeal at any time. In some special charters the consent of property holders has been required. All property is taxable where located, but stock is not taxable in the hands of holders. The right to use the streets may be granted directly by the Legis- lature, or municipalities may be authorized to grant such rights. Both forms of grant have been employed. The general street railway law provides that a company given a charter must file a plan with the local authorities, and these shall approve or modify the same ; if the company or abutters are ag- grieved by this decision, either may, within thirty days, appeal to the superior court, whose decision shall be final. Unless the superior court shall determine the same to be of public convenience and necessity, no street railway shall parallel the lines of any existing railroad or street railroad, nor shall extensions be made, except in cities, parallel to such roads. Delaware . All companies are organized under special charters, and the power to revoke or repeal is reserved to the Legislature. The material property of a company is subject to taxation, but there is no tax on stocks or bonds either to the company or in the 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 91 hands of the holders. In the case of some companies special forms of taxation are inserted in the charters. Municipal authorities must sometimes supplement the charter grant by a license or consent before the streets are actually occupied. All charters give the right of eminent domain to the companies. District of Columbia. All companies operating in the District are organized by special act of congress, and are subject to amendment or repeal at any time. Eeal estate is taxed as to an individual, and in lieu of all personal taxes four per cent, of the gross earnings is collected. Before laying the tracks the consent of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia must be obtained. The rate of fare is limited by the acts of incorporation to five cents, and in some charters it is provided that six tickets shall be sold for twenty-five cents. The methods of construction, times of running and other details usually inserted in the ordinance grants are, in the case of these companies, made a part of the charter. Florida. Companies may be organized either under the general law or by special charter ; if under the general law, the life is limited to twenty years ; if under special acts, by the time expressed in the charter. The courts have held that during the life of a charter it is a contract which cannot be impaired, but by general legislation cities and towns have been granted such control over the form of grants that condi- tions may readily be inserted at the time of granting. Tangible property is taxed in the same manner as that of in- dividuals. Stock and bonds are taxed as personal property, and if a tax is paid by the company they are not taxed to the holder. The license to occupy the streets is granted directly by the Legis- lature in the case of special charters, and by the municipalities in the case of companies incorporated under the general law. Georgia. Street railway companies may be organized either by special char- ter or under the general law, and unless the time is specified, con- tinue for thirty years ; but the time when expressed may be as long as the Legislature and incorporators desire, the usual time being fifty years. All charters may be revoked or amended at any time by the Legislature. 92 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. Taxation must be equal and uniform, and is limited in amount as to State and county taxes by statute, and as to city taxes by the charter of each city. Companies must pay a tax on their stock, and if this tax is not paid by the company, the stock is taxed in the hands of holders. The consent of the local authorities must be obtained for con- structing a railway, and just and reasonable rules and regulations may be inserted in the ordinance. In Savannah a great many restrictions have been imposed, and by the terms of the charter of that city it may itself, if it so desire, build or operate street rail- ways, or lease the same under such conditions as the city council may by ordinance determine. Idaho. Charters granted to street railway companies have a life of fifty years. The property of a company is taxed to the company in the same way as that of an individual. Franchises in the streets must be granted by the local authorities by a two-thirds vote of the body having the right to make such grant. Illinois. Companies must be organized under the general law, and the arti- cles of incorporation must state the length of time for which the company is incorporated, not to exceed ninety-nine years. The right is reserved to amend or repeal charters at any time. All real and personal property is subject to taxation, as is also the fair cash value of the stock, including the franchises, over and above the assessed value of the tangible property. Power to use the streets is granted by the charters, but must be supplemented by an ordinance grant from the local authorities, and municipalities are authorized to pass ordinances and rules relating to railways in the streets, and can grant no privileges except as authorized by the Legislature. The constitution prohibits granting special or exclusive privileges, and also prohibits the grant of rights to a street railway without the consent of the local authorities. By statute all street railways must be built upon notice and petition of the owners of one-half of the land fronting the street. By statute it was formerly provided that municipalities might grant permission to street railways only for a term not in excess of twenty years ; but by the laws of 1897 this was so amended that the consent of the city council might be for a period not exceeding fifty years, and authority was also given to the city council without petition from the land 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 93 owners to extend any ordinance now in force allowing the construc- tion of a street railway for a period not longer than fifty years. Roads may consolidate, but not with parallel or competing lines. The Legislature has the power to fix license fees or may authorize their establishment by cities and towns, and these fees are exacted from street railways in Chicago in the shape of a license on the cars employed. The ordinances of the different cities fix many regula- tions and impose many restrictions, including in some cases power to fix the rates of fare ; but by the legislation of 1897 it is provided that in the event of an extension of franchise grants for a term of fifty years the rate of fare shall remain fixed at five cents during the first twenty years of the newly granted period, and fares shall not exceed five cents within the limits of any city. The city of Chicago has reserved in several of its ordinances, begin- ning with 1858, the right to purchase the plant of public-service cor- porations after a period of twenty-five years. Indiana. No limit of existence is fixed for the charter of street railway com- panies, but the statute reserves the right to amend or repeal. All property must be taxed at its true cash value, and franchises and privileges are to be assessed as personal property. The consent of local authorities must be obtained, and this consent may be given either by special or general ordinance ; and if a general ordinance is passed, under which a company may operate in the streets, a special contract regarding service may be made with a particular company if the city so desires. In cities of 50,000 inhabitants and less than 100,000, franchises cannot be granted by the local authorities for a longer period than twenty-five years ; and in such cities the authorities are prohibited from extending, altering, amending or changing a franchise during the term for which it was originally granted. In cities of 100,000 inhabitants and over, the general law provides that at the termination of the franchise the rights of the company shall terminate at once, the tracks shall be removed and the streets put in good condition. But the Board of Public Works may, prior to the expiration of the franchise, open to competition the further occupancy of the streets for a term of thirty years. The Board of Public Works is to prescribe the conditions upon which the grant may be made, what streets may or may not be used, what paving is to be required, maximum ticket and cash fares, and such other conditions as will best promote the interests of the city and the public. 94 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. If a company other than that now occupying the streets shall be the successful competitor, then the occupying company must sell all its property of every kind to the new company, at a valuation deter- mined by appraisal. In cities of more than 100,000 inhabitants, the fare is fixed at three cents for a single trip, and free transfers are to be given over any line of the company's. Penalties for infringement of this act are severe. The city may revoke the franchise, any passenger paying more can recover by civil process $100 for each offence, and any employee demanding or collecting more than three cents, or refusing to issue or receive a transfer ticket, is liable to a penalty of from $50 to $500. The only city in the State having more than 100,000 inhabitants is Indianapolis, and these laws applying only to it are now in the proc- ess of adjudication in both the State and Federal courts. The Board of Public Works of Indianapolis is authorized to pur- chase or erect and operate street car lines, if specifically directed so to do by an ordinance of the city council. Iowa. Companies may be incorporated for a term not exceeding twenty years, but their charters may be extended or renewed. The Legis- lature reserves the right to repeal or amend any charter, but to do so requires a two-thirds vote of the assembly. Taxation of real and personal property is the same to a corporation as to an individual. Stock is taxed in the hands of the holder. Grants to use the streets must be made by the local authorities, are limited in time to twenty-five years, and are subject to such rules and regulations as these may determine. Kansas. Charters of companies must state the term for which they are incor- porated. The right to amend or repeal is reserved to the Legislature. The actual property of all companies is taxable, and also the mar- ket value of the stock over and above the value of the actual property. This tax is paid by the corporation, and stock in the hands of the holder is exempt. Grants in the streets can only be made by consent of the local authorities, and these consents cannot be for a period exceeding twenty years. In cities of over 40,000 inhabitants, the consent of the majority of land owners fronting on the street in which it is pro- posed to lay the track must be obtained before the franchise can be granted. 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 95 Kentucky. Corporations using the streets may be established under general statute, but many have been established by special charters. The life of such corporations shall not exceed fifty years. Prior to the adoption of the constitution of 1891 there was no power to repeal or amend charters, but such a reservation was inserted in that constitu- tion. In special acts there is no uniform practice, some containing this clause, while others omit it. The renewal of a charter granted originally by special act has been held not to be a new charter ; and, in case the original charter was not subject to the power to amend or repeal, the renewal remains also irrevocable and absolute. Property is taxed on its actual value, and in the case of corpora- tions it is provided that nothing in the constitution shall be con- strued as preventing legislation providing for taxation on income, licenses or franchises. License taxes are laid on street cars in some cities. Permission to use the streets for a street railway must be granted by local authorities, and proper regulations may be made. Munici- palities may not grant a franchise except after due advertisement and the receipt of public bids, when it may award the same to the highest or best bidder, but has the right to reject any or all bids. Louisiana. Charters are granted for the period expressed in the articles of incorporation, not exceeding ninety-nine years, without right of amendment or repeal. Keal and personal property is taxed where located, in the same manner as that of an individual. Grants in the streets must be made by the local authorities, and may be either awarded at public sale or according to the terms imposed by the local authorities and set out in a notarial contract. These terms may require a payment to the city and may specify the amount and manner of payment. Full power is also given to municipalities to impose conditions of service, including regulation of rates of fare. When such grants are made and accepted they become contracts, and can only be changed by mutual consent unless the right to alter and amend is reserved. Maine. Street railway companies may be organized under the general law or by special act, and are chartered in most cases for an indefinite period, but the charters are subject to amendment or repeal at any time. Under the general law the consent of the local authorities 96 STKEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. must be obtained, but an appeal from their decision to the supreme court is allowed. After this consent is obtained from the local au- thorities, the approval of the Railroad Commissioners is necessary, and that body must certify that public convenience and necessity re- quire the construction of the road. A second company may not lay tracks in a street where tracks now exist, but may use the existing tracks under such terms and con- ditions as may be approved by the Railroad Commissioners. Buildings and personal property are taxed by the municipalities, and a State tax of one-tenth of one per cent, is laid on the gross transportation receipts, if the same do not exceed $2,000 per mile, and one-tenth of one per cent, additional for each additional $1,000 or fractional part thereof per mile. A share of the expenses of the Railroad Commission is also assessed to the street railways. Nearly all special acts incorporating street railway companies make the consent of the municipal authorities necessary for using the streets and highways, but in some charters this has been omitted. A few charters have been granted for a limited term of years, sub- ject to renewal with the consent of the municipal authorities. Maryland. Corporations may be formed under the general law for the con- struction of street railways outside of the limits of the city of Balti- more, but no road under the provisions of this act shall exceed twelve miles in length, and such corporations are limited in exist- ence to forty years. In Baltimore it is provided that no charter or permission to use the streets shall be granted without the consent of the Legislature. The special grants are not limited in time, but may be amended or repealed at any time. Real property is taxed in the county where located, but stocks and bonds are not taxed to the owners in Baltimore if the corporation is located in the city. The State determines the actual value of the stock, and deducts from it the assessed value of real property, and the residue is taxed by the State for State purposes. Taxes may be assessed to the company on stock held by non-residents, and must be paid by the company, and may by it be charged to the stock- holders. A State tax of one per cent, is also levied on the gross receipts of transportation companies, and in Baltimore a special tax of nine per cent, on gross earnings is laid for the use of parks. The Park Commission of Baltimore is given authority to inspect at any time the books, accounts and fare registers of the city railroads, and any employee of the road found guilty of making false returns in relation to the gross receipts is liable to fine or imprisonment, or both. If this special tax is not paid within ten days after the end of each 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 97 quarter, a penalty is charged at the rate of thirty per cent, per annum. In addition, a license tax is laid on cars, and all license taxes are credited to the account of street paving. Power to open the streets is granted by the local authorities, who are permitted to impose such regulations and restrictions as they see fit. In Baltimore the charters of all companies contain restrictions as to rates of charge, and in the case of one road there is authority given to the city to buy at the expiration of terms of fifteen years. Massachusetts. Charters are perpetual, but subject to amendment or. repeal at any time by the Legislature, and may be obtained either under the general law or by special act. The real estate and machinery of the companies is taxed where located, but rails are not taxed. The difference in value between the market value of the stock of a corporation and the assessed value of the taxable property is taken as the valuation for taxa- tion of the franchise ; and this tax, which is collected by the State, is apportioned among the cities and towns in proportion to the amount of stock held therein, the State retaining the amount paid on account of stock held by non-resident owners. A share of the expenses of the Railroad Commission is also assessed to the street railways. Power to use the streets is granted by the local authorities, sub- ject to such regulations and restrictions as they may deem wise, and in the case of a new company subject also to the approval of the Board of Railroad Commissioners. The right is also given by statute to the local authorities to at any time order the tracks to be removed from the streets. In the cities of Boston and Cambridge and the town of Brookline the order takes effect only after being approved by the Board of Railroad Commissioners. A company having two miles of track in operation may be author- ized to use tracks belonging to another company on such terms and conditions as may be approved by the Railroad Commissioners. This provision applies to roads operated by horse power, but some doubt exists as to its applicability to electric railways. Michigan. Charters are granted only under the general law for a term of thirty years, and renewals for thirty years longer are allowed. All general incorporation laws may be amended or repealed by a two- thirds vote of the Legislature. Real property is taxed a,t the place of location of the principal business office, and stock is taxed in the hands of the holder. In 98 STKEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. Detroit special taxes are laid on the gross earnings at variable rates per cent. The streets can only be opened with the permission of the local authorities, and power is given to the municipalities to make such regulations and requirements as they may deem reasonable. Minnesota. Corporations for the construction of street railways can be formed for any time not exceeding fifty years. Real property is taxed where located, and personal property is taxed in the principal place of business, stock being taxed in the hands of holders. The right to open the street is obtained from the municipal author- ities, and is subject to all rules and regulations which may be inserted in the ordinance. When this grant has been accepted by the company it becomes a contract, and is not within the power of the Legislature to amend or modify. In St. Paul and Minneapolis a license tax is laid on the cars, and the local taxes in St. Paul by ordinance are made to equal three per cent, on the gross earnings, but the real estate tax is deducted from the three per cent. Mississippi. Charters are granted for ninety-nine years, and may be amended or repealed at any time by the Legislature, provided that no injustice be done to the stockholders. Taxes are assessed on actual property and stocks are taxed in the hands of the holders. A privilege tax of twenty-five dollars is laid by the State on each company. The right to lay tracks is granted by the local authorities, who are also authorized to regulate and supervise the operation of the road. The Board of Railroad Commissioners has no power of supervision over street railways. Missouri. Charters must specify the length of time for which a company is incorporated, which must not exceed fifty years. Unless specified, the duration is only twenty years. The property of the company is taxed where located, and shares of stock are not taxed at all. A return must be made to the State Auditor, showing the length of road and all property owned, and on this the State Board of Equalization fixes the taxable value. Power to open the streets is granted by the local authorities, under such terms and conditions as may be established ; and if municipal 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 99 officers so desire, franchises for street railways may be sold to the highest bidder, or a per capita tax on the passengers transported, or an annual tax on the gross receipts of such railway, or on each car, may be imposed, and these powers are exercised in St. Louis. A special statute also provides that in the city of St. Louis no railway can be constructed nearer to a parallel road now constructed than the third parallel street, excepting in the case of the St. Louis Railroad Company and the People's Railroad Company, whose rights are rati- fied. This, however, has been somewhat modified by two later statutes. Municipalities have the right to regulate the times of running and the rates of fare. The Legislature has no power to grant a right to occupy a street without the consent of the local authorities. Montana. Charters cannot exceed in duration twenty years, and may be amended or repealed by the Legislature. Property is taxed where it is located, the rate of tax being limited by the constitution, and a license tax of fifty dollars per quarter is imposed on all street railways located in towns of more than 4,000 inhabitants, of twenty-five dollars in all towns having less than 4,000 inhabitants. The consent of the local authorities must be given before the streets are opened, and they may make such regulations for street railways as may be allowed by the charters of the cities. Nebraska. The constitution prohibits granting any exclusive franchise, and requires all companies to be incorporated under the general law. A franchise may only be granted by a vote of the people under such regulations as may be established by ordinance, a majority of the votes cast to govern. This election must be called by the mayor at the request of the council. It is also necessary to obtain the con- sent in writing of a majority of the feet front of the street on which the road is to run. The stock and franchises of a corporation are taxed where the principal place of business is located. Cities are allowed to prescribe the time and manner of running cars, require them to be heated and lighted, and fix the fare to be charged. "When a railway has had rights granted to it in a certain street, no other road can be granted rights in the same street, but the first road may consent to the use of its tracks by another road. 100 STEEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. In 1867, by special act, the Omaha Horse Railroad was incorpo- rated, and granted the exclusive right for fifty years to operate in the city of Omaha. Nevada. There has never been a street railway corporation organized under the laws of the State, but a provision exists in the law allowing street railway companies to be formed under the same general laws as govern railroad companies. New Hampshire. The general street railway law provides for the formation of companies under its provisions, and amends all special charters pre- viously granted so that they shall conform to the general law. All charters are perpetual, but are subject to amendment or repeal at any time. Street railways must pay to the State an annual tax on their total property at the average rate of taxation upon the property through- out the State, in lieu of all other taxes. Local authorities must give permission to occupy the streets, and may make such rules and regulations as they may deem advisable ; but an appeal from their decision lies to the Board of Railroad Commissioners. New Jersey. Charters are granted under general laws, and may be amended or repealed by the Legislature at will. Permission to use the streets must be granted by the local authorities, and is subject to such rules and regulations as may be imposed. Before a franchise is granted the consent of one-half of tbe lineal feet front on the street for which consent is asked must have been obtained. Permission having been given and the right exercised, vested rights are acquired which cannot be taken away by the revo- cation of the permission. No street railway can be constructed in the same street or highway in which a street railway is constructed or operated within a thousand feet of said railway, nor parallel therewith within less than two blocks thereof for a greater distance than two hundred feet, without the written consent of the company operating the said railway. Real estate and personal property are taxed where located. The State assesses taxes on street railways in various ways. A certain amount of tax is collected through the towns, and for this purpose only the real estate of such corporations is taxable ; in addition, a street railway company must pay direct to the State a tax based 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 101 upon its rate of dividend ; and, finally, each company must pay to the State a tax of one-half of one per cent, on its gross earnings. These taxes are called in the law franchise taxes. A municipality has no right to impose a tax under color of a license fee ; it has power to exact license fees, but they must be for the purpose of regulating, and cannot be used either as a means of prohibiting the use of the franchise or for the purpose of raising a revenue. By some charters the rates of fare are fixed, and in some cities they are fixed by legislative act. By general law in all cities having more than 100,000 inhabitants the rate of fare is limited to five cents. New Mexico. Companies must be incorporated under general law, and the life, which must be stated in the charter, is limited to a period of fifty years. City councils have no power to grant the right to lay a track, excepting upon the written consent of the owners of one-half of the frontage sought to be used. New York. Companies must be incorporated under the general law, and their charters are subject to repeal and amendment at any time. Street railways must by constitutional provision obtain the consent, in cities, of one-half in value of the abutting property, and in unincorporated towns two-thirds in value, and also the consent of the local authori- ties before laying their tracks. If the consent of the abutters is re- fused, an appeal may be made to a commission to be appointed by the court, and the finding of this commission, when confirmed by the court, is final. In cities of more than 1,250,000 inhabitants the franchise must be sold at auction, and granted to the company bidding the largest proportion of the gross receipts. All roads built after 1884, in cities of 1,200,000, must pay, for five years, three per cent, on the gross receipts, and afterwards five per cent. ; and any road building extensions must pay on such proportion of receipts as the length of the extension bears to the entire length of the road. Local authorities in other cities and towns are given the right to include as a condition for consent the payment of a sum not to exceed three per cent, of the gross earnings. The fare for a continuous ride on roads built since 1884 must not be more than five cents, and the Legislature reserves the right to regulate the fare at any time. If the charter of a road is revoked, the franchise originally granted remains in force, and must be sold at public auction. 102 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. The property and stock, less the value of the real estate, are taxed to the company, and stock in the hands of holders is exempt. A franchise tax, amounting to one-fourth of a mill on each dollar of valuation for each one per cent, of dividend, must be paid ; but if the dividend is less than six per cent., then this franchise tax is one and one-half mills per dollar. In addition, street railways must pay annually one per cent, on the gross receipts, and three per cent, on all dividends in excess of four per cent. Under the Greater New York charter the municipal assembly may grant franchises. The rights of the city in the streets are declared inalienable, and grants relating to franchises must be in the form of an ordinance. No grant may be made for more than twenty-five years, but the grant may provide for renewals for a further period of twenty-five years. The grant may provide that at its expiration the whole plant and property in the streets shall become the property of the city free of cost, or it may provide that the city shall buy the plant at a fair valuation, excluding any value derived from the franchise. If the plant and property become the property of the city free of cost, the city may either operate the plant, renew the grant upon a fair valua- tion for twenty-five years, or lease the property for not more than twenty years to other parties. If the city has paid for the plant, it must operate it on its own account for at least five years before determining whether it will continue to operate or will lease the same. The ordinance making the grant must before its passage be pub- lished in full, and shall include provisions as to rates and charges. When introduced, it shall be referred to the Board of Estimate and Apportion (composed of the mayor, comptroller, corporation counsel, president of the council and president of the department of taxes and assessments) , who shall report on the value of the franchise and the adequacy of the proposed compensation ; and every ordinance making such grant must be passed by three-fourths of all the members elected to each branch of the municipal assembly, and have the approval of the mayor, and thirty days must elapse between the in- troduction and final passage of the act. To pass a grant over the mayor's veto requires a five-sixths vote of all the members elected to each branch. This provision applies also to all grants of renewals and extensions. North Carolina. Charters must be granted under the general law, and may not be for a longer term than sixty years, and may be qualified and amended at the pleasure of the Legislature. A number of street railways 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 103 exist in this State incorporated under special charters, which allow them to carry on their business independently of the municipalities in which they are located, and to fix fares and rates. Real and personal property are taxed where located, and a com- pany is allowed to deduct its debts from its solvent credits, and is liable to taxation only on the balance. In some cases the municipality has the right to grant franchises for the use of the highways, but only by special permission incorporated in the municipal charter ; and, as stated above, this power is in many cases annulled by special grants to street railway companies. North Dakota. Charters may only be granted under the general law, and cannot be amended or changed by special law. The articles of incorporation must state the term for which the corporation is to exist. Real and personal property, including the franchise, are taxable where the principal business office is located. No permission to use the streets can be granted without the con- sent of the local authorities. Ohio. Companies can be formed only under general law, and the charters are subject to amendment, modification or repeal. Eeal and personal property are taxed the same as to individuals, and an excise tax of one-half of one per cent, is levied by the State on the total value of the stock. By ordinance license taxes are laid on street railways in various forms. Permission to use the streets is granted by the local authorities by ordinance, and can only be given, after due notice by publication, to the person or corporation agreeing to carry the passengers at the lowest rate of fare. The written consent of a majority in feet front of the property holders on each street where it is proposed to operate is also necessary. Franchises may be granted only for a term of twenty-five years. By recent statutes power is given to street railways to consolidate, lease or purchase ; and in the event of the exercise of this power the local authorities may extend the franchise grant for a term not ex- ceeding fifty years, and regulations concerning fares must be inserted in the grant of extension. Grants may require a payment to the city of a certain sum per lineal foot of each car run on the route or a per- centage of gross earnings, or both. When an extension of franchise is made, no change is to be made in the rates of fare, the charges for special taxes or licenses ; and the present rates shall continue for twenty years from the date of the act. 104 STEEET EAILWAYS. [Feb. At that time the city has the right to alter these rates, and again at the end of each fifteen years thereafter. Oklahoma. Charters may only be granted under general law, and the duration must be expressed. The term of existence is limited to twenty years, and the charter is subject to amendment or repeal at any time. Power to lay tracks can only be granted by the local authorities, under such regulations as they may deem proper. Oregon. Companies must be formed under the general law, and the dura- tion of the charter must be stated in the articles of organization. Charters are subject to amendment or repeal by the Legislature, but not so as to destroy any vested corporate right. Real estate and personal property are taxed where located, and the stock is taxed in the hands of the holders. The Legislature has sometimes granted the use of the streets with- out the consent of the local authorities, but in general the municipal authorities may establish rules and regulations in such manner as may be expressed in the municipal charters. Some municipal char- ters limit the term for which a franchise may be granted. For in- stance, the Astoria charter provides that no franchise shall be granted for more than thirty years, nor one which does not provide for a revenue to the city. Pennsylvania. Since the adoption of the constitution of 1874, corporations may only be chartered under the general law, and such charters are per- petual or limited in time by their own provisions ; but the general law provides that they may be amended or repealed at any time whenever in the opinion of the Legislature it may be injurious to the citizens of this Commonwealth, in such manner, however, that no injustice shall be done to the corporators. Real and personal property are taxed where located. A State tax is levied on the value of the capital stock, at the rate of five mills on its actual value. Bonds and mortgages are taxed to the holder, at the rate of four-tenths of one per cent, on the par value ; but the companies are required to deduct this amount from the interest as paid, and pay the same to the city treasurer, so that they are practi- cally taxed to the company. A tax of six per cent, on dividends in excess of six per cent, on the paid-in cash capital is levied by the cities, and they are also allowed to levy a license tax on all cars used by street railway companies. 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 105 Franchises for the use of the streets are granted by the local author- ities, under such regulations as may be reasonable. One road is allowed to use the tracks of another to the extent of twenty-five hundred feet, payment to be made for such use. Rhode Island. Charters can only be obtained by special act of the Legislature, and may be amended or changed at any time, but no limitation is inserted in the charter. Real and personal estate are taxed where located, and an individ- ual stockholder is taxed on the difference in value between the market value of his stock and the amount per share at which the property of the company is taxed. Franchises are granted by the city council, and such a grant may be made exclusive for a term of twenty-five years By special act of the Legislature the Union Street Railway Company of Providence has been granted a right for twenty years, independent of any con- sent of the city council ; and the same act provides for a special tax of three per cent, on the gross earnings, which may at intervals of five years be increased by agreement, but which may not exceed five per cent. Further acts provide that a system of free transfers shall be introduced whenever the city shall grant free of rent a location in the centre of the city for the erection of a transfer station. The rate of fare is fixed at five cents until 1912. The company is relieved from maintaining pavements for a term of five years in the event of the adoption of the transfer system. South Carolina. Charters may be obtained either under general or special law, and are subject to amendment or repeal unless otherwise expressly pro- vided in the act of incorporation. All real and personal property is subject to taxation where located, and certain municipal corporations are also authorized to impose a license fee. Street railway companies must obtain the consent of the local authorities before using the streets, and in many cases the charters of the companies regulate the rates of fare. South Dakota. Corporations must be formed under the general law, and charters may be amended or modified by the Legislature, but the life of such charter is limited to twenty years. 106 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. Real and personal property are taxable, the personal property in the place where the principal place of business is located, and the tracks of a street railway company are held to be personal property. The rate of taxation for State and county purposes is limited by the constitution. The consent of the local authorities must be obtained before open- ing the streets, and franchises cannot be granted for more than twenty years. City councils have no power to grant the use of a street for rail- way tracks except upon petition of the owners of more than one-half of the frontage along the line. Tennessee. Companies must be formed under the general law, and charters may be altered or repealed, but only by general law. Street railways are taxed on the full value of their capital stock, together with the actual value of their indebtedness ; and a privilege tax also may be levied on corporations using the streets, which is fixed for street railway companies at $350 per year in cities or towns of 30,000 inhabitants, at $150 per year in cities or towns from 8,000 to 30,000, and at $50 a year where the population is under 8,000. The consent of the local authorities must first be obtained before using the streets, and may be granted under such rules and regula- tions as may be deemed just, and such charges are exacted as the cities may be able to obtain. An act has been passed which requires street railways to carry passengers at a uniform price, which must not exceed the sum of ten cents from one to the other terminus of the road. Texas. Companies may only be organized under the general law ; and if the duration is not stated, the life of a company cannot exceed twenty years ; but if stated, it may be for a period not to exceed fifty years. No power to amend is reserved. The tax on real and personal property is the same as that on prop- erty in hands of private holders, and the tax for any purpose is limited by the constitution. Stock is taxed in the hands of holders. The use of the streets must be granted by the local authorities, and cities and towns may regulate the service and rates to be charged, and may also require the payment of a tax for the privilege of doing business. They may also by contract stipulate for a payment, either in money or in some other way, for the use of the streets. 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 107 Utah. Companies can only be incorporated under general law, and are limited to fifty years. The right to open the streets for the purpose of laying tracks can only be granted by the local authorities, and cannot be for a longer time than fifty years. The local authorities have the right to impose any regulations they may see fit. The property of the company is taxed where located, and the fran- chise is taxed where granted. Vermont. Companies may only be organized under special law, and charters may be amended or repealed at any time by the Legislature. The tangible property of companies is taxed where situated, and the stock is taxed in the hands of the owners. In determining the value of the stock, the value of the tangible property is deducted and only the remainder taxed. The rights to use the streets are granted directly by the Legislat- ure, but the local authorities must approve the location, a right of appeal from the decision of the local authorities to the Board of Rail- road Commissioners being allowed. If the rate of fare be considered too high, the matter may be taken to the county court, which shall fix a rate. This rate must be suffi- ciently high to yield six per cent, on the capital, and the rate so established shall not be changed for two years. Virginia. Although a general law for the incorporation of companies exists, it is in such form that street railway companies are as a rule incor- porated under special act, and such special charters are made subject to amendment and repeal. Real and personal property is taxed for State purposes where located, and the stock of the companies is also taxed. In the case of street railways, local taxation is usually imposed in the form of a percentage on gross receipts in lieu of all other taxes, excepting such special license taxes as may have been imposed. The right to use the streets can be granted only by the local authorities, and such restrictions may be imposed as are deemed wise. 108 STEEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. Washington. Companies may be chartered only under the general law, for a term less than fifty years, and such charters may be amended or repealed at any time. Real and personal property is assessed where located, and stock is taxed in the hands of the holders as personal property. The consent of the local authorities is necessary for the use of the streets, and this consent may include such regulations and restric- tions as may be deemed proper. West Virginia. Companies may be incorporated under the general law, and if no time is expressed in the charter the corporations may be perpetual ; but in general corporations cannot be chartered for more than fifty years, and all charters are subject to alteration and repeal at the pleasure of the Legislature. Real estate is taxed where located, and the actual value of the capital invested in personal property is determined by taking the aggregate value of all such property, including money and credits, and deducting therefrom the debts, and the difference is taxed where the principal business office is located. The rate of taxation is limited by statute. Consent to lay tracks in the streets must be obtained from the local authorities. Wisconsin. Street railways must be incorporated under the general law, and their charters may be amended or repealed at any time. In lieu of all taxes and licenses, a tax is assessed on the gross receipts at the rate of one and one-half per cent, on earnings less than $250,000 per annum, and two and one-half per cent, on the excess up to $800,000. On companies earning more than $800,000 per annum the rate is three per cent, on the first $800,000 and four per cent.' on the excess. This tax is to be divided among the towns in which the company operates, on the basis of the mileage located in each town. When a company desires a franchise in any town, the local au- thorities shall draw up a statement of the terms and conditions on which such road shall be operated, including the rates of fare, and shall invite proposals for the purchase of such franchise on these terms and conditions, payment to be a certain percentage of the gross earnings, and the franchise shall be awarded to the company bidding the highest percentage. In the case of extensions of railroads already 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 109 in existence, a sum, to be paid annually, shall be bid in lieu of a per- centage of the gross earnings. Wyoming. Companies must be incorporated under the general law for a term not exceeding fifty years, and their charters are subject to amend- ment or repeal at any time. Cities and towns may grant permission to street railway companies to occupy the streets, but by law such franchises are limited to ten years, and the city may prescribe such conditions as it may deem 110 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. Appendix C. CONDITIONS IN AMERICAN CITIES. From a general view of the street railway business of the United States, the service given and rate of fare charged seems to be the cause of most of the friction between street railway corporations and municipal authorities. A closer view discloses the fact that wher- ever electricity is used as a motive power the equipment is new, the speed has been much increased, and the service rendered the public is generally satisfactory. The nearly universal five-cent fare, with free transfers, appears to meet the general approval of the public, and to prove profitable and satisfactory to the corporation managers. Even in localities where the experiment of a three-cent fare has been made and abandoned, there did not appear to the Committee to be a pronounced public sentiment demanding the lower fare. The corporation managers pronounce it a financial impossibility. It was the practice of the Committee, in visiting an American city, to first interview the municipal authorities, the mayor, and the officials in charge of the streets and public treasury. Although pub- lic complaint would naturally centre in the city halls, it was more frequently claimed by the officials seen that their particular city had the best street railway accommodations in the country than that the service was poor. As to fares, the opinion was freely expressed by private citizens and public officials that five cents, with free transfers that would take a passenger across the city, in some instances as far as twenty miles, was a low enough fare. The railway officials were next interviewed by the Committee. In regard to the above important and much-discussed points, they in- variably corroborated the opinions expressed by the city authorities. Some of the managers stated that, although the road had adopted the free transfer system reluctantly, they had found that the gen- eral business of the corporation, and its profits also, had been im- proved by the change. With a good service and fares generally satisfactory to corpora- tions and their patrons, it would seem that the relations between the municipalities and the corporations could not be other than peaceful. 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. Ill But the Committee found other causes of dissension. Wherever there was a term franchise about to expire, there was strife. In one instance there was a bitter contest in progress over the attempted readjustment of a franchise that had yet sixteen years to run. Wherever there was divided responsibility in the care or construc- tion of streets, there was contention. Wherever there was more than one company operating in the streets of a city, there was liable to be a contest, generally over grants for extensions. The worst conditions were found in localities where rival companies were con- tending for grants in public ways. These contests often lead to corruption in public life, and to such bitter political feuds that the public interests suffer. In several States, notably Rhode Island, Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, phases of the street railway prob- lem have recently been the leading political issues in city and State. Three of the mayors in important American cities visited were elected because of their attitude on street railway matters. The political cry has frequently been "cheaper fares;" but the un- derlying cause of real hostility to street railway transportation business seems to be a general feeling that public ways are being used for individual profit, that grants to street railway corporations are not properly paid for, and that questionable methods are often adopted in obtaining them. Whether well founded or not, the evi- dence of this public sentiment is unmistakable, and affords a fruitful field for political agitation and contention. The attempts made to secure from the companies compensation for the use of public ways are so varied as to be puzzling. No two contracts are alike, and there is no uniform system of State taxation. The streets in many western cities do not bear the same financial re- lations to the public as exist in Massachusetts. Here, the public ways are constructed and maintained from the general tax fund ; there, the cost of grading, paving and all construction of new public ways is at the expense of abutters. Even the reconstruction of streets by the substitution of a new kind of pavement is paid for by the owners of adjoining property, and only maintenance is paid for by the municipality. In many States stocks and bonds of street railways are not taxed, either by local or State authorities. A special tax, known as a vehicle tax, is imposed by many municipalities in the form of a carriage license for the use of the streets. This system appears to give satisfaction, and yields a large revenue. While there is no revenue system that can be said to have been entirely successful in its operation, the plans to secure financial re- turns for the use of public ways which have not worked well are easily noted. A direct tax on street cars as a license has usually 112 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. been much evaded, and generally results in restricting the service. A tax on net earnings leads to contests beween the corporations and municipalities as to what net earnings are. To require the street corporations to pave and care for public ways does not seem satisfactory to either side. On the other hand, taxes on real property and gross earnings appear only to afford opportunity for dispute and discussion as to the rate. That fixed, the plan does not cause friction in practical operation. The Committee found no strikes or important labor disturbances in progress. Payment of a fixed sum per hour for wages seemed the plan most generally approved. The price for labor on street rail- ways in the different cities was found to be much more uniform than is generally supposed. The very general use of electric cars for transportation through the streets of American cities is working notable changes in indus- trial, commercial and social conditions. These changes are being wrought out so rapidly, and are so radical and sweeping in their effects, that, although they may all prove beneficial in the end, some important interests must suffer in the readjustment. The Committee was everywhere met with courtesy and frankness. Investigation was welcomed, both by those representing the munici- palities and the corporations. The same questions that have given rise to the appointment of this Committee are, or have been, rife in other States and localities visited. The Committee earnestly hopes that some definite and satisfactory adjustment of the rela- tions between street railways operating in Massachusetts and her municipalities may be brought about before the strained conditions, political and otherwise, are reached that have been found in other communities. A statement more in detail of conditions obtaining in typical American cities is herewith submitted : — Albany, N. Y. The Albany Street Railway company, which controls the street transportation business in this city, and extends to the neighboring city of Troy, operates under a charter which is practically perpetual. The charter was granted in 1863, for one thousand years. The road, which is thirty-four miles in length, is well equipped with modern electrical appliances, the service is good, the fare five cents with free ' transfers, and the relations between the municipality and railroad authorities appear to be harmonious. In street construction the company paves within its tracks and two feet outside each rail, and maintains the same. The company cares for the snow within its location, and has an agreement with the city 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 113 authorities which provides that each corporation shall bear a propor- tionate part of the expense incurred in removing surplus snow from the public ways outside of the railway location. The taxation system in Albany as applied to street railways is un- usual. The real estate owned by the railway company is taxed like other real estate in the municipality. Then a valuation is made of the first cost of overhead construction, such as poles, wires, etc. These fixtures are taxed 61 cents per lineal foot for single track, and 90 cents per foot for double track. The surface construction, such as rails, ties, etc., is taxed at a valuation of §7,500 per mile. All these valuations are intended to be 90 per cent, of the real cost value. This unique system of taxa- tion appears to be satisfactory to both the city authorities and the street railway management. Those in charge of the public treasury stated that the direct taxes received from the street railway com- pany in 1896 amounted to a little more than $11,000. The general manager of the railway company states that, in addition to this, the cost of street construction, the care of snow and the charges which are in the nature of indirect taxes bring the total tax which the company pays for the occupancy of the street up to about $30,000 annually. Baltimore, Md. The nearly four hundred miles of street railway tracks in and about Baltimore are well constructed, and operated almost ex- clusively by electricity. Although among the latest of American cities of its class to use electrical power for street transportation, the equipment is exceptionally good. The change from horse power has been made within the last half dozen years, and the railway managers profited by the experiments with electrical appliances made in other localities. In nearly every other city visited by the Committee, in the intro- duction and extension of horse car lines the first grants were made without careful consideration or much attention to detail, and the arrangements for extensions were made from year to year between the railway companies and the existing city council. It was a ques- tion of bargaining without any general plan, and hardly two grants for the use of the streets had like conditions. But in Baltimore the tax payers were fortunate, at the beginning of the street railway business in the United States, to have a man in charge of their pub- lic affairs who had a wise comprehension of the possibilities of the street transportation business, and its influence upon the future social and business conditions of the city. For four years previous to 1860 Hon. Thomas Swann was mayor of Baltimore. During the last years of his mayoralty the subject 114 STEEET EAILWAYS. [Feb. of street railway franchises was brought prominently before the city council. Several companies desired the use of the streets for rail- way purposes, but Mayor Swann stated to all applicants that no ordinances granting the use of the streets for the use of street rail- way companies would receive his approval unless such ordinance contained a provision that one-fifth of the gross receipts of the rail- ways should be paid to the city, the money so obtained to be used by the city authorities either to carry out a proposed plan to con- struct a grand boulevard about the city, or used as a separate fund for the purchase and maintenance of public parks. It was also stipulated that a further sum of $20 annually should be paid to the city as license money for each car running regularly on the street railway, and further providing that the price for transporting passengers from any given part of the city to another should not exceed the sum of five cents per passenger. Mayor Swann approved the ordinance granting the use of the streets of Baltimore under these conditions in the early part of the year 1859. Subsequent legislation changed somewhat the plan inaugurated by Mayor Swann. The fares were raised from five to six cents, and again during the Civil "War to seven cents. Another change was subsequently made, changing the fare back again to five cents, with a charge for transfers. The present rate of fare is five cents, with free transfers. The original plan was also changed as to percentage of gross receipts paid to the city. By State legislation the rate was reduced from 20 to 9 per cent , and by local legislation the car license was reduced from $20 to $5. In street construction the companies pave and keep the street in repair between their tracks and two feet on either side. From May 1 to November 1 they are also required by city ordinance to sprinkle the streets. In care of snow, the companies remove it from their tracks, and, if the snow so removed and put upon the other part of the street ob- structs public travel, the companies remove the snow under the direction of the commissioner of public works. The care of snow, however, in this climate is not an important item of expense either to the railway or the municipality. The revenue which Baltimore receives for the occupancy of the streets by railway companies is extraordinary. The first year, the revenue received was over $33,000. It has steadily increased from the beginning, the city receiving in 1895 a little more than $243,000, and last year over $248,000, with a prospect of increasing revenue. Those representing the railway companies state that the financial burdens imposed by the municipality are unreasonably heavy ; that, when it is required to renew their equipment, it will be impossible 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 115 for them to pay such heavy tax burdens. One company, the Balti- more Consolidated, paid last year less than 2 per cent, dividends on a capitalization of $8,000,000. Those interested in Baltimore railway properties stated that, unless the business should increase very largely, the railway companies ought not to be expected to pay such heavy returns to the munici- pality. As to the ability of the railway companies to meet the tax conditions the Committee ventures no predictions, as that would in- volve a consideration of capitalization and a prediction as to the increase or decrease in the street transportation business in this city ; but from the beginning and at present no city on the con- tinent has received from railway companies occupying their streets cash returns that approach what is and has been received in Bal- timore. In the light of the present conditions and development of the busi- ness, it seems strange that a mayor of Baltimore, thirty-seven years ago, should have invented a plan and put it in operation which pro- vided liberal payment for the use of the public streets, by levying a tax on gross receipts, which is conceded now to be the most equi- table basis for a system of taxation ; provided the public with five- cent fares and free transfers, which is now almost universally adopted in the principal cities of the United States ; recognized the principle of the vehicle tax, or a special tax for driving a car in a public street ; directed that the income derived from street railway corpora- tions should be treated as a separate fund, and used only for the care and maintenance of highways and public parks, — in fact, pro- vided then for a solution of nearly all the problems that are now attracting public attention in the relations of street railway corpora- tions to municipalities. Buffalo, N. Y. There are in Buffalo three street railway companies. The Buffalo Bailway Company, chartered in 1890 for nine hundred and ninety- nine years, made up by the consolidation of three roads existing pre- viously. The Crosstown Street Railway Company, leased to the Buffalo Bailway Company. The Buffalo Traction Company, having a franchise for sixty-six years, and opened for operation on Oct. 7, 1897. The Buffalo Railway Company operates one hundred and fifty miles of track, including eighty-three miles owned by the Crosstown Street Railway Company. The original grants made to the Buffalo Railway Company con- tained no provision for the payment of any tax to the city on the gross earnings, but the Crosstown Street Railway Company's fran- 116 STKEET KAIL WAYS. [Feb. chise, which was sold at auction, under the law of the State requiring such sale, was disposed of for 13| per cent, of its gross earnings. Soon after beginning operation this road was acquired by the Buffalo Railway Company, which considered this rate to be too high. As a more liberal system of transfers was desired by the people, an agreement was made with the city by which a tax of 2 per cent, on the gross earnings of the combined roads up to an amount of $1,500,000, 2£ per cent, up to $2,000,000, and 3 per cent. on earnings in excess of this, should be paid, and provisions were made for the issue of free transfers. A very liberal system of transfers is now in use, which presents one peculiarity, that is, transfers are allowed not only for a cash payment but also on trans- fer checks. This practically allows unlimited transfers throughout the city. The tax on gross earnings now collected amounts to about $45,000. The Buffalo Traction Company, which has grants allowing it to use about sixty-five miles of street, and which was obliged to build thirty miles of track before it was opened for operation, is required to make payments for its franchise at the same rate as the Buffalo Railway Company, and in addition is limited to a five-cent fare, to include transfers to any point within the limits of the city by the shortest route operated by the company. If passengers do not de- sire a transfer, they receive from the conductor on the payment of a cash fare a ticket, and four of these tickets entitle the holder to a ride ; but these tickets, which are not good on the day of issue, must be used within sixty days. Various conditions exist in regard to the paving requirements, but in general the maintenance of the street between the tracks and two feet outside is required, using the same material as that of which the street surface is made. The Cross Town Street Railway Company has many locations, on which there are no paving requirements. The pavement is largely asphalt, Buffalo having a large mileage of streets paved with this material. The city ordinances also require the removal of snow which may be thrown off from the tracks of the road. The geographical situation of Buffalo is such that all roads radiate from the business section, like the sticks of a fan ; and this brings the Buffalo Railway Company and the Buffalo Traction Company to a certain extent into competition, although only one road is given a location in any street. Nearly all the more direct routes are con- trolled by the Buffalo Railway Company. A railway runs from Buffalo to Niagara Falls, the tracks of which start from the city boundary. This road, which obtains its power from Niagara Falls, has made a contract with the Buffalo Railway 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 117 Company to run its cars to the centre of the city over the tracks of that road; and this right is exclusive, as against any other road running from Buffalo to Niagara Falls. Chicago, III. There are in Chicago a number of street railway companies, having together more than one thousand miles of track. The principal roads are the Chicago City Railroad, operating on the south side, the North Chicago Railway Company, operating on the north side, and the West Chicago Railway Company, operating on the west side. These three roads have about sis hundred and fifty miles of track. They are operated by cables, horse and electric traction, but all new extensions are electric. The North and West Chicago companies have a common management, but are operated as separate roads. The street railway situation in this city became of public interest when the' West and North side roads were purchased and the horse railways converted into cable and electric roads. This public inter- est became intensified after the introduction into the Legislature of 1897 of the Humphreys bills, which were vigorously opposed and defeated, mainly by the efforts of the Civic Federation. Various .companies had franchises in the streets which expired at different times, and in 1883 a blanket ordinance was passed, confirming all franchises granted up to that time, and extending them for twenty years, to 1903. The Humphreys bills, which were introduced in the interests of the railways, contained various things which the railways considered to cover all that the Civic Federation had asked for, viz., a commis- sion of control, payment of a portion of the gross receipts to the city, and publicity of accounts. In return for these, they asked an extension of fifty years in their municipal franchises, and the estab- lishment of a five-cent fare for a term of years, — both of these things to be done by the Legislature, without any power of interfer- ence on the part of the city council. After the defeat of these bills the so-called Allen bill was introduced, which varied from the Hum- phreys bills in that it did not provide for the commission of control or payment to the city, but substituted for the extension of the franchise grant directly by the Legislature permission for the city council to extend these franchises for a term of fifty years. Up to this time no application has been made to the city council under these bills. The Civic Federation opposes very strongly the grant of this ex- tension of fifty years on the terms laid down in the Allen bill, inas- much as it considers that the matter is one to be adjusted directly between the city authorities and the roads ; and, as the franchises 118 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. are now so near expiration, it will be within the power of the city to make a bargain with each road individually, which shall be more advantageous for the city than is the case under the present acts. The desire has been expressed freely by prominent members of the Civic Federation that the roads should pay a fair amount to the city, and also be allowed to make a fair return to the stockholders on the actual value of the property, not on any excessive capi- talization. This feeling seems also to be shared by some of the city officials and the managers of the companies, but others on both sides seem inclined to treat the question wholly on the ground of personal interests. If they are connected with the management of a company, they maintain that the city has no right to any part of the earnings. If they are connected with the Civic Federation, they maintain that the company should be so limited as to pay practically no return to the stockholders. All sides recognize that the existing relations between the street railway companies and the city council are prejudicial to the interests of all, but opinions vary greatly as to the causes of these relations. The roads complain that they are con- tinually assailed by members of the city council with measures par- taking of the nature of blackmail ; and, on the other hand, the Civic Federation holds that the railways are continually engaged in at- tempts to obtain special privileges by corrupting members of the city council. Among the city officials there seems to exist a feeling that it would be wise for the city to own and maintain the tracks in the street in the same way as the remainder of the surface of the street is maintained, and then to lease the operation of cars on those tracks to some company or companies at an adequate rental. The general conditions under which companies now operate in the streets of Chicago require that they pave and maintain sixteen feet in width of the street in the case of double tracks, and eight feet in the case of single tracks, with a pavement of as good quality as that of the rest of the street, and also that they pay a license tax of $50 per car annually. The snow is merely thrown off the tracks by the companies. The general relations between the city and the companies as re- gards paving seem to be satisfactory, excepting on one point. In streets where the city lays wood pavement, the companies lay granite or bricks in the portion in their control. AVhenever the city lays as- phalt in place of wood, the companies under this condition would be required to lay asphalt in place of their granite or brick ; but, in consideration of having maintained a better pavement during the previous years than the city had laid down, the roads often ask for delay in the carrying out of this requirement, and this delay has 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 119 usually been granted. It is within the power of the city to do this work and charge the same to the companies if the companies refuse to do it themselves. The license fee of $50 per car is determined by dividing the num- ber of trips made daily by thirteen, and the resultant figure is sup- posed to represent a fair average of the number of cars in use. The rate of fare is five cents on each road, and transfers are given with considerable freedom, but only on lines belonging to the same company, nor are any transfers given between the North and West side lines, although these two lines are under common management. The only demand for a lower rate of fare comes from the Socialists, who oppose any payment being made to the city, and advocate the reduction of gross income by lowering fares instead of by means of such payment. The service appears in general to be satisfactory, excepting some complaint that not sufficient cars are run, this being a natural conse- quence of a tax on cars. Cincinnati. In this city the street railway conditions are unusual. The Cin- cinnati Street Railway Company, which controls 90 per cent, of the .nearly three hundred miles of street railway track in the city, oper- ates under a contract made and a fifty-year franchise granted in 1896. This agreement was made between the city and railway com- pany under authority given by a legislative act giving to the cities in Ohio the right to grant franchises for a term of fifty years, under such conditions as might be agreed upon. By this legislative act, which is known as the Rogers law, the authority for granting street railway franchises in Cincinnati was taken from the city coun- cil and vested in the local Board of Administration. This Board, which was established six years ago, consists of five members ap- pointed by the mayor, and, in addition to the unusual authority of granting street railway franchises, has the entire charge of the public ways. Like all cities visited by the Committee where there was practi- cally single ownership in street railways and one authority over the public ways, there were found amicable relations existing between the municipal authorities and the management of the private corpo- ration, so far as street construction and repairs were concerned. Under the terms of a contract which was approved the 1.3th of August, 1896, the right to occupy the streets for railway purposes is granted for a term of fifty years ; but the conditions of the grant as to rates of fare, car license fees, percentage of gross receipts paid to the city, transfers and like conditions are subject to revision at the end of twenty years from the beginning of the contract and 120 STEEET EAILWAYS. [Feb. every fifteen years thereafter during the continuance of the fifty- year grant. If the Board of Administration should for any reason cease to exist, the authority which it now holds is vested in the legis- lative branch of the city government. In case the parties in interest cannot agree, it is provided by the Rogers law that the questions at issue shall be submitted to the adjudication of a court of competent jurisdiction in a suit brought by the railroad company against the city. For the first twenty years the railway corporation is to pay to the city 5 per cent, of its gross earnings, a special license of $1,100 an- nually for the use of a viaduct built by the city over the Southern Railroad, at a cost of $350,000, and, further, a car license of $4 per year for each lineal foot, inside measurement, of every car intended to be operated. This form of car license is peculiar to Cincinnati, so far as the investigations of the Committee have extended. Extra cars for winter or summer use may be operated without extra charge, the company being required to submit a monthly report of all extra cars to the Board of Administration, giving the number of the cars, the date and the occasion of running the same. Like other car license systems examined, this one has been found unsatisfactory in Operation, and proved a source of contention and misunderstanding. The amount of gross taxes paid by the Cincinnati Street Railway Company last year was a little over $170,000. Of this amount, the city auditor states that the municipality received about $135,000, of which over $22,000 was for car license fees. The fare in Cincin- nati, which is also prescribed by the contract, is five cents, with a very liberal system of transfers which was adopted four years ago. A passenger going in the same general direction may be carried on the system for a five-cent fare from one end of the city to the other, — on some routes a distance of nineteen miles. The railroad authorities stated that this very liberal system of transfers had in practice worked to the financial advantage of the railroad and to the satisfaction of the public. The chairman of the Board of Administration stated that the city would have obtained a more favorable contract with the street rail- way company had it not been for the unusual operating expenses which the Cincinnati Street Railway Company is obliged to bear, on account of the street grades. The business portion of Cincinnati is situated in a valley about three miles in diameter, bounded on the south by the Ohio River and on the north by a semicircular range of hills, some of which rise about four hundred feet above the river level. The greater part of the residential section of the city is built in two terraces, respectively sixty and one hundred and twelve feet above the river level. This unusual topography occasions street 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 121 grades so steep as to be beyond the limits of electrical power to climb, and eight inclined planes are used to lift the cars to the differ- ent levels. This condition adds considerably to the operating ex- penses of street railways doing business in Cincinnati, and was an important consideration in the making of the contract referred to, which is very carefully drawn, and goes more into details than any instrument of the kind that has come to the attention of the Com- mittee. Street construction does not come under this contract. It has, however, been unusually expensive to the operating street railway company. The Board of Administration estimates that within the last three years it has cost the railway companies upwards of $2,000,- 000 for street construction. In addition to the taxes paid to the municipality, under what is known as the Goodale law the company pays one half of 1 per cent. on its gross receipts to the State, but no tax is imposed either by the State or municipality on stocks or bonds. A reprint of the Eogers law is herewith given : — Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, Sec. 2505a. Any corporation or company organized for street railway purposes may lease or purchase any street railroad or street railroads, or railroad operated as a street railroad, by electric, cable, or other rapid transit motive power, or inclined plane railroad or railroads, together with all the property, real, personal and mixed, and all the franchises, rights and privileges respecting the use and operation of such railroad or rail- roads, situated or existing in whole or in part within this state, constructed and held by any other corporation or company, corporations or companies, the latter being hereby vested with corresponding power to let or sell, upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon between the cor- porations or companies ; and any two or more of such corporations or com- panies may enter into any arrangement for their common benefit consistent with and calculated to promote the objects for which they were created. No such lease or purchase shall be perfected until a meeting of the stock- holders of each of the companies has been called for that purpose by the directors thereof, on thirty (30) days' notice to each stockholder, at such time and place, and in such manner as is provided for annual- meetings of the companies, and the holders of at least two-thirds of the stock of each company, in person or by proxy at such meeting, or at any properly adjourned meeting, assent thereto. Provided, that any stockholder who refuses to assent to such lease or sale, and signifies the same by notice in writing to the lessee or purchaser within ninety (90) days thereafter, shall be entitled to demand and receive compensation in the manner provided for the compensation of stockholders in sections 3302, 3303 and 3304 of the Eevised Statutes ; and the said sections are adopted and made to be part of this section. And any such corporation or company may purchase or own all or any part of the capital stock of any such corporation or company in 122 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. this or adjoining states, whose lines or authorized lines of road intersect or connect with the route or lines of the corporation or company making such purchases. Sec. 25056. Whenever the lines or authorized lines of road of any street railroad corporations or companies meet or intersect, or whenever any such line of any street railroad corporation or company, and that of any in- clined plane railway or railroad company or corporation or any railroad operated by electricity or other means of rapid transit may be conveniently connected to be operated to mutual advantage, such corporations or com- panies, or any two or more of them, are hereby authorized to consolidate themselves into a single corporation, or whenever a line of road of any street railroad company or corporation organized in this state is made, or is in process of construction to the boundary line of the state, or to any point either within or without the state, such corporation or company may consolidate its capital stock with the capital stock of any corporation or company or corporations or companies in an adjoining state, the line or lines of whose road or roads have been made or are in process of construc- tion to the same point or points, in the same manner and with the same effect as provided for the consolidation of railroad companies in sections 3381, 3382, 3383, 3384, 3385, 3386, 3387, 3388, 3389, 3390, 3391 and 3392 of the Revised Statutes, and any and all acts amendatory and supplementary to said sections and each of them ; and the said sections, including these so amended and supplemented, are adopted and made a part of this section. Sec. 2505tZ. Whenever it is proposed to bring any two or more lines of road within the control or ownership of one corporation or company under and in pursuance of either section 2505a and 25056, which i-oads are held and operated under grants providing different terms and conditions, it shall be competent for the Board of Administration in any city of the first grade of the first class, and for the council or other legislative body of any other municipal corporation to agree with the corporation or company so acquir- ing control or ownership, that such terms and conditions shall be and remain unchanged as they are contained in each of the grants under which said several lines of road are operated, on condition that said railroad com- pany or companies shall provide or extend a system for transferring pas- sengers from line to line going in the same general direction, and such other transfers as shall be satisfactory to said Board of Administration, or council, or other legislative body ; and provided further, that no fare for children will be charged upon any of said routes in excess of the minimum fare for children over either of such separate routes prior to such consolida- tion or purchase ; and provided further, that for a continuous ride in the same general direction over the lines of such consolidated company within any municipal corporation no fare greater than five cents shall be charged ; or in lieu of the foregoing, it shall be competent in all such cases for the Board of Administration in any city of the first grade of the first class, and for the council or other legislative body of any other municipal corporation to extend the time of each of said grants or franchises for such periods as, together with the unexpired term of such existing grant or franchise, shall not exceed the period of fifty years from and after the passage of this act ; provided, the company so acquiring control and ownership of said roads 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 123 will agree to such changes and modifications in the existing terms and con- ditions of said grants or franchises, including motive power, extensions, changes and revision of routes, and including also the above mentioned rates of fare for children, and transfer system, and such other changes as to rates of fare and transfers as will make the terms and conditions applicable to all said roads or lines satisfactory to said Board of Administration or legislative body ; and provided further, that no increase of fare shall be allowed in any case, and no decrease shall be allowed in any case of car license fees or percentage tax on gross earnings now required to be paid. And provided further, that the municipal corporation in which such street railroad is situated shall have the power at the end of twenty years from the passage of this act, and every fifteen years thereafter, to fix the rates of fare, car license fees, percentage tax on gross earnings, transfers, and all other terms and conditions on which such railroad is operated in said city. The said terms shall be fixed by the Board of Administration, if there be such a Board, and if there be none, then by the Common Council or legis- lative body of the municipal corporation and must be approved and con- firmed in the manner which at the time may be required for other acts of such municipal corporation. Notice of the time and place when such rates and regulations shall be fixed shall be given by public notice in two daily newspapers of general circulation in such city, and the hearing on the same shall be open and public, and the terms there fixed shall be equitable according to the then cost of carrying passengers. Should the parties not agree as to whether said terms are equitable the same may be submitted to the adjudication of a court of competent jurisdiction in a suit brought by the company to enjoin the municipal corporation from enforcing the terms so fixed. Sec. 2. That said act passed May 1, 1891, and said act passed April 18, 1892, whereby said section 2505a and 25056 were enacted and amended, be and the same are hereby repealed ; and that this act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage. Passed April 22, 1896. Cleveland. In and about Cleveland there are over two hundred miles of street railroad track, operated by two companies, locally known as the Big and Little Consolidated. Most of the original grants were made for a term of twenty years, and present the usual variety of conditions found where grants were made at different times to several corporations. Although the street railway service was not complained of to the Committee, the difficulties of a short-term franchise are forcibly illustrated in this city. The grant of one of the companies operat- ing in Cleveland has still sixteen years to run, yet the owners of the railroad property felt so insecure that negotiations were pending for a new grant and contract when the Committee visited the city. It was stated that the last municipal campaign turned upon a street railway issue. However this may be, it was plain to the Committee 124 STKEET KAILWAYS. [Feb. that street railway politics were very much in evidence, to the detri- ment of the transportation business and inconvenience of the public. The local system of taxation differs from that of Cincinnati in that a car license of 810 per car is imposed. This system was objected to both by the city authorities and the railroad managers as a method of taxation, being unequal, liable to evasion and generally unsatis- factory in its results. The total amount of taxes collected from street railway corporations operating in Cleveland for the year 1896 was little more than $79,000, about $13,000 of which was paid over to the State. Detroit. In Michigan, street railway and other corporations have charters limited by constitutional provision to a thirty-years' term. In 1878 the street railway company then operating all the tracks in Detroit, under a charter granted several years previous, sold out to another company, and the present owners contend that the reorganization ex- tended the charter for another thirty years' term. The city authori- ties do not concede this, and claim that the charter rights date from the granting of the first charter. This question, which is similar to the franchise situation in Indianapolis, is now in litigation. The franchises to the several Detroit street railway corporations were granted at different dates, and vary much as to conditions im- posed. The Citizens' Railroad, which owns and operates more than half of the trackage, pays to the city semi-annually for the use of the public ways 2 per cent, of its gross receipts, paves between its tracks with the same material as that used on the other surface of the street, and replaces all paving disturbed for railroad repairs to the satisfaction of the city authorities. The Grand River Traction Company owns about twenty miles of track, which is now operated by the Citizens' Railroad, and the terms of its charter require pay- ment to the city of 1 per cent, of its gross receipts annually, with substantially the same conditions imposed as to street construction and repairs as were required of the first company chartered. The Fort Wayne and Belle Isle Company, owning twenty-four miles of track, also operated by the Citizens' Company, was granted a fran- chise under the condition that the city should receive 2 per cent, of its gross earnings, payable semi-annually, with like conditions as to street construction and maintenance as those applied to the other companies. Soon after the granting of this charter came the political agitation for three-cent fares ; and street railways matters have since not only caused much contention in the courts, but have also entered largely into politics, both State and municipal. 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 125 Following this agitation, and largely as a consequence of it, the next charter granted, which was to the Detroit Street Eailway Com- pany, was liberal in the extreme. This company, which owns sixty- two miles of track, pays no specific tax on gross earnings, is required to do no paving, either between its tracks or on other parts of the street in which they are located, and is not required to make pave- ment repairs if the streets are disturbed for railroad repair work. The concrete sub-structure to receive the tracks was laid by the city, and, as there is no tax imposed on either bonds or stock of street railway corporations, either by the State or the city, this company is practically free from taxation burdens. These liberal concessions to the Detroit Street Railway were made, it is said, in order to secure the three-cent fare. There has been no legal consolidation of the different street railway corporations operating in Detroit, but under an agreement with the Citizens' Company the two hundred and twenty-one miles of track are now practically under one manage- ment. Before this agreement was entered into, the Citizens' Com- pany, which controls the locations in the principal thoroughfares, in competition with the Detroit Street Eailway, which inaugurated the system of lower fares, also adopted a three-cent fare. After a trial of seven months, the managers of this road state that the experiment was found to be unprofitable, and declare three-cent fares in a city like Detroit a financial impossibility. This competition, which was very active for a time, resulted, as most rate competitions do, in final consolidation. Experts say that the track construction and equipment of the street railway systems in Detroit are not excelled. Before the adop- tion of electrical power there was much complaint of the accommo- dations, and the lack of good service is said to have started the pub- lic agitation and brought street railway matters so prominently into politics. The service rendered now, however, is very satisfactory to the public, and the relations between the municipality and the corporations are coming to be much more amicable. The system of street construction here, and in most of the west- ern cities, varies materially from that in vogue in Massachusetts. Here the abutters pay the entire expense for laying out, grading and paving public ways. After the first construction, the municipality pays for any resurfacing of the streets and all repairs. The total amount of taxes paid by the street railway corporations operating in Detroit for the year ending July 1, 1897, was about $44,000, a little more than one-sixth of which goes to the State and county, and the balance to the municipality in which the tracks are located. Matters in dispute between the street railway companies and mu- 126 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. nicipalities are referred to the court, and there is and has been much litigation. It was the general opinion, expressed both by the city officials and railroad managers, that it would be advisable to have some tribunal other than the courts, oue corresponding to our Board of Railroad Commissioners, which should arbitrate upon the ques- tions arising between street railway corporations and municipalities. Indianapolis. The Citizens' Street Railroad of this city, operates about one hundred miles of track. This road, which is now well equipped with electrical power, was established as a horse railroad in 1864 under a municipal grant for thirty years. The contention is made by the railway company that this grant was extended for thirty years in 1878. The city claims that the grant expired in 1894, and this question is now pending settlement in the courts. On the as- sumption that the franchise had expired, the city authorities granted the use of the streets to a new company, the City Railway Com- pany, in 1893 ; but, owing to the unsettled conditions and litigations, no track has been laid under this grant. When a readjustment of the terms of the original grant was made, in 1878, the provision requiring the road to "repave between its tracks" was altered to read ''repair between its tracks," and this change was strongly resented by the tax payers. From this point dates the strained and unsatisfactory conditions which have since existed between the Citizens' Street Railway Company and the municipality. It was stated by those representing the railway interest that the company would now be willing to pave within its location, or to meet any reasonable street construction requirements ; but matters have reached such an acute stage that street railway matters have for some years been an issue in city and State politics. At the last session of the State Legislature a bill was passed fixing the fare in Indianapolis at three cents, and placing other restrictions upon the Citizens' Street Railway Company. The bill was claimed to be unconstitutional by the railway authorities, on the ground that its provisions applied only to the city of Indianapolis, the constitu- tion of Indiana prohibiting special legislation. Litigation on this bill, which has been very stubbornly fought, has led to a conflict of jurisdiction between the State and Federal courts, which has not yet reached final adjudication. While the mechanical equipment of the road is good and the service rendered the public generally satisfactory as to fares and transfers, the condition of the streets between the tracks is very poor and even dangerous. This is a constant source of irritation to 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 127 the citizens, and the fact that the stock in the street railway is mainly held outside of the State probably does not help the situation. In the matter of taxation the road has for some years been paying taxes on a valuation of $1,900,000. This valuation was made by the local assessment board. Under the laws of Indiana any citizen has a right, if he is of the opinion that any given piece of property is not fairly valued for taxation purposes by the local authorities, to appeal to the State Board of Equalization, which must give a hearing on the complaint. Last year a citizen of Indianapolis appealed to the State Board for a readjustment of the valuation of the Citizens' Street Railway Company, and the valuation was raised by its de- cision from $1,900,000 to over $3,000,000, and the company now pays taxes on the latter amount. Philadelphia. The situation in this city clearly illustrates the almost universal tendency towards single ownership of the street transportation busi- ness. Separate charters have been granted to thirty-nine street railway companies in the city of Philadelphia, but at present all the roads are practically under the management and control of one, the Union Traction Company. This company, organized in 1895, is a consolidation of the three traction companies existing at that time through leases for terms of nine hundred and ninety-nine years. Up to 1880, seventeen companies were in operation within the city, and at that time the consolidations began which have led to the present single control. The first traction company was incorporated in 1883, and from time to time absorbed by lease or consolidation certain of the exist- ing companies. In 1893, twO'Other traction companies were organ- ized, and these absorbed the remainder of the operating companies, being themselves finally purchased or leased by the Union Traction Company. The capital stock of the present company is $30,000,000, of which only $7,500,000 has been paid in, and there is also a bonded indebt- edness of something over $35,000,000. In one respect the situation here differs materially from that in any other American city. The length of streets occupied by the street railway tracks exceeds that of any city in the United States in proportion to the total length of tracks, because in most streets only one track is allowed. Outside of a few of the principal streets in which there are double tracks the cars of each route run in oppo- site directions on neighboring streets, the cars in any particular street always running in the same direction. When, in 1892, the street railways changed from horse to electric 128 STEEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. traction, an agreement was entered into between the companies and the city authorities, under which the roads agreed to pave and main- tain the streets through which they operated, from curb to curb. As the total length of track in the city exceeds five hundred miles, of which about four hundred and twenty miles are operated by the Union Traction Company, this has imposed a very heavy expense upon the companies. Up to Dec. 31, 1897, there had been laid down two hundred and sixty-six miles of improved pavement, mostly asphalt, entirely at the expense of the railway companies. Since that time track extensions and other street construction have been made, and it is stated by those in charge of the Department of Pub- lic Works that the companies have met the requirements for new street paving to the entire satisfaction of the department and the public. The cost of this pavement to the companies is stated by the city authorities to be much less than the companies claim, but probably a fair estimate would be that it has cost $12,000,000. This street work has been done under the general supervision of the Department of Public Works, by contract ; and a part of the agree- ment between the railways and the contractors has been that the contractors should keep the pavement in repair for a term of years, therefore the cost of maintenance does not yet appear in the railway expenses. Although the relations between those in charge of the public ways and the railway companies have been generally satisfactory, the Director of Public Works recommends that there be a change in the existing methods, and that hereafter all street construction be done by the city authorities, and the expense thereof charged to the com- panies. He is of the opinion that there should be no division of responsibility as to street construction and repairs. When new streets are laid out by the city as public ways, construction is paid for by the property owners abutting on a given street ; and, as the railway companies repave and repair in all the principal streets, the railway companies practically maintain the principal streets of Philadelphia, which are in excellent condition. In this city may be found all the systems of taxation that are ap- plied to street railway companies in America. The State taxes the stocks, bonds and gross receipts, — on the market value of the stock 5 mills, on the par value of the bonds 4 mills, and on the gross re- ceipts 8 mills. The municipality taxes dividends in excess of 6 per cent, earned upon the actual cash capital, and real estate owned by the companies the same as other real property. A car tax is also imposed of $50 a year per car owned by the company, whether in operation or not, and $100 a year per car if the cars are run over city bridges. 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 129 It is claimed on the part of the street railways that the interest paid, on capital expended in paving streets, with the average amounts necessary to pay repairs on the same, makes at least a 10 per cent, tax on the gross receipts. With State tax, car tax and other charges, about 20 per cent, of the gross receipts is required to pay direct and indirect taxes. The operation of the company for the past fiscal year shows a def- icit of $851,000, but considering this item the terms of leases and the capitalization must be taken into account, and to give a fair statement of this would be exceedingly difficult,* and probably would be misleading. Pennsylvania gets a very large revenue from the street railways operating in the Commonwealth. Of the $913,000 paid by the Union Traction Company last year, $700,000 went to the State. The revenue to the city last year from the tax on the excess dividend over 6 per cent, was about $90,000. The receipts to the city from car licenses last year amounted to a little more than $97,000, being an increase of about $20,000 over the amount paid during the year 1895. This increase was mainly due to the fact that, under the direction of the Bureau of Highways, inspectors were instructed to make a new examination and estimate of the number of cars used by the different companies. This indicates that the same objection to a car license exists here that has been found in other municipalities ; viz., a disposition to evade it on the part of the companies, a diffi- culty in keeping accurate account, and a tendency to impair the service by running cars insufficient in number to accommodate public travel. In the matter of the dividend tax there is a difficulty in arriving at an adjustment with the companies, owing to the various methods of book-keeping employed by the different companies ; and the opinion has been expressed by city officials that it was not a sat- isfactory method of taxation. The director of the Department of Public Works recommends, in his report for 1896, that the companies be relieved of all street ex- penses except the care within their location, that they be allowed to run cars without license charges on the streets or bridges, and that they be charged a fixed percentage upon gross receipts, the amount to be fixed and specified in the contract and agreement, and set aside for the maintenance and improvement of paved streets ; and the same opinion has been expressed by the legal representatives of the city. The franchises are perpetual. * For a full discussion of this, see F. W. Speirs, "The Street Railway System of Philadelphia: Its History and Present Conditions," Johns Hopkins Univ. Stud., 15th Ser., Nos. III., IV., V., March, April, May, 1897. 130 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. Providence. The street railway conditions in this city are of special interest, from the fact that here is presented the only instance in New Eng- land which has come to the knowledge of the Committee, where the exclusive use of the streets of a city for railway purposes have been granted to a private corporation by direct legislative enactment. In 1892 the Rhode Island Legislature passed a law granting to the Union Railroad Company the exclusive right for twenty years to operate street railways in the streets of Providence, prescribing in detail all the financial conditions under which the business should be con- ducted for this term. This law provides also that the Union Rail- road Company shall have the right in other cities and towns in Rhode Island to operate a street railway during the period of twenty years, and gives it authority to maintain tracks, poles, wires and other railway appliances. The location of tracks, the selection of railway fixtures, regulation of speed, street construction and care, removal of snow, and general supervisory powers are in charge of the local authorities. All previous acts of any city or town regulating street railways operating in their streets inconsistent with this law were repealed or annulled, and the proper officers directed to cancel and discharge the same. As the Union Railroad Company operates sixty-five miles of track in Providence and sixty-eight outside the city limits, or one hundred and thirty-three miles of the total one hundred and fifty-seven in the State, this law very largely determines the street railway policy of Rhode Island. For the rights and privileges in and to the streets of Providence granted under this law the company is to pay 3 per cent, of its gross earnings for the first term of five years, and at a rate not less and not more than 5 per cent, for each succeeding period of five years during the twenty years exclusive grant. If, after the first period, the representatives of the city and the railway managers are unable to agree upon a percentage, it is provided that referees shall be selected, whose decision shall be final. The parties in interest were unable to agree, referees have been selected, and their decision was pending when the Committee was in Providence. A petition was presented to the last Legislature, which was supported and urged by the mayor of Providence, to require the railway company to issue free transfers. An act was passed grant- ing free transfers on the condition that the city should furnish free of rent a lot of land for a transfer station, to be constructed in a central and business portion of the city. The rate of fare is fixed by this act at five cents for the period of the twenty years' grant. In 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 131 the event of the adoption of the free transfer system, it is provided that the company shall be relieved from maintaining paving for a term of five years. No action has been taken under this law by the city council or its representatives, and free transfers have not yet been established. Discussion of these matters and agitation in regard to the above- mentioned legislative acts have brought street railway matters actively and prominently into State and municipal politics. Like every other city visited where there was single ownership of the railway operating in the public ways, and one authority over the streets, in regard to the construction and care of the public ways the relations between the municipality and the railway managers were amicable. It is the usual custom in Providence, in the construction of streets or repairs for which the company is liable, for the work to be done under the direction and supervision of the Commissioner of Public "Works, and the expense so incurred charged at cost to the com- pany. Both the city officials and railway authorities stated that there were no difficulties in adjusting these matters, which cause so much friction in other localities, entirely satisfactorily. In the care of snow the city and company share the expense equally, and there did not appear to be any friction in the adjustment of this important item of expense. Richmond. Richmond is an interesting street railway point, from the fact that the first practical test of the electrical system as now generally applied to street transportation in the United States was made in this city in the spring of 1887. It was known before this that it was possible to apply sufficient power to turn the wheels of an electric car and run them on a level road, but it had not been demonstrated that it was practical to use the trolley system where there were steep grades in the streets. On the stretch of road where the experiment was made there were several sharp curves and a ten per cent, grade. It was shown clearly to the railroad men and capitalists from Boston, New York and Chicago, who witnessed the experiment that it was possible to take a heavily loaded car up a ten per cent, grade ; and from this date began the development, as a business enterprise, of the great American invention of transporting people by the so-called trolley system. It has been thought strange that the first test should be made in Richmond ; but that is explained by the fact that the Richmond Street Railway Company had a charter that permitted the use of any motive power deemed advisable by the railroad management, and no legislation was necessary to make the test. 132 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. In Richmond there are two operating companies, — the Richmond Railway & Electric Company, operating about sixty miles of track, and the Richmond Traction Company, chartered three years ago as a competing company, which operates sixteen miles of track. The charter of the former company was granted originally for thirty years, and extends to 1903 ; and the relations between the munici- pality and this company present a good illustration of the difficulties attending a limited franchise. For several years there has been a contention between the city on the one side and the railroad managers on the other, occasioned by the failure of the company to change from horse to electric power, to adopt modern appliances and give the better accommodations to the public which these afford. The city authorities state that the failure of the company to meet this public demand was the occasion of the granting of the franchise to the competing road, the Richmond Traction Company. The railroad people holding the first franchise, on the other hand, state that they could not raise the capital necessary to adopt electric power on the road until they were certain that their franchise would be extended. As a result, this road is not up to date in its equipment. Here is an illustration of a company with a new franchise, and an expiring one. On the same street, one of the main thoroughfares of Richmond, there are located four tracks, two of them operated by electricity and owned by the Richmond Traction Company, chartered three years ago, and two of them operated and owned by the Richmond Rail- way & Electric Company, with a charter which has six years to run. The former is operated by electricity and as well equipped as any road in the country ; the other is equipped with bob-tail cars, drawn by mules, and the service is conspicuously poor. The Richmond Railway & Electric Company, or the old company, as it is called, pays a special State tax, which applies to all trans- portation companies under the Acts of 1892, chapter 254. Under their original grant from the city this road pays to the municipality 2 per cent, on the gross receipts, which amounted last year to $4,600. Their paving requirements are to pave within and two feet outside their tracks, and keep the same in repair. The taxation requirements of the new company, or the Richmond Traction Company, are that the road shall pay 5 per cent, on the gross receipts to the city, subject, of course, to the same State taxes as the other company. In the last year the city received from this company $6,000. Their paving obligations are the same as that of the other company. The regular fares in Richmond are five cents cash, six tickets for twenty-five cents. In the morning and evening tickets are sold to 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 133 workingmen two for five cents, and the same terms are granted to school children holding certificates from their teachers. St. Louis. The three hundred and fifty miles of street railway track located in the public ways of St. Louis are owned by nineteen different com- panies, the largest amount of track owned by any one company being seventy-three, and the smallest amount two, miles. The grants from the city to these different companies vary in time terms from fifteen to fifty years, and present a great variety of con- ditions. Some companies pay a tax on gross receipts, others a fixed rental per year, some make special construction of streets or stations ; and the Committee found here the best illustration of the hap-hazard way in which the use of the public streets in the United States has been granted to private corporations. There are scattered about the city very many public parks and pleasure resorts of various kinds, and to connect these with the heart of the city has been the aim of each company owning street franchises. In consequence, to avoid duplication of tracks in the principal streets, nearly every street in the business section of the city contains tracks, and some of the routes are very circuitous. The street transportation business of St. Louis is now managed by six operating companies, each of which controls several other in- dependent corporations. In the opinion of the city officials and citizens interviewed, it was stated that the public would be served better if there was a consolidation of these six companies under one operating management. There are several miles of cable road, but no new cables are being laid, all extensions being operated by electric power. The fare is five cents ; transfers are freely given on each road, but no system of interchange of transfers exists, even in the case of common ownership of stock. In street construction the companies are required to pave within the tracks and twelve inches outside of the rails, with such material as the Commissioner of Public Works may approve. The new con- struction required now by this department is either asphalt or brick. The Commissioner of Public Works stated that he found consider- able difficulty in getting the different companies to comply promptly with the paving requirements. Single ownership of all the street railways operating in the city would probably remedy this somewhat. The Commissioner was strongly of the opinion that, where the railway companies were responsible for street construction or re- pairs, and failed to do their work in reasonable time or manner, the 134 STKEET EAILWAYS. [Feb. city should, in all such cases, have the authority to make the street construction needed within or without the tracks, charging the cost of the same to the railway companies. The fall of snow is so light in St. Louis that it is not an important consideration, being simply thrown off the tracks by the companies when it interferes with their business. This city affords a good illustration of the comparatively new system of taxation in the United States, which requires a license fee from the owners of all vehicles used upon the public ways. This special tax has yielded a revenue in some years of over $100,000. The total amount of taxes paid to the city of St. Louis in the year 1896-97 by the street railway companies operating in the city amounted to about $186,000. MONTEEAL. This city, with an estimated population of three hundred thousand, has but eighty-two miles of street car track. It is very compactly built, with few important suburban villages surrounding it. The Montreal Street Railway Company is operating under a grant by the city council of Montreal, granted Dec. 21, 1892. The fran- chise is exclusive for thirty years, and subject to the provisions that the company shall pay to the city annually 4 per cent, on its gross earnings up to $1,000,000; from $1,000,000 to $1,500,000, 6 per cent., that is, 6 per cent, on the excess over one million; from $1,500,000 to $2,000,000, 8 per cent. ; from $2,000,000 to $2,500,000, 10 per cent.; from $2,500,000 to $3,000,000, 12 per cent.; and above $3,000,000, 15 per cent. Under this provision the Montreal Street Railway paid the last fiscal year to the city, on gross receipts of a little over $1,250,000, a little more than $52,000. The system of clearing the tracks and streets of snow is peculiar to this locality. Although not in the original contract, under an agreement between the city surveyor and the street railway manager the railroad agrees to pay $1,650 per mile of street to the city for clearing the streets and tracks of snow ; and during the last fiscal year there was paid into the city treasury by the railroad corporation a little over $52,000 for clearing of snow. This is estimated to be one-half of the total expense for taking care of snow in the streets of Montreal. It was stated by both the city authorities and the city surveyor that the last year was a very favorable one as regards the fall of snow, and that the city under the agreement only had to pay $30,000, as against the railroad's $52,000 ; but both the city authori- ties and the railroad managers stated that the conditions were liable to be reversed the coming season, as all would depend upon the fall of snow. It was suggested by the general manager of the railroad 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 135 that a more equitable adjustment would be on the number of inches of snowfall, as reported by the weather bureau. The street transportation service in Montreal is conceded to be excellent, and the transfer system which generally obtains is said to be working satisfactorily both to the citizens and the railroad corpo- ration. It was stated by the city engineer, who has charge of street construction and repairs, that in his opinion it cost the municipality one-third more to maintain a street, even when paved, where there were street railway tracks located therein, and that this percentage increased as the street narrowed. He believes thoroughly in di- vorcing street construction from railroad business. In the extension of tracks the city pays for the sub-structure and the railroad for the railroad construction. There is no tax on bonds or stocks of the Montreal Street Rail- way, either general or municipal. Toronto. The relations between the municipality of Toronto and the operat- ing street railway there are unlike the American or European rela- tions, but partaking of both. When the thirty years' grant, which was made to the street railway corporation, expired several years ago, the city bought the plant of the company at a price fixed upon by a board of referees. For a few months the city conducted the transportation business, then the plant was sold to the present operating company at the price for which the city had purchased it, under conditions that the city was to build the road bed to receive the railroad construction, and for which purpose the municipality expended over $1,000,000, in return for which and the occupancy of the streets the street railway corporation agreed to pay annually a tax of $800 per mile of track, and 8 per cent, of the gross receipts up to $1,000,000 ; between $1,000,000 and $1,500,000, 10 per cent. ; between $1,500,000 and $2,000,000, 12 per cent. ; between $2,000,- 000 and $3,000,000, 15 per cent. ; and on all receipts over $3,000,000, 20 per cent. The total mileage, including suburban lines, is one hundred and six miles, and the roads are well equipped with modern electrical appliances, and render a service that is satisfactory to the city authorities and the public. The system of fares is similar to that in Massachusetts, — five cents for cash fare. The company sells six tickets for twenty-five cents, gives free transfers, and carries workmen at special hours and school children at reduced rates. It was stated, both by the mayor and the superintendent of the street railway system, that, under the old conditions before the last 136 STEEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. contract was made, when the railway corporation did a portion of the street construction and repairs, there was constant conflict and dis- turbance, and that the plan was very unsatisfactory. Since the new plan was adopted, and the duties and rights of each corporation in the streets clearly defined, there has been no conflict, and both sides express themselves as thoroughly approving the present plan. The total amount of taxes paid by the street railway corporations of Toronto for the last fiscal year was about $150,000, a part of which may be considered as equivalent to interest and sinking fund on cost of construction made by the city. 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 137 Appendix D. EUROPEAN CONDITIONS. Great Britain. The construction and operation of street railways is governed in Great Britain primarily by the Tramways Act of 1870. The following is a brief analysis of each of the sections of this act : — 1. The title of the act is the Tramways Act, 1870. 2. The act does not apply to Ireland. 3. Definitions of terms used. Part I. — Provisional Orders authorizing the Construction of Tramways. 4. Provisional orders may be obtained by a local authority or by a com- pany. 5. The Board of Trade may make a provisional order when a road is in two or more districts, all of which do not consent, if two-thirds of the length has been agreed to. 6. Time for notices and for application for order and deposit of docu- ments. 7. The Board of Trade shall investigate and consider and determine on the application, and on any objection. 8. The Board of Trade may make a provisional order, to contain such provisions as the Board of Trade shall consider fit to submit to Parliament for confirmation, but shall not contain any provision allowing the taking of land except by agreement. 9. Regulations : the track shall be in the middle of the road ; shall not be authorized to be so laid as to leave a space of less than nine feet six inches between the foot path, and the nearest rail for any distance greater than thirty feet, if one-third of the owners or occupiers along that part of the road where less space is left object to such location. 10. Nature of traffic and tolls to be charged, with regulations in relation to traffic and tolls, shall be inserted in the provisional order. 11. Security must be given for the costs of promotion. 12. Pour per cent, of the estimated cost is to be deposited in prescribed bank. 13. Provisional orders shall be published. 14. Confirmation is required by Parliament. 15. Certain general acts shall be presumed to be incorporated in the provisional order. 138 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. 16. The Board of Trade may revoke, amend, extend or vary a provi- sional order, using the same form and requiring the same confirmation as for the original order. 17. Two local authorities may be jointly authorized to construct a tramway. 18. If the work is not done in two years or begun within one year, or if, having been begun, is suspended, the powers shall lapse ; the Board of Trade may, however, extend the time. But in the event of a lapse of powers, whatever road has been completed shall be regarded as a tramway. 19 A local authority, having built a tramway, may lease the same for operation, or may leave it open for the use of the public, and may collect tolls for this use, but may not operate it. The lease shall not be for a longer term than twenty-one years. Non-user for three months shall break the lease. 20. Expenses of promotion and building shall be paid from the local rate, or, if this is not sufficient, from money borrowed by a mortgage on the rates for a term not to exceed thirty years, the amount to be borrowed and the duration of the term to be approved by the Board of Trade. 21. The Metropolitan Board of Works may create stock for this purpose. Part II. — Construction op Tramways. 22. Parts II. and m. shall be incorporated in any provisional order. 23. 24. Definitions of terms used. 25. Unless the gauge of the road is specified in the act, it shall be four feet eight and one-half inches ; and the tramway shall be laid and main- tained in such a manner that the uppermost surface of the rail shall be on a level with the surface of the street, and shall not be opened for travel until it has been inspected and certified to be fit for traffic. 26. Companies may open roads on due notice to the road authorities, but must not have open at any time more than one hundred yards, and must leave a space of one-quarter of a mile between two openings at the same time. 27. Shall put back surface in as good condition as it was, and must maintain the same for six months. 28. Shall repair and maintain the space between the tracks and eighteen inches on each side. If not properly done, it may, after seven days' notice, be done by the road authorities and charged to the company. 29. May make contracts with one another by which either the company or the local authorities shall do the whole work, and each shall pay its pro- portion. 30. The tramway company may move gas, water, etc., pipes, with the consent of the owner and at the expense of the tramway. Provisions are made for the protection of gas, water and telegraphs. 31. Provisions are made for the protection of sewers and drains. 32. Gives authority to the local authorities, gas and water companies, etc., to open the streets for the purpose of repairs. Requires notice to be given to the tramway, and any extra expense on pipes in the street at the time the tramway was built, due to the location of the tramway in the street, is to be paid by the tramway promoters. 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 139 33. Provides for arbitration in case of differences between the tramway company and the local authorities or gas or water companies, etc. Part III. — General Provisions. Carriages. 34. Carriages with flanged wheels may be used. The promoters shall have the exclusive use of the tracks for such carriages, unless otherwise provided in the special act. The motive power shall be horses, unless otherwise provided. Carriages shall not extend more than eleven inches beyond the wheels. License to use Tramways. 35. After a tramway has been open for three years, twenty rate payers or the local authorities may petition the Board of Trade, stating that the public are deprived of the full benefit of the road ; and after hearing, the Board of Trade may grant \icenses to others to use the tracks, with car- riages approved by the Board, under conditions : (1) License shall be for not less than one nor more than three years, renewable by the Board. (2) License shall be to use the whole or part of the tramway. (3) License shall direct the number of carriages to be run, the mode and the times. (4) License shall specify the tolls to be paid for the use of the tramway. (5) License shall allow one person duly authorized by the promoters to ride free on each car. (6) The Board of Trade may at any time revoke, alter or modify a license for good cause shown. 36. In default of the payment of toll, carriages of licensees may be detained and sold. 37. Licensees shall give an account of the passengers carried by them. 38. Licensees shall be liable to penalty for not giving such account. 39. Disputes are to be settled by two justices. 40. Owners of carriages shall be liable for damages done by their servants. Discontinuance of Tramways. 41. If the tramway be disused for three months, it may be ordered removed at the cost of the company. Insolvency of Promoters. 42. If the company becomes insolvent, the Board of Trade may order the removal of the tracks, unless they are bought by the local authorities. Purchase of Tramways. 43. Within six months after the expiration of a term of twenty-one years from the time the promoters were empowered to construct the road, and within six months after the expiration of every subsequent period of seven years, the local authorities may at a special meeting vote to purchase the undertaking, " upon terms of paying the then value (exclusive of any allowance for past or future profits of the undertaking, or any compensa- tion for compulsory sale, or other consideration whatsoever) of the tramway, and all lands, buildings, works, materials and plant of the promoters suit- able to and used by them for the purposes of their undertaking within such 140 STEEET KAIL WAYS. [Feb. district, such value to be, in case of difference, determined by an engineer or other fit person nominated by the Board of Trade on the application of either party." A month's notice of the special meeting is required. Two- thirds of the total number of the members must be present, and a majority must vote in favor. The same provisions as to operation and as to borrow- ing money take effect as if originally built by the local authority. Two or more local authorities may jointly buy a road. 44. With the consent of the Board of Trade, the road may, after having been in operation for six months, be sold to any person or local authority. Tolls. 45. Tolls may not exceed the amounts specified in the special act. A list shall be posted inside and out of the carriages. Byelaws. 46. The local authorities may by byelaws regulate the rate of speed, the distances apart of cars, the stopping of cars and the traflic on the road where the tramway is laid. The promoters may make suitable regulations by byelaws for preventing the commission of a nuisance, and for regulating the travel in or on any carriage, and these shall be approved by the Board of Trade. 47. Penalties may be imposed by byelaws, the maximum penalty not to exceed forty shillings. 48. The local authorities may license drivers, conductors, etc. Offences. 49. Penalty for obstructing the laying out of the tramway not to exceed five pounds. 50. Penalty for obstruction of the road not to exceed five pounds. 51. Penalty for evading fare, or for riding beyond the point to which fare has been paid, not to exceed forty shillings. 52. These offenders may be held by servants of the promoters until they can be conveniently taken before a justice. 53. Penalty for dangerous goods brought on the tramway not to exceed twenty pounds, and the company may refuse to take a parcel which it suspects contains dangerous goods. 54. Penalty for any person not a licensee using carriages with flanged wheels on the tramway, not to exceed twenty pounds. Miscellaneous. 55. The promoters to be responsible for damages. 56. The recovery of penalties and tolls. 57. The right of user all that may be acquired. 58. Turnpike owners may make agreements with the tramways for payment for use. 59. The rights of mine owners reserved. 60. Reserves the powers to local authorities to widen, etc., roads. 61. The local police may regulate the traffic. 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 141 62. The public has full right to use the road with carriages without flanged wheels. 63. Regulates inquiries before a referee appointed by the Board of Trade. 64. Rules may be made from time to time by the Board of Trade for carrying put the provisions of this act, and such rules shall be laid imme- diately before Parliament. For a full discussion of the effect of the purchase clauses and the decisions on the interpretation of section 43, see Appendix A, pages 76-79. The development of street railways in England has not been very rapid. The first lines were laid down in London, in Birkenhead and Glasgow, by an American, about 1860, and since then have been slowly developed, until on the 30th of June, 1896, as shown by the Parliamentary return covering the statistics, there were in England and Wales one hundred and twenty-three companies, of which thirty- one are owned by local authorities, but only six are operated by such authorities, having a capital in shares and bonds of £11,160,108 ($54,305,085). These roads have a total length of 1,139 miles, measured as single track. These companies, including municipal- ities operating their own tramways, carried 585,048,162 passengers during the year, running 65,042,077 car miles, and received as gross earnings £3,322,964 (816,169,542), the working expenditure being £2,493,882 ($12,135,229), leaving as the net profits £829,082 ($4,034,313). In Scotland there were fourteen companies, of which six are owned by local authorities, but only one was operated by such an authority. These have a capital in shares and bonds of £1,504,765 ($7,322,186), and a total length of 163 miles, measured as single track. These companies carried 128,453,708 passengers during the year, running 10,747,760 car miles, and received as gross earnings £,543,213 ($2,643,274), the working expenditure being £398,113 ($1,937,217), leaving as the net profits £145,100 ($706,057). In Ireland there are sixteen companies, all owned by private com- panies, having a capital of £1,492,481 ($7,262,412), and having a total length of 166 miles, measured as single track. These companies carried 45,964,177 passengers during the year, running 5,463,008 car miles, and received as gross earnings £285,839 ($1,390,892), the working expenditure being £213,516 ($1,038,968), leaving as the net profits £72,323 ($351,924) ; making a total for the whole United Kingdom of one hundred and fifty-three roads, of which one hun- dred and sixteen belong to private owners and thirty-seven to local authorities, and an investment of £14,157,354 ($68,889,683), with 142 STEEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. 1,468 miles of track, measured as single track, carrying in the year ending June 30, 1896, 759,466,047 passengers, and running 81,252,- 845 car miles. The gross earnings were £4,152,015 ($20,203,708), and the working expenditure £3,105,511 ($15,111,414), leaving as the total net receipts £1,046,505 ($5,092,294). i Birmingham. Agitation for a tramway line in Birmingham began in 1860, but no tracks were actually laid until 1873, when one line was made by the city, and then leased to a company for operation for a term of seven years. At present the Corporation of Birmingham is the owner of thirty-three miles of track, and twenty-eight miles of track belonging to suburban c railways is connected with it, these suburban roads themselves operating twenty-eight miles outside of the limits of the borough, but each running in to the city over tracks belonging to the Corporation. The motive power employed on these lines is steam, horse, electric and cable. The total capital invested by the Corporation in the roads built by it is £172,260 ($840,217), and the operating companies have in- vested in their lines, including buildings, £513,872 ($2,510,301), and also £379,962 (81,848,893) in rolling stock and other plant. This group of roads carried during the year ending June 30, 1896, 40,499,964 passengers, and had as gross receipts £221,999 ($1,- 080,247), and a net return of £74,099 ($360,565). The present leases of these lines from the Birmingham Corpora- tion expire at various dates from 1903 to 1911, and in 1896 a Canadian syndicate bought up the stock of the Birmingham Central Company, and submitted propositions looking towards the intro- duction of electric traction and the extension and unification of these leases. The terms under which this new lease was drawn called for a term of twenty-one years, at a rental of £185 ($900) per mile, the company to substitute electric traction for the varied forms now existing, and to maintain and repair and renew all lines, and to construct at its own expense new lines authorized by the Corporation. At the end of the lease all the fixed property was to become the property of the Corporation ; but if the underground conduit system was to be introduced, the Corporation was to pay the value of any track greater in length than eight miles equipped on that system. The Corporation, however, has shown a desire to have the line equipped throughout with the underground system ; and the company has declined, unless the lease should be extended to forty-two years, so that as yet no new lease has been executed. The older leases, under which the companies are operating the tracks owned by the 1898.] HOUSE— No. 475. 143 Corporation, provide for a rental which shall be equal to 4 per cent, on the municipal investment for the first fourteen years of the lease, and 5 per cent, for the remaining seven years, and also shall provide a sinking fund sufficient to extinguish at the end of the period the whole capital outlay. The relative importance of the lines operated by the different forms of traction will be shown by the figures of the number of passengers carried by each motive power. By steam, 16,919,086 ; by horses, 4,272,291; by cables, 7,629,744; and by electricity, 1,250,441. The rates of fare, which are now based on a penny a mile, are, under the terms of the new lease, to be reduced, and half-penny fares are to be introduced, the present minimum being one penny. Bradford. Bradford has 21.3 miles of track, which have cost the municipality £94,540 ($460,031) ; and these are operated by two companies, which return as their investment within the borough of Bradford £80,899 ($393,654). The motive power is mainly steam, and dur- ing the year ending June 30, 1896, the number of passengers carried was 10,787,360, and the gross receipts £62,160 ($302,470), the net profits being £20,469 ($99,582). The rental paid to the municipality was for that year £6,732 ($32,758), which goes towards the maintenance of the tramway and interest. The leases of these tramways all fall due in 1903, and the municipality has recently received from Parliament permission to operate the tramway after the expiration of the present leases. Leeds. The tramway in Leeds is owned and operated by the municipality, and on the 30th of June, 1896, the amount of track in use was 27 miles and 49 chains. Twenty-two miles and, 38 chains of these lines were acquired by. the municipality in 1894, at a cost of about £119,- 000 ($579,000), and considerable amounts have since been expended, so that the capital charge, including new line built, stood, on the 25th of March, 1897, at £210,700 ($1,025,200), which includes some £12,000 ($58,400) spent on the introduction of electric traction and £37,000 ($182,500) on extensions. The latest full year for which accounts are at hand shows 10,- 843,457 passengers carried and 1,105,450 car miles run. At that time a portion of the tracks which have since been converted to electric traction were operated by locomotives. The gross receipts from all sources were £57,850 ($281,500), and the expenditures £46,000 ($223,800) . The charges for interest on the loan and the sinking fund amount to about $45,000 annually. 144 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. London. Methods of street transportation in London differ greatly from those in any other large city. Within the heart of the city and along the great business thoroughfares no street railway tracks are to be found, and the same is also true of the great residential dis- trict of the West End. The traffic throughout these districts is taken care of by an elaborate and extensive series of omnibus routes and large numbers of cheap cabs. The omnibuses, belonging to two different companies, have seats on top as well as inside, and cover in many cases very long routes. The minimum rate of fare on the omnibuses is a penny, and rises for ordinary routes to threepence, but for some, which are exception- ally long, it may reach sixpence. Underground are run steam railroads operated by two different companies. These roads are laid out in two concentric circles, the inner circle running entirely on the north side of the Thames, and the outer circle crossing and running for some little distance on the south side of the river. These two circles are connected in several places by radial lines, starting from the inner circle, connecting with and crossing the outer circle, and making connection with all of the main lines of railroad running into London. There are, however, no lines crossing the inner circle, thus leaving the greater part of the central retail district some distance removed from any stations on this line. In addition to the connections with the main lines of railroad at suburban points, the inner circle railway has stations adjoining or not far removed from each of the terminal stations of the railroads centering in London. An underground electric road runs from the north side of the Thames into South London for a distance of a little over three miles ; and a new line is now in process of construction, which crosses the inner circle of the underground steam roads, but at a greater depth, and this is expected to furnish transportation across the circle at a point where it has been very much needed. Other underground electric roads have either been authorized or are already in process of construction using the same system, which will connect the West End with the city, and with the central retail district. One of these, which is planned to run under Piccadilly, will bring the residential district of the West End into closer and more rapid communication with the theatres and retail stores than has heretofore been the case. Of surface tramways, none on the north side of the river come into the heart of the city, but on the south side of the Thames 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 145 several lines have termini at the different bridges crossing the river. In East London, North London and South London these tramway lines have been considerably extended, and have there taken in a large measure the place of the omnibuses. The cars, which at the present time are all drawn by horses, have seats on the roof, and their rates of fare and general methods of operation are the same as the omnibuses. "What is generally known as London is really a combination of a number of municipalities or parishes situated in several different counties ; and, in order to treat a great many of the questions nat- urally arising in a city of this size, the administrative County of London was formed, the governing body of which is the London County. Council, which was given control of certain things formerly left to the parishes or to local boards. This district embraces prac- tically all of London as we commonly speak of it, without regard to the actual county lines. By the statute organizing the County Council it was made the anthority in control of the tramways ; and, acting under the pro- visions of the Tramways Act of 1870, in 1896 the Council, having previously purchased a portion of the London Street Tramways Company, acquired the tracks of the North Metropolitan Street Railroad Company, and leased the whole back to the North Metro- politan Company for a term of fourteen years. (See pages 79 and 80 for the terms of the lease.) In addition to the conditions there mentioned, it is also provided in the lease that the operating road shall run workmen's cars in the morning, and that the hours of employees shall not exceed, nor their wages fall below, those of any tramway company's system in London. Within the administrative district there are thirteen companies operating lines, aggregating 245 miles of track (double track meas- ured as single). These companies had on the 30th of June, 1896, an invested capital of £4,032,800 (§19,023,600), and during the year ran 26,490,300 car miles and carried 279,518,000 passengers. Their gross receipts from all sources were £1,314,900 ($6,398,300), and the net receipts £276,600 ($1,345,936), being 6.85 per cent, on the capital invested. The rates of fare vary with the distance run, the minimum rate being one penny, and a very large proportion of the passengers car- ried travel at the lowest rate of fare, as may be seen by the fact that the average receipts per passenger during this year were only 2.28 cents. One or two short lines are now being equipped for electric power, and the question of making extensions of this form of traction is 146 STEEET KAIL WAYS. [Feb. under discussion ; but very strong opposition has been shown by the authorities and the public towards any scheme providing for the use of overhead wires, so that progress in this direction in London is likely to be slow. Manchester. Within the city of Manchester there are located about 65 miles of street railway tracks, and of these 54 miles are owned by the city and 11 miles are owned by the Manchester Carriage and Tramways Company. These tracks belonging to the company were, when laid, within the territories of other local authorities, and have come within the territory of the Corporation of Manchester by the annexation of these outlying districts. The company owns altogether 46 miles of track, and operates in Salford, Eccles, Oldham, Moss Side and Withington about 35 miles, making a total of about 135 miles of single track operated. This entire system has cost, including equipment, about £710,000 ($3,- 454,800) . The number of passengers carried during the year was about 52,500,000, and 8,870,000 car miles were run. The gross receipts amounted to £447,000 ($2,175,100), and the net revenue to £138,000 ($671,500). The lines belonging to the city are leased at varying rates to the tramway company for operation, and the charges made as rental are from £300 ($1,450) to £450 ($2,200) per mile of single line per annum, or else on a basis of 10 per cent, per annum on the cost of con- struction. The total amount received for the year ending the 31st of March, 1895, for such rentals was £22,446 ($109,200). For the use of the tracks in Eccles, Oldham and Salford the Manchester Carriage and Tramways Company pays as rental about £35,000 ($170,310) annually. The company is required, on such portions of track as it owns within the city of Manchester, to pave between the rails and eigh- teen inches on the outside ; and this item is estimated by city officials to amount to £634 ($3,100) per year. The city keeps in re- pair the pavement in streets where it is the owner of the tramways, and the cost of this is charged to the tramways fund, and, is estimated to amount to £3,168 ($15,400) per year, making £3,802 ($18,500) per annum in the way of relief to the paving expenditures of the city. The £22,000 ($107,000) rental received was applied to repairs, to interest and to sinking fund charges, and the balance was •paid over for the relief of taxation. During the life of the lease, £83,860 ($408,000) has been paid from the profits, after allowance for depreciation and sinking fund, to the relief of the taxes. The leases of the various lines expire at different times from 1898 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 147 to 1901, the principal lease terminating in 1901. The question of further extension of these leases, or of the assumption of the opera- tion by the municipality, is now under discussion, and powers have been obtained from Parliament allowing the city of Manchester to operate the tramways. One somewhat troublesome feature in con- nection with the utilization of this permission is due to the fact that the boundary lines between Salford and the other districts in which the present tramway lines are operated by one company are not dis- tinct divisions, but the whole district in which the Manchester Car- riage and Tramway Company operates is practically one large town. Under these conditions it will become necessary to make provisions by which Salford, for example, shall either operate its tramways jointly with those of Manchester under some form of joint control, or there must result a curtailment of the service now rendered by the company. At the present time only horses are used for traction. The rates of fare vary from a penny to sixpence, according to dis- tance ; and in the lease made by the city to the company is a proviso that the company shall run on every morning and every evening carriages at such hours as the corporation think most convenient for artisans, mechanics and daily laborers, at fares not exceeding a half- penny per mile (the lessees, nevertheless, not being required to take any fare less than one penny) , provided always that in case of any complaint to the Board of Trade of the hours so appointed the Board shall have power to fix and regulate the same. Norwich. During the last session of Parliament a bill was passed providing for the establishment of electric tramways in Norwich, and this act contains some provisions not included in the general Tramways Act of 1870. The act provides for the establishment of a tramway using over- head wires, and prescribes the conditions under which the rails and poles shall be erected. It also provides for certain street widenings and the opening of new streets, and gives the company authority to take land for such widenings, and stipulates the proportion of the cost of the work to be paid by the city, the balance to be paid by the company. The loan made by the city for this purpose is for sixty years, and a sinking fund shall be established sufficient to pay it off at the end of that time. Until such time as the city shall buy the company, the com- pany shall, after deducting the local taxes, pay to the city one-half of the annual amount necessary to pay interest and sinking fund re- quirements in respect to this loan, and after the expiration of twenty- 148 STEEET EAILWAYS. [Feb. one years from the date of the act the company shall pay to the city one-half of the net surplus revenue, after the allowance of a dividend of 7 per cent, on the stock. The purchase section of the Tramways Act (section 43, Tramways Act of 1870) is very considerably modified by this act. Provision is made that the duration of the rights of the company shall be fifty years, instead of twenty-one years, as laid down in the act of 1870, and at the end of that time the city may purchase on the terms provided in the original statute. If, however, the city desires to purchase at the expiration of twenty-one years, or at any succeeding period of seven years, the city shall purchase the undertaking, " upon the terms of paying the then value of the undertaking as a going concern, subject to the said right of purchase by the corpora- tion at the expiration of the said fifty years." If, however, the city should desire to purchase at the expiration of fourteen years after the passage of the act, ' ' the company shall sell, and the corporation shall purchase, the same upon the terms of paying the then value of the undertaking as a going concern, subject to the said right of purchase by the corporation at the expiration of said fifty years; such value, in case of difference, to be determined as . aforesaid, together with such further sum by way of premium as shall, in the opinion of the arbitrator, be equal to three years' net maintainable profits." The company is given the right to charge fares at the rate of one penny per mile, but is not bound to take a less sum than one penny ; and provision is made for the conveyance of parcels up to five hun- dred pounds in weight, and it is forbidden to charge any higher fares on Sundays or on holidays than on week days. The company is obliged to run at least two carriages each way every morning and evening in the week, at such hours, not later than eight in the morning or earlier than half -past five in the evening, and between the hours of one and two in the afternoon, as the company think most convenient for artisans, mechanics and daily laborers, at rates of fare not exceeding one halfpenny per mile, the company, however, not being required to take any fare less than one penny. Elaborate provisions are made for the safety of persons and prop- erty, and the protection of the telegraph lines from the interference of the electric current to be employed. Sheffield. Sheffield, acting under an original grant, built its own tramways, and leased them until July, 1896, to the Sheffield Tramways Com-, pany, at which time the city took over the entire system, and con- tinued the operation. Work is now in progress to convert the 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 149 system from horse traction into electric, and plans have been made for a very considerable extension of the tracks. For the year ending Dec. 31, 1897, 782,784 car miles were run and 9,418,195 passengers were carried, and the total receipts from passengers were £51,600 ($251,100). Glasgow. In 1870 the first attempts were made towards establishing a tram- way company in Glasgow, and two companies applied for rights to lay tracks. The Town Council, however, instead of granting to either of these any rights, decided to lay the tracks itself, and to lease them to a company for operation. The Glasgow Tramway and Omnibus Company was consequently formed, and took over the lease of the tracks under an agreement for twenty-three years from the 1st of July, 1871. Under the terms of this lease the company agreed to maintain the lines in good working condition, and at the end to hand over the lines in a condition as good as new. In order to accomplish this, they were to set aside 4 per cent, annually of the cost of the con- struction of the lines for their maintenance and renewal. In addition to this, the companies were to pay the interest paid on the total expenditure for the tramways, 3 per cent, per annum on the same expenditure towards a sinking fund, a rent of £150 ($729) per mile for those lines constructed and in operation, and a repayment to the city of the expenditure connected with the council's management of the tramways. Extensions were to be subject to the same conditions. Maximum fares were established, and provisions made for carrying working people morning and evening, between the hours of five and seven, for half fare. The road was finally opened for operation the 19th of July, 1872, and was from time to time extended, until, at the time of the expira- tion of the lease, on June 30th, 1894, there were 68 miles of track laid down, and in addition the city at this time leased from the Govan Commissioners about eight miles of track. The expenditure by the council on this track amounted to £344,970 (81,678,600). As the time for the expiration of the lease approached, negotia- tions were begun between the company and the city for the renewal of the lease, but these were not brought to any successful termination. The company also made a proposition to the city to sell its property, which the city refused to accept. Finally, on the 1st of July, 1894, the municipality began the operation of the lines. The tramway company continued for a time by means of omnibuses to compete with the municipality, but event- ually withdrew from the contest. 150 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. During the life of the lease the tramway company had paid to the city £201,470 (1980,400) as a contribution to the sinking fund, in- cluding interest allowed by the city on the accumulations, so that at the time of the reversion of the undertaking the capital account stood at £143,500 ($698,200). The payments made by the company were £286,200 ($1,392,600) towards the interest on the debt and as the mileage rate, and the amount expended by the city for interest on the debt and for sinking fund charges was £222,600 ($1,083,200), leaving an annual average of £2,766 ($13,460) as the profits to the city. The total expenditure on capital account, after the deduction of depreciation, was, on the 31st of May, 1897, £600,400 ($2,- 921,500). In this statement the cost of the permanent way has been taken at the net cost to the city at the termination of the lease as re- duced by the sinking fund, and the new expenditures made since that time, less depreciation, have been added. The total expenditure of the city of Glasgow on its tramways has been £801,870 ($3,921,900). The geographical situation of Glasgow is such that there is a small triangle in the centre of the city, through which all lines pass, and the routes of the cars are so laid out that they do not stop within this triangle, but cross it, passing to the edge of the city in all directions from this point. The rates of fare are fixed at a halfpenny for a half mile, and range from that price to threepence for a trip. Three consecutive half-mile stages may be passed over for a single penny fare. During the fiscal year ending May 31, 1897, the total receipts were £370,900 ($1,804,800), of which £365,800 ($1,780,000) was received from passengers. The total expenditures for operation were £286,300 ($1,393,100), leaving a nominal surplus of £84,600 ($411,700). This was arjplied to interest on capital, sinking fund, depreciation and payment to the Common Good, as by the agree- ment, leaving, after all these charges, £35,000 ($170,300), of which £15,000 ($73,000) was set aside for renewals of permanent way, and £20,000 ($97,300) was set aside for general purposes. The total number of passengers carried during the year ending May 31, 1897, was 98,713,900, and the car miles run were 8,066,700. In addition to the tramways operated in Glasgow, there are two distinct lines operating in tunnels and subways, which afford means of rapid communication within the limits of the city, and which un- doubtedly affect the revenue of the tramways. Dublin. The tramways in Dublin are owned and operated by the Dublin United Tramway Company, and had in the year ending June 30, 1896, 61 miles and 18 chains of track (measured as single track), 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 151 representing a capital investment of £678,800 ($3,303,000). Dur- ing that year the company carried 22,636,000 passengers and ran 2,868,200 car miles. In the summer of 1897 a new contract was entered into between the city and the tramway company, under which the rights of the company in the streets of Dublin were extended for a period of forty years, and permission was granted for the introduction of electric power on all the lines. In this contract it is provided that the company shall pay annually to the city £500 ($2,430) per mile of street occupied, the minimum amount to be paid under this proviso to be £10,000 ($48,600), and it is also provided that the rate of fare shall not exceed one penny on any line within the boundaries of the city, provided the distance does not exceed one and one-half miles, but no fare within the city shall exceed twopence. If at the expiration of the term of forty years the city shall desire to purchase the tramway, the amount to be paid shall be determined according to the provisions of the Tramway Act of 1870, and to this value thirty per cent, shall be added. The system of tramways in Dublin is operated somewhat differ- ently from that in most cities, as all lines centre at the Nelson Column in Sackville Street, and no lines cross the entire width of the city, so that this proviso in relation to fare establishes a rate of two- pence from one side of the city to the other. Germany. In Germany the laws governing street railway companies vary to a certain extent in the different States ; but on the 1st of January, 1900, the new Imperial Code will take effect, which in general pre- sents very slight variations from the provisions of the Prussian law. The formation of street railway corporations, which now are formed under the provisions of the commercial code of 1861, as modified by laws in 1870 and 1884, will at the same date be brought under the operation of the new commercial code. The Prussian secondary railway act (Kleinbahn Gesetz) of the 18th of July, 1892, is essentially the basis of the laws governing the building and operation of street railways throughout Germany, and a translation of that act is here given : — Section 1. Secondary railroads are those roads which, on account of their minor importance for general railway traffic, do not fall under the railroad law of the 3d of November, 1838. Secondary railroads are such roads as serve principally the local traffic inside of a town or serve neighboring towns, as well as roads which are not operated by locomotives. < 152 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. The ministry determines on applications whether railroads are to be con- sidered as falling under the provisions of this law or of the law of the 3d of November, 1838. Sect. 2. The construction and operation of a secondary road must have the consent of the proper authorities, and the' same is true of any consider- able extensions or changes in the plant or in the method of operation. This consent is to be refused if such changes or extensions bring the undertaking under the law of 1838. Sect. 3. The grant of this consent is made by the following officials : (1) If the operation wholly or in part is to be by mechanical power, by the President of the ministry, or, for the city of Berlin, the Police president, acting with such railroad officials as are designated by the Minister of Pub- lic Works. (2) In all other cases : (a) if in streets which are not as city streets in the care and control of the city authorities, or if the road lies in more than one district, or partially outside of Prussia, by the President of the ministry, and, in the first instance, for the city of Berlin by the Police president ; (b~) in case the road lies in several police districts of the same province, by the Provincial Council ; and, (c) in case the undertaking lies within one police district, by the local police officials. If the road which is to be equipped with mechanical power lies within the territory of several different police districts, or in the case referred to under No. 2a, the districts (A'm'sc) do not lie in the same administrative district (Regirungsbezirk) , the consent is granted by the officers named by the President of the Council. In case, however, the districts lie in different provinces, or in case Berlin is included, the officers are named by the Minister of Public Works, acting with the Minister of the Interior. Important changes and extensions are approved as if the undertaking were to be originally constructed in the form now proposed ; but in the cases under clause 1, sentence 1, the power remains with those officials who gave the original consent. Sect. i. Consent is given after previous police investigation. This in- vestigation is limited to (1) the safe construction of the road and rolling stock, (2) protection against harmful influence of the plant and its opera- tion, (3) the technical capability and reliability of the employees to be employed in operation, and (-4) the protection of the interests of public traffic. Sect. 5. With the petition asking for approval are to be filed the neces- sary papers for a judgment of the undertaking, in technical and financial respects, and especially the plan of the road. Sect. 6. So far as a public way is to be used, the person who, by the general law, is bound to care for the way, must give his consent. In the absence of other agreements, the undertaker must care for the maintenance and re-establishment of the portion of the road used, and must give bonds to secure this. The authorities in charge of the way may ask for a suitable payment for its use, as well as provide for the acquisition of the road as a whole after the expiration of a definite period of time, in return for a suitable remuneration to be paid to the undertaker. Sect. 7. The consent of the authorities in charge of the way can be extended whenever a province, or a community of a standing equal to that 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 153 of a province, is concerned, by the consent of the Provincial Council, from which an appeal to the Minister of Public Works is allowed. In case a town or a district is concerned, or if it touches several districts, by the decision of the district council (Bezirksausschuss) , in general, however, by the decision of the district council of the minor districts (Kreisaiisschuss) . This supplemental decision fixes at the same time the requirements laid on the undertaker by section 6, without legal recourse. Sect. 8. Before permission is granted, the street police must be heard, and, if the road approaches a fortification, the proper fortification authorities also ; and in this latter case permission can only be granted by agreement with the fortification officers. If the railroad comes near the location of an Imperial telegraph plant, then the telegraph officials must be heard before a consent can be given. In case the tracks cross a railroad, the consent may be granted only by agreement with the railroad authorities, even n those cases in which the railroad authorities have no other control (section 3) . Sect. 9. Besides the duties imposed by police requirements (section 4), the consent must fix the duties of the undertakers in relation to the defence of the country, and, in regard to the Imperial Post-Ofiice, in accordance with the provisions of section 42. Sect. 10. In the case of roads which are to be used for the transporta- tion of goods, the undertaker is to be allowed to put in side tracks for private traffic. The manner of construction and place of such must be ap- proved by the technical railroad officials. The proper officials (section 3) shall regulate the relation between the railway and those desiring sidings, unless agreements are made to the contrary. This applies especially to the determination of the amount to be paid to the railroad for changes in its plant or for its use, with the reservation of recourse to the courts. Sect. 11. When the approval is given, the kind and amount of security for the maintenance and renewal of the public ways, is to be prescribed, in case that has not already been fixed. The time within which the road shall be constructed and opened for operation may be prescribed, and a money penalty may be imposed in the case of failure so to do, and a bond may be required as security for this. Money penalties and bonds for the mainten- ance of regular service during the duration of the concession may be re- quired. Sect. 12. Bonds under this law are not required, if the Empire, the State or a Commune is the undertaker. Sect. 13. The concession may be perpetual or for a fixed period. It is to be given with a reservation of the rights of third parties, and of exten- sions and changes by the definite establishment of the building plans (sections 17 and 18). Sect. 14. In the interest of public travel, the concession must provide for the establishment by the proper officials of the time table and the rate of fare, and times are to be specified when these matters are to be investi- gated and re-established. The establishment of the time table may be omitted for a period which shall be definitely fixed in the concession, and this period may later be extended. The fixing of a price for transportation remains free to the undertaker during a time to be fixed by the concession, which shall be at least five years from the opening of the road for opera- 154 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. tion. The right of the officials to consent to the price charged for trans- portation is limited to the establishment of a maximum rate. On this point the financial condition of the undertaking and suitable interest and sinking fund charges on the capital are to be taken into consideration. Sect. 15. The security required by section 11 must be furnished before the papers granting the concession are delivered. Sect. 16. A concession which is granted to a company does not take effect until proof of the registration of the company has been presented. Sect. 17. The construction of a road which is intended to be operated by mechanical power may be begun only after the building plan has been fixed, in the following manner, by the officials having authority to give such consent : (1) The basis upon which the plans are finally established is the provisional plan agreed on at the time of granting the concession. (2) Plans and explanations are to be filed with the proper authorities for at least fourteen days, and shall be open to public inspection. Time and place for the public exhibition shall be made known in the usual manner employed in the locality. During this time any one interested may, within the limits of his interest, object to the plans. The head of the town or dis- trict may object to the form of the undertaking or to the manner of con- struction referred to in section 18 of this act. Places are to be designated at which objections shall be handed in in writing or presented orally to the officials. (3) At the expiration of the fixed time (No. 2, clause 1), the ob- jections to the plans are to be considered at a hearing, to be held, if neces- sary, on the spot, by an official designated for this purpose, to which both the undertaker and all parties interested must be invited, and to which experts may be called in. (4) At the end of the proceedings a decision on the objections brought forward is rendered, and the plans are finally ap- proved upon which the undertaking is to be built and maintained. The decision is to be communicated to the undertaker and all parties in interest. The definite establishment (clause 1) of the plans is not necessary if such takes place for the purpose of expropriation of the company. When no injury or considerable burden on the abutters or the public traffic is to be expected, the Minister of Public Works may allow the construction to be begun without previous definite establishment of the plans, so far as they do not concern the use of public ways, with the exception of city streets. Sect. 18. In the definitive plan the undertaker is to insert those things which have been determined to be for the protection of the neighboring property and for the public interest, and also for the maintenance of these things so far as this extends beyond the work necessary to enable the undertaking to carry out its purposes. Sect. 19. The permission of those officials granting the original consent is necessary for the opening of the road for operation. This permission shall be refused if the material conditions laid down in the original conces- sion have not been fulfilled. Sect. 20. The motive power is to be inspected before the opening of the road, and also from time to time by those technical railroad officials who have charge of the road. Sect. 21. The time table and the rates of fare, as well as changes of the same, shall be made public before being put in force. The posted rates of 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 155 fare are to be uniformly applicable to all persons or goods. Reductions in fares which, under like conditions, do not benefit all, are forbidden. Sect. 22. As regards the fulfilment of the conditions of the grant and the requirements of this act, every secondary road is placed under the con- trol of those officials who granted the concession. In the case of operation by mechanical power the same railroad officials who took part in the original approval of the grant are to have supervision of the operation, unless the Minister of Public Works transfers this to another railroad official. Sect. 23. The concession may, by a vote of the supervising officials, be declared void if the construction or opening of the road for operation does not take place within the time expressed in the concession, or within the extension of this time. Sect. 24. The consent may be revoked if the building or operation of the road is interrupted without sufficient ground, or if the undertaker fails to comply with the terms of the concession or of this act in any essential particular. Sect. 25. The upper administrative court (Oberverivaltungsgerichf) decides on the revocation on the complaint of the officials granting the con- cession. Sect. 26. In case of the expiration or revocation of the concession, the security which has been deposited for the maintenance and rebuilding of public ways, so far as it is not used for those purposes, is to be returned. In the absence of further agreement, the authorities in control of the ways may choose between requiring the ' re-establishment of the way in its original condition, if necessary including the removal of the tracks built into the road, or demanding the delivery of the tracks into their possession on the payment of a suitable indemnity. If the authorities in charge of a way make use of the former power, all parts of the property left in the way go to such authorities free of cost. The supervising officials, in the public interest, may fix a time before the expiration of which the authorities in control of the way are not authorized to demand the re-establishment of its former condition. Sect. 27. The Minister of Public Works shall determine without any re- course in what manner and to what extent money penalties for the failure to construct or open the road for operation within the time allowed, or to maintain the operation, shall accrue in the event of the expiration of the concession (section 23) , or its revocation on account of interruptions in its construction or operation (section 24) . He shall also determine the appli- cation of such money penalties. These are to be employed either for the benefit of former undertakings or for similar undertakings in that part of the country. Sect. 28. The undertakers of secondary railways must allow connec- tions to be made with them by other roads, so far as the officials who have given the consent for the road to which the connection shall be made shall determine to be permissible, taking into consideration the construction and operation of the road. The same officials determine in what manner the connection shall be made, regulate, in the absence of any contract, the re- lations of the undertakers one to another, and determine how much shall 156 STEEET KAILWAYS. [Feb. be paid for the changes necessary in the plant belonging to the first- mentioned undertaker, or for its use, with recourse to the courts. Sect. 29. Undertakers of secondary roads may demand the allowance of a connection of their road with railroads falling under the law of the 3d of November, 1838, in such a manner and to such an extent as the Minister of Public Works, taking into consideration the construction and operation of the latter roads, may determine to be permissible. All questions concern- ing the relations of the undertakers to one another in connection with the compensation to be paid for use or changes shall be settled by the Minister of Public Works, with a recourse to the courts. Sect. 30. If secondary roads have reached, in the opinion of the Minis- ters of State, such importance for the public travel that they may be treated as a part of the general railroad system, the State may, after one year's no- tice, acquire the property ownership of these roads by the payment of their full value. Sect. 31. The acquisition (section 30) takes place under the application of the provisions of section 42 of the law in relation to railroads of the 3d of November, 1838, with the regulation that the calculation of twenty-five times the amount of the income subject to tax, according to section 42 of the above-mentioned law, is to be based upon the provisions of the income tax law of June 24, 1891, and with the exception that in the case of stock com- panies the subtraction of 3J per cent, of the paid-in capital (section 16 of the income tax law) is omitted. If the secondary road reaches beyond the boundaries of Prussia into other German Federal States, the income of the whole traffic is to be used as a basis for the calculation of the damages. If the undertaking has not been five years in operation, the yearly average of whatever profit has been made is to be taken as the basis. If the road is owned by a stock company, it is not necessary to pay off the shares of the individual stockholders, but only to pay the total amount to the company. Sect. 32. The undertaker may be obliged to keep his accounts for every road for which a particular concession has been given in such a way that the net profits of the same, or, if the undertaker is a stock company, the divi- dends paid by it, may be determined with accuracy. The neglect of this duty gives the State the right, on taking the road, to determine damages according to the structural value. Sect. 33. The undertaker may ask for damages according to the struct- ural value, if the undertaking has not been more than fifteen years in operation. If acquisition by the State takes place within the first five years of operation, 20 per cent, is to be added to the structural value ; if in the next ten years, 10 per cent. Sect. 34. In the case of payment of damages according to structural value, all property and rights of the undertaker, both direct and indirect, are to be included. Accounts receivable and debts go to the State only to such an extent as may be agreed upon. The State assumes the position of the contractor in all contracts made for materials, or with employees. The full value shall be allowed for all parts of the plant. Sect. 35. The valuation and establishment of the amount of damages for the constituent parts of the undertaking (section 34) shall be made ac- 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475, 157 cording to an inventory drawn up by the undertaker, and the local council shall decide as to the accuracy and completeness of this inventory. Sect. 36. The determination of the damages to be paid (sections 31 and 33 to 35) is to be made by the local council (Bezirksamschuss) , under proper application of sections 24 to 29 of the expropriation law of June 11, 1874, with the reservation of the right to both parties to appeal to the courts within six months after the announcement of the decision. The local councils shall also carry out the process of expropriation. Sect. 37. For the determination of the damages, sections 24-28 shall be in force ; for the completion of the expropriation, sections 32-37 ; for the proceedings before the local councils and for the methods of expropriation, sections 39-46 of the expropriation law of the 11th of June, 1874. Payment made for portions of the undertaking which are included in the inventory, and which are taken into consideration in fixing the total amount to be paid, but which no longer exist on the completion of the transfer, shall be refunded by the undertaker. For constituents which, on the completion of the transfer, are found in excess of the inventory, the undertaker shall be paid on demand such amount by the State as may be determined by the local councils. Sect. 38. The right of the State to acquire the property takes prece- dence of the right of others. This -right of others to acquire the property must be paid for at its full value. Sect. 39. The Royal consent is necessary for the construction of roads in the streets of Berlin and Potsdam. Sect. 40. Secondary roads are subject to the industrial tax law of June 24,1891 ( Oewerbesleuer, trade tax, license) . As regards communal taxes, secondary railroads shall not be regarded as private railroad undertakings, in the sense of section 4 of the act of the 27th of July, 1885, relating to extensions and changes in the requirements in relation to the collection of direct communal taxes on income. Sect. 41. The amounts of money granted certain specified provincial and communal authorities, by the Royal decree of Sept. 16, 1867, the law of March 7, 1868, the law of March 11, 1872, and sections 2 and 3 of the law of July 8, 1875, may be employed for aiding the construction of secondary railroads. Sect. 42. The secondary roads have the following duties towards the post-office administration : (1) The undertakers must, on the demand of postal authorities, carry a postman with a letter sack on every regular trip, and, so far as room permits, any other officials on duty, upon the pay- ment of the commutation rate of fare, or, if a commutation rate does not exist, for half the regular rate. (2) The undertakers of such roads which are not exclusively occupied in the transportation of persons shall carry on every regular journey postal matter of every kind : (a) In the care of the train hands, mail bags, mail and newspaper packets, for a payment of 50Pf, for every journey, and all other shipments by payment of the freight rates on that particular road, or, if this rate is higher, by a payment of 2Pf. a kilometer for each 50 kilograms (0.72 cents a mile for each 100 pounds), to be determined by the total monthly weight of the post shipments sent 158 STEEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. from station to station. (6) In trains, composed as a rule of more than one carriage, a compartment of a carriage is to be furnished for postal ship- ments, postal officials and the necessary postal utensils, on payment of the compensation provided for in articles 3 and 6 of the Imperial law of the 20th of December, 1875, and also the payment of half of the freight rates of the road. (3) The postal officials are authorized to place a letter box on the railway carriage at their own cost, and may require its emptying or change at certain definite stopping places. (Sections 43 to 51 inclusive relate to connecting private roads, not for the public service.) Sect. 52. All decisions of the police authorities in combination with the railroad authorities, or of the technical railroad authorities, may be appealed to the Minister of Public Works. In general, the provisions as to legal processes contained in sections 127 to 130 of the law in relation to the gen- eral administration of the country, of the 23d of July, 1883, shall be in force. Sect. 53. For all secondary roads built before the passage of this act those officials are responsible who should have given their consent under sections 3 and 44 of this act. These roads, that is, those established before the passage of this act, come under the provisions of sections 2, 20-22, 24, 25, 40, 42 and 52, or of 48 to 50, as well as under whatever provisions there may be in their concessions. The undertakers may place themselves under all of the requirements of this act by notice to the proper officials. Changes or extensions of plant or operation may be made dependent on such a company's placing itself under the provisions of this act. The time for such change of legal relations shall be publicly announced. The well- determined rights of third parties shall not be disturbed by this change. Sect. 54. This law shall take effect, so far as section 40 is concerned, on April 1, 1893 ; as regards all other provisions, on Oct. 1, 1892. Sect. 55. The execution of this law is placed in the hands of the Minister of Public Works and the Minister of the Interior. Berlin. As in most continental cities, the problem of transportation of passengers through the streets of Berlin varies materially in some of its most important factors from that of American cities. In these cities it is customary for the greater part of the heart of the city to be built up with blocks five and sis stories in height, of which only the lower floor is occupied for business purposes, and the upper floors are used for residences. The distribution of the population in consequence is very different from that of American cities, where the central business district is occupied by buildings given up entirely to business purposes. In consequence of this arrangement, in continental cities travel within the city is usually for very much shorter distances than in America, where people live at greater distances from their work. The travel from the suburban districts to the heart of the city is, in an American city, morning and evening wholly in one direction, 1898. j HOUSE — No. 475. 159 and during the middle of the day is almost entirely lacking. On the other hand, in Europe the travel is more evenly distributed through- out the day. Berlin differs somewhat from other continental cities in regard to the development of its suburban districts, inasmuch as the ad- mirable elevated railroad, which connects these suburbs with the heart of the business district, takes a great part of the travel which in America would be carried on the surface railways. In addition to this elevated road, Berlin has a well-developed system of surface railways in the streets, owned and operated by five different companies. These roads, taken together, had at the end of 1896 about 260 miles of track. The two principal railways are at present operated only by horse-power, but a contract has recently been entered into, a translation of which is annexed, for the introduction of electric power on the entire system. The other roads, two of which are owned by firms and not by companies, are now partially operated by electric power, but only in the exterior districts of the city. These railways together carried in the year 1896 approximately 192,525,000 passengers, but detailed figures in relation to the pri- vately owned roads are not available. The first tramway laid down in the streets of Berlin was a short line outside of the Brandenburg Gate, running towards Charlotten- burg, built by the Berliner Charlottenburg Street Railroad Company, and opened in 1865. The principal company in Berlin, the Grosse Berliner Pferde- Eisenbahn Actien-G-esellschaft, was established in 1871, and opened its first line for traffic in 1873. As is the case with all continental roads, its operations are governed by a contract made with the municipality; and this contract, with its amendments, granted to the road a right in the streets until Dec. 31, 1911, which has been extended until Dec. 31, 1919, by the contract allowing the intro- duction of electric power. Under the earlier contract provision was made for the renewal and maintenance of paving by the company, and a tax was laid on the gross income, starting with 4 per cent, on 6,000,000 M. ($1,444,000) annually and rising with the increase in the gross income to 8 per cent, on an income greater than 15,000,000 M. ($3,600,000). Pro- visions were also made by the amendments for the payment of certain specified sums in lieu of obligations to widen certain streets imposed by the original contract. This railway shows the following figures : In the year 1896 there were in the streets 185 miles of track, on which were run 20,355,404 car miles and 154,250,000 passengers were carried. The capital 160 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. employed by this road at the end of 1896 was 37,059,500 M. ($8,- 894,280), divided in this way: share capital, 21,375,000 M. ($5,- 130,000) ; bond capital, 14,253,000 M. ($3,420,720) ; and borrowed money on notes, 1,431,500 M. ($343,560). The gross receipts dur- ing the year were 17,306,221 M. ($4,153,493) and the total expenses were 9,145,746 M. ($2,194,979), leaving as a surplus 8,160,475 M. ($1,958,514). To this are to be added miscellaneous items, which make the amount of earnings for the year 8,305,000 M. ($1,993,200), applied in the following way: 61,050 M. ($14,652) to the payment of interest on borrowed money; 518,002 M. ($124,320) to the payment of interest on bonds ; 1,875,944 M. ($450,226) for depreciation, including the amounts necessary for the sinking fund to retire the bonds ; 50,000 M. ($12,000) to the pension fund for employees ; 600,000 M. ($144,000) to the renewal funds, according to the terms of the by-laws ; and a payment of 1,583,810 M. ($380,114) to the city of Berlin, made up as follows: 1,346,668 M. ($323,200) as the payment of 8 per cent, on the gross receipts, as provided for in the contract, and 237,142 M. ($56,914) for rental of pavement. These items left as a surplus 3,616,194 M. ($867,888), of which 3,206,250 M. ($769,500) was paid out as a dividend of 15 per cent, on the capital stock, leaving a balance of 409,944 M. ($98,388), from which a percentage was allowed to the directors, employees and management amounting to 309,311 M. ($74,235), and carrying forward to the new account 100,633 M. ($24,153). The rates of fare charged depend on the distance travelled, and rise by steps of 5 Pf. (1.25 cents) from 10 Pf . (2.5 cents) to 30 Pf. (7.5 cents) a trip. The distance allowed for the 10 Pf. fare is at present about two and one-quarter miles, but by the terms of the new contract the rate is to be made uniformly 10 Pf . for any trip, and this rate will be in force within three years. As showing what a large proportion of the travel is for short distances, it may be stated that the average rate of fare is 11 Pf. (2.75 cents), and that 81.3 per cent, of all the persons travelling paid fares of 10 Pf., and only 1.12 per cent, paid more than 20 Pf. (5 cents). For the year 1897 the preliminary figures show that the gross receipts of this company were 16,882,267 M. ($4,051,744) and the car miles run were 21,352,690. The Neue Berliner Pferdebahn G-esellschaft shows the following figures : In the year 1896 there were in the streets 31 miles of track, on which were run 3,264,839 car miles, and 21,825,000 pas- sengers were carried. The capital employed by this road at the end of the year 1896 was 4,474,000 M. ($1,073,760), divided in this way; share capital, 1,500,000 M. ($360,000); bond capital, 2,375,- 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 161 000 M. ($570,000) ; and notes, 599,000 M. ($143,760). The gross receipts during this year were 2,391,458 M. ($573,950) and the total expenses were 1,413,767 M. ($339,304), leaving as a surplus 977,691 M. ($234,646) . To this came miscellaneous items, making the amount of earnings for the year 985,574 M. ($236,537), which was applied as follows: 27,800 M. ($6,672) to the payment of interest on notes; 97,600 M. ($23,424) to the payment of interest on bonds; 322,634 M. ($77,432) for depreciation, including the sinking fund for the bonds; 30,000 M. ($7,200) to the pension fund for employees; 250,000 M. ($60,000) to the renewal fund ; and a payment of 140,522 M. ($33,725) to the city of Berlin, made up as follows : 4 per cent, on the gross income, amounting to 94,072 M. ($22,577), and 46,450 M. ($11,148) for the rental of pavement. These items left as a surplus 117,017 M. ($28,084), of which 75,000 M. ($18,000) was paid out as a dividend of 5 per cent, on the capital stock, 24,000 M. ($5,760) were allowed to the directors and officers, and 5,798 M. ($1,391) carried to the reserve fund, leaving a balance of 12,219 M. ($2,933) to be carried to the new account. For the year 1897 the preliminary figures show that the gross re- ceipts of this company were 2,409,994 M. ($578,398) and the car miles run were 3,333,486. The rates of fare rise, by steps of 5 Pf. (1.25 cents) each, from 10 Pf. (2.5 cents) to 30 Pf. (7.5 cents). The average fare paid by each person was 11.09 Pf. (2.77 cents), and the percentage of travellers at the 10 Pf . fare was 84.88, and those paying more than 20 Pf. (5 cents) were only .63 per cent, of the whole. Those rules and regulations which here are made by the com- panies as to the ojieration of the cars and as to the duties of the drivers and conductors, are, in Germany, and especially in Berlin, all prescribed at great length by the police department of the city ; and, among other regulations, it is always provided that no more pas- sengers shall be taken on a car than are allowed by the police rules, which fix not only the number of seats, but also the number of per- sons who may be permitted to stand on the platform. None are allowed to stand in the inside of the car. Berlin is one of the cities showing a great increase in popula- tion during the last ten years, during which time it has risen from about 1,300,000 to 1,700,000, and during this period the number of persons carried by the Grosse Berliner Pferde-Eisenbahn Actien- Gesellschaft and the number of car miles run have increased as follows : — 162 STEEET EAILWAYS. [Feb. YEAR. Passengers Carried. Car Miles Run. 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 94,300,000 102,150,000 114,400,000 121,250,000 124,800,000 128,000,000 130,000,000 131,800,000 138,900,000 154,200,000 11,867,986 12,247,354 13,712,362 14,738,909 15,305,813 16,121,760 16,278,006 16,756,100 17,829,452 20,355,404 In 1895 the total population of the district 9£ miles in radius from the centre of Berlin was 2,255,000, of which 1,677,000 were in the city proper. Contract between the City of Berlin and the Street Railway Companies. The following contract is made between the G-rosse Berliner Pferde-Eisenbahn Aktien-G-esellschaft and the Neue Berliner Pfer- debahn Gesellschaft, represented by their directors, parties of the first part, and the city of Berlin, represented by its officers, party of the second part : — Section 1. — Objects of the Contract. Excluding certain older contracts which are not specified in this section, there exists between the contracting parties certain contracts in accordance with which the city has granted its consent for certain horse car lines until the 31st of December, 1911, viz. : — a. Between the city and the Grosse Berliner Pferde-Eisenbahn Aktien- Gesellschaft : — 1 . The principal contract of the 26th of July-18th of August, 1880, modi- fied by the agreements of the 30th of October and 6th of November-20th of December, 1884. 2. The supplementary contract of the 6th-17th of November, 1884. b. Between the city and the Neue Berliner Pferdebahn Gesellschaft : — 1. The principal contract of the 31st of May, modified on the basis of the agreements of the 8th of April and 31st of July, 1885. 2. The first supplementary contract of the 15th of August, 1895. 3. The second supplementary contract of the 7th of April, 1892. 1898.] HOUSE— No. 475. 163 The companies now propose to convert the entire system of horse traction into electric, and to unite into a single company. Consent is hereby given thereto in the name of the city, under the terms of the present contract, which is at the same time a new draft of the contracts above mentioned. Section n. — Duration of the Concession. The existing duration of the concession is hereby extended for all lines already constructed until the 31st of December, 1919. Concessions by which consent has already been granted for lines not yet constructed (sec- tion 3), or which, during the life of this contract, may be granted for new lines (section 4) , extend to the same date. Section in. — Confirmation of the Grants for Lines not yet Constructed, but already Approved. The companies have, up to the present time, constructed nothing or only a portion of the following lines granted by earlier contracts : — a. The Grosse Berliner Pferde-Eisenbahn Aktien-Gesellschaft : — 1. The connection between the end points of the lines on the Weiden- dammer bridge on one side, and on the corner of the Friedrichstrasse and Behrenstrasse on the other side, including the crossing of the street Unter den Linden. 2. From the Schlesischenstrasse, across the Lausitzerplatz, through the Waldemarstrasse, Buckower, Dresdener and Rossstrasse to the Kollnischen Fischmarkt. 3. From the Behrenstrasse, through the Markgrafen, to the Junker- strasse, and through the Junkerstrasse. 4. From the Neuen Friedrichstrasse, in the case of the completion of the projected street between the Stralauer and Blumenstrasse, through the Schicklerstrasse to the Alexanderstrasse. 5. Friedrichstrasse, from Koch to Behrenstrasse. 6. From the Museumstrasse, across the Lustgarten and Schlossfreiheit to the Schlossplatz. b. The Neue Berliner Pferdebahn Gesellschaft : through the Kaiser Wilhelmstrasse, from the Kaiser Wilhelm bridge up to the Hirtenstrasse and in case of the extension of the Kaiser Wilhelmstrasse through the same to the Lothringerstrasse. c. Besides these, the Grosse Berliner Pferde-Eisenbahn Aktien-Gesell- schaft has been granted the prior right for the construction of lines in the following streets : — 1. The street Unter den Linden. 2. Wilhelmstrasse. 3. Kaiser Wilhelmstrasse. 4. Friedrichstrasse, from the Behrenstrasse up to the Weidendammer bridge. The city hereby confirms the former grants in relation to streets enumer- ated under a and b, with the reservation of the right to establish the grades definitely in the manner provided in the law relating to the secondary rail- roads, and the special conditions of this contract (section 12) for the length 164 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. of time specified in section 2. The prior rights under e are also confirmed for the same length of time. The companies must, on the request of the city authorities, build portions of the lines referred to in this section if the consent of the State authorities is refused for the whole line. Lines specified under a, Nos. 2 to 6, and b, do not fall within the require- ments of clause one in a, section 15, relating to the widening of streets and changes in bridges made necessary by the construction of the road. The obligation requiring changes in the streets remains ; and the companies shall, as soon as those particular lines are built, make a single payment, in the case of the line under a, No. 2, of 160,000 M. ($38,400), and of the- line under a, No. 6, 20,000 M. ($4,800), to the city treasury. In case of the partial construction of these two lines, there shall be a special agreement made as to the proportion of these sums to be paid. All the conditions of the present contract apply to the remainder of the lines specified in this section. Section IV. — Legal Relations of Lines built during the Life of this Contract. If, during the life of this contract, the city authorities should require within the territory of Berlin the extension of lines not specified, the com- panies must, after obtaining the necessary permission from the State, build such lines up to a maximum amount of 150 kilometers (93 miles) (double tracks counted as single) . All the conditions of this contract are applicable to these lines, with the modifications that the company may require of the city after the construction has been completed : — 1. The return of one-third of the cost of construction on all lines ordered between the beginning of 1902 and the end of 1907. 2. The return of one-half of the cost of construction on all lines ordered between the beginning of 1908 and the end of 1913. 3. For lines ordered after the beginning of the year 1914 the return of the full cost of construction, or an allowance towards the cost of operation, on which point an agreement is to be made later. Cost of construction, within the meaning of this section, is understood to include the actual necessary cost for the establishment of the road in the public streets in a condition fit for operation. These conditions do not apply to those lines the construction of which is voluntarily undertaken by the companies, and under this section they obtain no advantage over other undertakers. Section V . — Introduction of Electric Traction. a. The companies shall convert all existing horse car lines, so far as these may be located on streets in the care of the city of Berlin, into secondary roads with electric traction, and shall equip all lines built during the life of this concession for the use of the same power. b. The companies shall be obliged to do the same on lines to be oper- ated on the ways of other authorities responsible for the care of the high- ways if the conditions required by these authorities shall be held to be proper for the companies. If these requirements are, according to the 1898.] HOUSE— No. 475. 165' views of the companies, improper, then the city authorities may require the companies to apply, under section 7 of the law of the 28th of July, 1892 (law relating to secondary railroads), to the proper officials for a determi- nation of the conditions. The conditions fixed by this proceeding are in any event to be considered as proper. c. In case of the refusal of State approval for the conversion of those lines mentioned in a, which include the most important lines of the system, either of the two contracting parties may withdraw from the present con- tract ; and if this right is exercised, the conditions revert to those under the contracts mentioned in section 1. If this consent is refused for a less im- portant part of the system, then the companies are authorized to continue the operation with horses on this part of the system, and all the conditions of the present contract, including the extension of time until the 31st of December, 1919, are applicable to this part also. Section VI. — System of Operation. a. The overhead current is, in general, to be employed as the system of operation. In place of that, wherever the city authorities may demand, the mixed system, using storage batteries, shall be employed. On those streets at present used by the road, this requirement, with a reservation of the accurate determination of the beginning and end points of the storage battery lines, is applicable to those streets marked in blue on the annexed plan. The city authorities reserve the right to make the same requirement in regard to other sections outside of these streets so far as, in their opinion, the public interest may demand. In regard to those lines not yet con- structed, but for which consent has already been given (section 3) , and those lines on which this is yet to be given (section -1), the city authorities reserve the right to determine on which parts storage battery operation shall be introduced. b. In case during the life of this contract any motor system already known, or hereafter discovered, shall prove practicable for operation, which, in the judgment of the city authorities, appears more suitable for the conditions in Berlin, especially one which makes a smaller demand on the streets than the system referred to in a, the companies are authorized to introduce such new system of traction. c. The companies are bound to introduce another motor system than that indicated in a, on the whole system, or a part of the same, as soon as the city authorities shall require. In case increased costs accrue to the com- panies by the construction or operation on account of such a requirement, the city is bound to suitably indemnify the companies, after making a due allowance for the benefits obtained by the introduction of the new system. The above applies not only when this requirement of the introduction of a new system is made after the equipment of a line for electric power, but also when such a requirement for the modification of the system referred to in a is made by the city authorities before the conversion or new construction of a line. 166 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. Section VII. — Source of Supply of Motive Power. The companies shall obtain their power, at least for lines within the limits of the city of Berlin, from whatever source the city authorities may pre- scribe. The city authorities will aid the companies to obtain a contract for the delivery of current under reasonable conditions. It shall be a part of the duty of the suppliers of the current to lay and maintain the feeders and distribution cables. If the negotiations of the companies with the suppliers of the current do not lead to the making of a contract on account of a demand for too high a price (on this point the city authorities have a final decision), then the companies are allowed, in the absence of any other regulation, to erect a central station for the production of electric energy, and may locate the necessary cables in the streets. Section "VlLL. — Rules for Safely and Protection. a. The companies shall adopt such regulations for the prevention of accidents due to the operation of the road as correspond to the highest technical knowledge. b. The companies shall adopt such rules as may be necessary for the protection of city property against all damages arising from electric opera- tion, and especially against the influence of currents in the ground due to the use of the rails for the return current. c. In this respect the companies must follow the rules in relation to safety for electrical street railways in the city of Berlin, which are annexed as a supplement to this contract. The city authorities reserve the right to modify and extend these requirements, and these modifications and exten- sions are to be observed in the same way by the companies. The com- panies are responsible for any damages which may occur to city or other property in spite of such rules. Section IX. — Limit of Time for the Conversion of Horse Traction into Electric Traction. a. The companies shall, immediately after the signing of this contract, apply to the State authorities for consent for the conversion of horse traction into electric, and this application is to be at the latest within eight weeks after a written demand made on the companies by the city authorities. b. Immediately after obtaining the approval of the State authorities, the companies shall begin the conversion ; and the same must be completed and electrical traction be put in operation on all lines indicated in a, in section 5, within a period of five complete building years, each of which shall embrace the time from the 1st of April to the 1st of October. c. The interference of higher powers, or any hindrance not the fault of the companies, by which the limit of time referred to in b cannot be lived up to, for example, a strike not the fault of the companies, shall authorize a request for an extension of the limit of time at least equal to the length of the interruption. d. The city authorities are authorized in the name of the city, to with- draw from the present contract after the fruitless expiration of a four weeks' period from the date of a special notification : — 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 167 1. If the companies do not make prompt application for the approval of the State authorities, as required in o. 2. If the State approval is not given to the companies to the extent referred to in section 5, c, within two years. 3. If the companies do not live up to the limit of time for construction established under b, and the grounds for delay referred to in c do not exist. In the case referred to under 2 the companies have the same right of withdrawal as the city authorities. If use is made of this right of with- drawal, the conditions revert to those under the contracts mentioned in section 1. In cases 1 and 3 the city authorities may allow the legal relations laid down in section 36, a and b, of this contract, to take effect, with revocation of the existing contracts. Section X. — Purposes of the Undertaking. The purpose of the undertaking for which this consent is valid is the transportation of persons and freight. Section XI. — Payments by the Companies. a. The remuneration to be paid for the use of city property, in accord- ance with paragraph 3, section 6, of the law of the 28th of July, 1892 (law in relation to secondary railroads) , is mutually fixed at an annual amount, which is determined by the total gross income from the transportation of persons and freight, including commutation tickets, and shall be 8 per cent, of this gross income. The payment is only to be made on the income from those lines which are on streets which must be maintained by the city of Berlin, and not from the income from those lines where the maintenance of the streets is required from another authority. If a line is located in and out of streets in the care of the city of Berlin, in calculating the payment from the gross income of the entire line a portion shall be omitted, and the determination of this portion remains a subject of special agreement between the authorities and the companies. 6. The payment of this compensation begins as soon as half of the amount of track composing the system of the companies at the time of signing this contract (double track counted as single) has been equipped for electric traction, but at the latest four years after such signing. This length of track is to be reckoned only as regards that portion located in streets which the city is obliged to maintain. Until this period the payment to the city remains as in the previous contracts. The same date is to be considered also the latest up to which the consolidation of the Grosse Berliner Pferde- Eisenbahn Aktien-G-esellschaft with the Neue Berliner Pferdebahn Gesell- schaft must be completed. If that has not been brought about, from this time on the income of the two companies will be reckoned together in such a way that the payment for the benefit of the city of Berlin is to be made on the total sum. c. The annual payment is to be made in two portions, in such a way that the first portion shall be paid in the course of the financial year of the companies, which corresponds to the calendar year. On the 1st of July one-half the amount paid for the previous business year is to be paid on 168 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. account, and the remainder is due on the 1st of March of the following year. Interest is to be charged on both the amounts from the day on which they are due, at the rate of 5 per cent, a year, in case the payment is delayed more than fourteen days beyond the date on which it is due. d. Besides this payment, the companies shall pay to the city, in those years in which the net divisible income, according to the laws and the by-laws, exceeds 12 per cent, of the present share capital of the companies, one-half of the amount in excess of this as a share of the profits. This division of profits with the city begins at the beginning of the next busi- ness year following the date fixed in b. The payment must be made within six weeks after the final determination of the balance for the year, and in any event within six months from the close of the fiscal year. As regards the manner of payment in instalments, the provisions under c are applicable. In case the companies increase their share capital, that share capital which it can be shown is employed in the undertaking re- ceives interest at 6 per cent. The city will, therefore, share in the excess amount of the profit only after the present share capital has received 12 per cent, interest and the newly employed share capital 6 per cent. In the amounts of 12 per cent, and 6 per cent, are to be included the 4 per cent, dividend on the share capital referred to under c, in section 40 of the by- laws of the Grosse Berliner Pferde-Eisenbahn Aktien-Gesellschaft, in the manner provided by the supplementary contracts of the 22d of December, 1894, and the amounts to be paid up to 5 per cent, to the stockholders, as expressed in b, section 39, of the by-laws of the Neue Berliner Pferdebahn Gesellschaft, and these amounts expressed in the by-laws must not be subtracted as a preferred dividend before the determination of the amount of profits. The companies must prepare a statement annually of the gross income, and a calculation of the profits on the basis of their books ; and this statement must be handed to the city authorities within four weeks after its completion, at the latest, however, prior to the 1st of July of each year. The city authorities have the right to prove, by calling in a sworn account- ant, the calculation of the gross income (a) and of the division of profits (d) . For this purpose the books of the companies are to be accessible in their business offices. Section XII. — Determination of Particular Conditions for the Use of City Property. The city authorities reserve the right to establish within the limits of the conditions of the present contract special conditions for the use of city prop- erty, not only as regards the conversion of existing lines into electric traction, but also as regards the plans for the construction of new lines when such plans are submitted. Section XUI. — Date for the Construction and Operation of Lines not yet built, a. Within six months after the authorities have asked from the com- panies the construction of lines not yet built, but for which concessions have already been granted (section 3), or which may be granted during the life 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 169 of the present contract (section 4) , the companies must apply to the proper State authorities for their approval. If the companies omit to do this, the city authorities may either withdraw their consent for the particular line, or they may ask for the approval of the State authorities in the companies' place ; and after such approval the city authorities may build and operate the lines at the expense of the companies, or may allow these lines to be built and operated by another undertaker. In this latter case the companies are bound to allow unrestricted joint use of the connecting tracks, so far as the same may be necessary for the suitabls operation of these lines. b. If the companies do not obtain the assent of the State within two years after the demand has been made on them by the city authorities, the authorities are authorized, in the name of the city, to withdraw the consent for that particular line. o. The companies are further obliged to begin, immediately after obtain- ing the approval of the State authorities, the building of that special line, and at the latest to complete the line and put it in operation within a single building year, which is to include the full time from the 1st of April to the 1st of October. In the case of failure on the part of the companies to com- plete their work within this period, the authorities are authorized, as they may choose, either to withdraw the consent for that particular line and to require the companies to put back whatever street may have been used by them into its former condition, or may do this work at the expense of the companies, or the city may build the line, or complete it and operate it, at the expense of the companies, or may allow another undertaker to build or complete and operate the same. In this case the rules laid down in a for the joint use of tracks apply also. d. The interference of higher powers, or hindrances, by which the fulfil- ment of the conditions laid on the companies under c is prevented without any fault of the companies, as, for example, a strike not the fault of the com- panies, authorizes a request for an extension of the limit of time at least equal to the length of the interruption. Section XIV. — Relations of the Undertaking to Other Plants located on City Property used by it. a. Widenings and changes in streets and bridges, due to the construc- tion of a line (section 13), are to be carried out at the expense of the com- panies, according to the orders of the proper officials. If, in the opinion of the proper officials, an extensive street widening on account of the con- struction of a line becomes necessary, the companies may, by giving up the construction of that particular line, free themselves from the expense of street widening, in which case the city authorities may on their side with- draw the concession for that particular line. The obligations laid down in clause 1 as regards widening and changing streets and bridges do not take effect when existing horse-car lines are con- verted into electric lines. In no event, however, are the companies author- ized to demand of the city that it should carry out at its own cost necessary changes or widenings of streets, due to the construction of a new line or due to the introduction of electric power. Particular conditions in relation to the duties of the companies as regards street widening, etc., in force in 170 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. regard to lines already constructed, are understood not to be interfered with by the above regulations. 6. Changes or alterations of telegraph wires, pneumatic tubes, water mains, sewers, gas mains, hydrants, pumps, sanitary buildings, trees or other public constructions, made necessary by the laying down of a track or by the change of existing horse-car tracks for electric traction, are to be made in accordance with the rules of the proper authorities, at the expense of the companies. c. In general, all public and private constructions which have been al- ready approved of by the city remain in the same condition as at present until an agreement has been made by the street railway companies, and may be repaired, changed, extended and newly laid. The street railway companies are not entitled to any damages on account of the necessary changes in the other plants or in their operation, and shall not be considered hereby to have acquired any right to make claims. It is to be assumed that all these private plants have already been approved of at the time of the adoption of this contract, so far as those lines which have already been granted consents (section 3) are concerned, and that the private plants on those lines specified in section 4 had been approved of at the time of the approval of these new lines. d. The street railway companies are bound to pay the extra expenses due to the presence of their lines in cases of repair, construction, changing or extension of the plants specified under c. e. The continuance of an undertaking and of its operation must not be prohibited by the requirements under c. Section XV. — Pulling in Order Streets, etc., after the Building or Taking out of Tracks. Whenever the rails are laid, or changed, or moved, or have to be taken out, the companies shall, within a definite time, to be established by the engineers' department, carry out at their own cost, without any indemnity payment, the change, alteration or taking out of the tracks, and shall put back the streets, gutters, bridges and other constructions in accordance with the detail instructions of the city engineer's department. Section XVI. — Prevention of Interference ivilh Other Forms of Traffic. The travel of other carriages over the tracks must not be rendered more difficult either by the profile of the rails or by the construction of the tracks, or, in general, by anything connected with the road. Rails whose profile does not agree with the requirements of this section, or improper con- struction of the tracks, shall, at the request of the city authorities, be re- placed with proper construction, without any right to claim damages. a. Section XVII. — Cost of Permanent Paving. As regards those streets wherein the companies are obliged to pave with permanent paving, that portion occupied by the tracks, payment for which, to be made in instalments, is provided for by section 6 or section 5 of the principal contract of the 26th of July-18th of August, 1880, or the 31st of May, 1881, the following agreement is applicable : — 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 171 It is to be separately determined on each line what amounts the companies should, according to the rules laid down in the contracts, and especially in those of the 26th of July-18th of August, 1880, and the 31st of May, 1881, pay on account of the permanent paving laid down by the city, and which have not been paid in full because by the payment of rental of pavements these amounts are to be gradually extinguished. On the other side is to be determined how much has actually been paid by the companies to the city on account of rental of pavements. The two sums are, omitting from consideration interim interest, to be set off against one another, and the difference is to be paid in cash to whichever party it is due. The companies are allowed to pay any amounts which may be due to the city under this clause in three portions, whose amount and time of payment shall be determined by the city authorities. b. In every case where tracks already lie in permanent paving, and either the above agreement under a has taken effect, or the cost of the pav- ing has been paid immediately after its laying down, the companies have nothing more to pay for this pavement or its renewal. c. In those cases where tracks have been laid down in provisional pave- ment and the city proceeds to lay down a permanent pavement, as well as when new tracks are laid in permanent pavement or at the same time with the permanent pavement of the particular street, the companies must permanently pave the body of the street to a width of 30 centimeters (12 inches) on both sides of each rail. The city authorities are authorized to assume this work of paving which the companies are obliged to do in consideration of a payment, in accordance with the regulations in the fol- lowing paragraphs : — 1. The determination of the amount of money to be paid per running meter of track is to be determined by agreement between the authorities and the companies. 2. At intervals of Ave years the city and the companies in conference are to determine whether this amount is a proper one, and, if necessary, the same is to be changed. 3. This payment is always due within four weeks after the completion of the pavement and a demand for the payment, and is to be charged interest at a rate of 5 per cent, annually from that date. Section XVIII. — Special Duties of the Companies as regards the Per- manent Paving. a. Whenever the city undertakes the permanent paving of a street or a part of a street in which tracks already lie, that is, either on account of original construction or of a later renewal of the permanent paving, the companies are obliged : — 1. At the request of the city authorities to convert a single-track road into a double-track one, if the authorities consider such a change advisable in the interests of travel. a. To replace existing rails and track construction by such construction as will aid in the formation of a firm and durable permanent pavement, and for this purpose the rails and track construction are to be approved by the city authorities , 172 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. b. The companies shall assume the cost in every permanent pavement, in the sense of a, by the laying of new tracks which are in permanent pave- ment, or which are laid at the same time with the permanent pavement, so far as they are not included in the paragraphs relatingto payments in sec- tion 17, c, 1 : — 1. For changes and construction of the -tracks and the substructure. 2. For those special works which are necessary as regards the fitting of the paving material to the rails and the connections ; for example, the bolt- ing down of the ties. Section XIX. — Laying of Provisional Pavement. a. When tracks are laid in provisional pavement, the companies are bound to pave the whole space between the rails and 65 centimeters (26 inches) outside of the outer rails, at their own expense. b. The paving is to be carried out in the same manner as is done on the remainder of the streets. c. In case the old paving material cannot be employed, the companies are obliged to furnish the sub-material of the same material, and the necessary paving stones, from such quarries and in such quality as may be determined by the city authorities. In the laying of new tracks which are not in provisional pavement already existing, but which are laid down at the same time as the city undertakes the provisional pavement of the same portion of the street, the obligation of the companies to pave is restricted to the space of 30 centimeters on both sides of each rail. The paving is to be carried out in accordance with the requirements of b and c. The city authorities reserve the right to assume the work required of the company as regards pavement in return for a payment to be agreed upon. Section XX. — Paving Costs in Consequence of the Conversion to Electric Traction. All paving work due to the conversion of horse-car lines into those for electric traction is to be borne by the companies at their own expense, or, in case the city authorities undertake this work, the costs are to be repaid by the companies. Section XXL — Ownership of the Paving Materials. a. All material employed in paving the body of the road, whether the paving has been done by the city or by the companies, remains or becomes the property of the city. The companies hereby expressly acknowledge all material which at the present time lies on or between their tracks to be the property of the city. b. The same is also true of all underground drainage work done by the companies in the streets, either for carrying off water from the streets or from the neighboring land, and is also true of the gutters and edge stones. c. Whenever the companies are obliged to pave the body of the road with new materials, all old materials, so far as they are the property of the city, and are not available for further use, must be delivered at their own expense by the companies to the city, at such places as may be determined 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 173 upon later ; and such as do not belong to the city are to be delivered by the companies to the rightful owners. Section XXII. — Establishment of Wailing Booms. a. The companies are bound to establish, at the request of the city authorities, suitable waiting rooms at terminal and intermediate stations, and these waiting rooms shall be warmed in winter. Section XXITI. — Special Regulations in Relation to Operation, u. The companies bind themselves to so arrange their summer cars that the use of running-boards by the conductor outside of the cars shall no longer be necessary. Those summer cars which at the time of the signing of this contract do not fulfil these conditions shall not be used for electric traction, and must be wholly put out of use within, at the latest, three years from this date. b. The companies shall, on the request of the city authorities, provide those cars which operate on branch lines with heating appliances in winter. c. The companies shall not employ the motormen for electric traction more than ten hours a day, except on special occasions. Section XXIV. — Maintenance of Paving. a. The companies must keep the pavement between their rails and 65 centimeters (26 inches) outside of the outer rails in proper condition, according to the rules of the police in control of the streets. (Compare section 6 of the law in relation to secondary roads of the 28th of July, 1892) . b. The city makes an allowance to the companies for the cost of this maintenance, based on the rule that only so much of the cost falls on the companies as will maintain the paving for 30 centimeters (12 inches) on both sides of each rail, with the modification that the city shall only make good such expense on the remainder of the paving as is due for the main- tenance of its own portion. The determination of the amount to be paid for each running meter of the track, either single or double, is to be fixed by special agreement between the city authorities and the companies. At in- tervals of five years this amount shall be determined by consultation be- tween the city authorities and the companies, and shall be changed as may be necessary. c. The above rules do not take effect for the whole system at once, but gradually with the introduction of electric traction, in such a way that for every street or portion of street in which electric traction has been intro- duced they shall come into force on the 1st of April of that fiscal year which follows the fiscal year in which the work has been done. For this purpose it is immaterial whether electric lines alone or horse lines also run over these particular portions. These rules only come into force for the whole system when all ot the tracks which lie within city streets have been equipped for electric traction, so far as they may have obtained the approval of the State. But this in no way interferes with the regulations in section 6, under c. Up to the time when these regulations take effect, the conditions of the earlier contracts shall hold good for all streets and portions of streets not yet equipped with electric traction. 174 STEEET EAILWAYS. [Feb. Section XXV. — Cleaning and Sprinkling the Roadway. a. On those streets and portions of streets in which electric traction is exclusively employed, or on which the car-kilometers run by electric trac- tion exceed those run on the same portion of the street by horses, the companies are not bound to do any general cleaning or sprinkling of the roadway. The companies are only required to do that particular cleaning due to the existence of their rails in the street, or to their own rules, especially the cleaning of the grooves in the rails and the necessary clean- ing of the underground conduits in which wires are laid. How much of this particular cleaning work is to be left in the hands of the companies to do, and how much shall be done by the city for payment from the com- panies, is to be determined by the city authorities. As regards the amount to be paid in such cases, it is to be determined by agreement. b. In those streets in which the cars are operated exclusively by horses, or in those in which the number of car-kilometers run by horse-power exceeds those run by electric power, the companies are required to clean and sprinkle their entire roadway, that is, the space between all the tracks and 65 centimeters (26 inches) outside of the outer rails, in accordance with the rules of the proper authorities. So far as regards these streets, the regulations in the contracts made between the companies and the director of the city street cleaning of the 22d and 29th of April, 1881, or the 30th of March and 22d of April, 1881, remain in force. c. The regulations under a take eifect with the progressive introduction of electric traction for each street on the 1st of April of that fiscal year which follows on the fiscal year (1st of April to the 31st of March) in which the electric operation has been established in the sense of clause 1 under a. In every case where the companies have assumed the cleaning and sprink- ling of the roadway, or are obliged to do the work, the city authorities may, in case this work is not carried out in accordance with their regulations, or if any special requirements made are not immediately carried out, have the work done by their own workmen, and the expense is to be immediately paid in full by the companies. Section XXVI. — Lighting. If it is necessary to light the poles, the companies must establish at their own expense the necessary plants, and maintain them and the lighting, so far as no other special agreement comes into force. The city must assume the cost of lighting and the maintenance of the necessary plant in whole or in part, in such cases as those where unless this cost is assumed the city would save on the cost of lighting that particular street. Section XXVII. — Interruptions of Travel. a. The companies shall, during the life of this contract, keep every line of the road in regular operation. b. If, without being due to higher power or the special consent of the city authorities, the operation of a whole line or a part of a line remains improperly out of use for two months, the authorities may revoke their consent for the particular line, or the particular part of the same, and may 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 175 require the companies to put back into their former condition at their own expense the streets, ways and squares in which such line is laid, or the city may do the work and charge the same to the companies. c. The city authorities may, however, in the cases under b, either allow the operation of the road by another undertaker, or may operate it them- selves for the remainder of the contract, at the expense of the companies. The same is true also when the interruption of travel takes place on only a part of the line. The conditions in section 13, under a and o, are applicable in this case also. Section XXVUL — Legal Relations concerning Claims for Damages. a. The companies have no power to transfer to the city claims for damages which may arise in connection with the plant, either during the construction or after the completion of the same, or during the operation of the road, due to occurrences of any nature, on that part of the city property used by the companies, or to similar occurrences to the public plants or to private plants previously approved by the city, now or in the future lying in this property. b. If by any such occurrences damages result to third persons, either those who use the railway or who are in its employ, or who have anything to do with it, then the companies shall assume all claims made against the city by third parties on account of such occurrences, or shall repay to the city any payment which may have been made by it on account of such damages. c. Claims which may be brought either by the companies or by third persons (in the sense of b), based on the law of the 11th of March, 1850, in relation to the duties of the cities for repayment of damage done by public disturbances, are to be treated in the same way (a and 6). d. Finally, the companies must assume the position of the city towards all claims which are made on the part of any third person on account of the construction, the conversion to electric power, the existence or the opera- tion of the plant. e. In all the above enumerated cases (b to d) , in which claims are made against the city by third parties, it is to be understood that the determina- tion of the damages follows only when this takes place by arbitration with the joining of the companies and in agreement with the same, or in the case of a suit with the joining of the companies and in agreement with the same, or in the case of a suit with notice to the companies, otherwise the city loses its rights to repayment by the companies. Section 7 XXIX. — Orders of Officials. For injuries in the use or operation of the road which are brought about by orders or work of the city or other officials, the companies cannot claim freedom from liability. 176 STEEET E AIL WAYS. [Feb. Section XXX. — Grossing, Connection and Joint Use of the Tracks for the Operation of Other Roads. The companies must, at the request of the city authorities, "without any responsibility accruing to such authorities, allow a crossing, connection or joint use of their plant by other roads. This joint use, however, shall only be on short stretches, and on each line of the existing schedules shall not exceed as a whole 400 meters (\ of a mile). The following rules govern the joint use of tracks : — 1. If the tracks to be used on any particular stretch are occupied by several lines, the right of another company to the use of the tracks may only be based'on one special line. 2. Every outside undertaker shall only be allowed to use for each of his lines a total of 400 meters of the lines of this company. 3. A right once granted for joint use continues to exist even when later a change of the schedules takes effect. With these restrictions, the companies must allow any changes of their plant made necessary by this joint use, and these changes are to be made at the cost of the outside undertaker. The joint user must hold the companies harmless for damages, and must contribute to the maintenance and to the amortization of the cost of construction of the plant used in common. Any controversies in relation to these regulations between the companies and others crossing or jointly using the lines are to be determined by the city authorities. The damages established as a preliminary by the city authorities must, at the request of the companies, be secured by bonds given by the under- takers jointly using the lines. Either party may, within four weeks after the decision of the city authorities, take the matter to the court of arbitra- tion. As to the formation of this body, the provisions of section 39 are applicable. As an exception, the companies are bound to allow the joint use of their tracks beyond 400 meters on the following lines : — a. Yorkstrasse, between Mansteinstrasse and Hagelsbergerstrasse. b. Landsberger Allee, between Landsberger Platz and Petersburger- strasse, between Weberstrasse and Landsberger Platz. c. Flittwellstrasse and Schonberger Ufer. For this joint use all the remaining regulations of this paragraph are applicable. Section XXXI. — Transportation of Street Sweepings, Manure, etc. The companies are bound, in case the city authorities require, to trans- port, during the night time and in return for compensation to be agreed upon, wagons which shall serve for the carrying off of street sweepings, manure, swill, etc., including the contents of privies. The same holds good for a service for the transportation of corpses, to be organized later. Section XXXII. — Prohibition of Advertising Signs. After the expiration of the contract made by the companies with Venet- tisch under the date of the 6th of March and 21st of November, 1885 (31st 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 177 of December, 1906) , in relation to the use of the cars for the placing of business announcements, the companies are prohibited from placing or allowing to be placed on the windows of the cars, or the outside, advertis- ing inscriptions or pictures. Section XXXHI. — Time Table and Rates of Fare. The time table requires the approval of the city authorities. If, in the judgment of the city authorities, it is necessary that the cars should on any particular line follow one another more closely, the companies are obliged to establish such service. At the latest, three years after the signing of this contract the companies shall not charge more than 10 Pf. (2^ cents) for any unbroken trip within the limits of the city, nor outside of the limits up to the end of every line in the following suburbs : — Britz, Charlottenburg, Dalldorf, Deutsch Willmersdorf, Friedrichsberg, Lichtenberg, including Herzberge, or the building company Biirgerheim, Plotzensee, Keinickendorf, Rixdorf, Schoneberg, Treptow, AVeissensee, in- cluding Xeu Weissensee, Tegel, Tempelhof, Meder Schb'nhausen, Pankow and Mariendorf. Any change which would shorten the trips of the present time table must be approved of by the city authorities. The companies are, moreover, bound as follows : — 1. To issue commutation tickets and scholars' tickets for every line at reduced rates : — 2. To establish workingmen's cars on such lines as the city authorities may determine that there is a demand for them, and in the morning and evening hours to establish reduced rates for workingmen. The rates for the transportation of freight (section 10) must be approved by the city authorities. Section XXXTV. — Right of the City Authorities to Information. The companies bind themselves to furnish the city authorities all informa- tion necessary to them in relation to the conversion of the traction system, the building and operation of the road. The companies hold themselves liable to a contractual penalty of 100 M. ($24) for each infraction of this section. Section XXXV. — The Right of the City Authorities, in the Name of the City Council, to revoke their Approval. The city authorities are, independently of the provisions of section 5 at c, 9 at d, 13 and 14 at a, and 27 at b, authorized to withdraw the concessions for all lines coming under the terms of this contract, in case : — a. The companies, on two consecutive occasions, fail to pay the amount fixed by section 11 for a longer period than one month after the expiration of the date on which it is due, in accordance with the notice given in the manner provided in that section. b. The companies, or one of them, become insolvent. 178 STKEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. In these cases (a and b) the city authorities have the right to require that the streets, etc., used by the companies be put into their former condition, and, if necessary, to include the removal of the parts built in the streets, or to have this done at the expense of the companies. Section XXXVI. — Legal Relations on the Termination of the Concession, or on the Expiration of the Permission from the State Authorities. a. At the termination of this concession (section 2) , or at the expiration of the permission from the State, the following legal relations come into force : — 1. The road (operating portions), so far as it is located in streets which must be cared for by the city authorities, comes into the possession of the city of Berlin free of all charge, including the fixed property (such as poles, wires, etc.), and including also any waiting rooms built on city property (section 22). 2. The right to continue to use the patents and patent licenses employed by the company also passes free of charge to the city at the time referred to. 3. The city has the right, without regard to the specifications under a, to require the transfer from the companies of all contracts by assuming the obligations of the companies under such contracts. b. The city authorities have, however, the right, instead of allowing the legal relations under a to come into effect, to require that the streets, etc., used by the companies shall be put into their former condition, if necessary including the removal of the parts built into the streets, or to have this done at the expense of the companies. c. The rights which the city of Berlin acquires by the conditions under a are admitted by the companies to apply also to all the different author- ities in control of the streets, in the sense of section 6 of the law of the 28th of July, 1892 (law in relation to secondary roads) . The authorities having control of the streets shall remain free to make contracts among themselves, without the joint action of the companies, and with the exclu- sion of any interference of the same so far as the exercise of this right is concerned, so that the companies shall remain bound by the action of a single authority or by a minority of the whole number in regard to those rights which accrue from the present paragraph to the total number of authorities, or the minority may obtain the rights of all those authorities in control of the streets which make up the total number. The acquisition of an agreement from the outside authorities in control of the streets and a transfer of their rights remains a matter for the city of Berlin. Section XXXVTT. — Transfer to Legal Successors and Name of Firm. a. The companies may only transfer their rights under this contract to a third person with the approval of the city authorities. b. The Grosse Berliner Pferde-Eisenbahn Aktien-Gesellschaft and the Neue Berliner Pferdebahn Gesellschaft shall, at the latest, within the time fixed in section 11, at b, carry out their consolidation into one company. c. The companies are obliged, after the signing of this contract, to assume a name representing a change in the manner of operation, and to assume this as their legal name. 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 179 Section XXXVIII. — Furnishing of Security. a. For the fulfilment of the duties undertaken by the companies in this contract, the materials laid in the city streets, ways and squares are liable, and also a deposit to the amount of at least 200,000 M. ($18,000). b. The security is to be deposited in a bank to be named by the city authorities, and is to consist of securities such as may be allowed by the general city rules in relation to bonds which now are in force, or which may be later issued, relating to the deposit of securities. In those cases in which the city authorities are authorized to draw upon this security, this is to be done by taking an amount equal to the amount due, to be obtained by turning into cash at the day's quotation on the exchange the necessary portion of the securities deposited, and notice thereof must be given to the companies. The security must be made up to 200,000 M. as soon as it has been drawn from, so that it shall always rep- resent that amount. Section XXXIX. — Court of Arbitration. For all questions arising imder this contract, so far as special points are not determined by the city authorities, the decision is to be made by a court of arbitration within the meaning of section 851 of the civil process law of the 30th of January, 1877, but without, however, affecting in any way by such a decision the legal requirements of the police and State supervisory officers. The determination of the arbitrators also applies to those cases whose regulation in this contract is reserved for a later agreement, in the event of inability to make such an agreement. a. The arbitration court is specially formed in each case, and consists of three or five arbitrators, according to the choice of that party charged with the calling together of the court. b. This party indicates its intention to the other party, naming at the same time one or two arbitrators, and making the request on its side for the naming of the same number of arbitrators by the other side within four weeks from the date of the notice. c. IS the second party does not comply with this request within the proper time, then the first party names the lacking arbitrators. d. The party which calls together the arbitrators must ask them, within four weeks after notice, to choose a president. e. If the choice of a president is not made within the time limit, then the same party must ask the Minister of Public Works, or the Minister for Trade and Commerce, or the Rector of the Technical Academy at Char- lottenburg, to name the president. /. If one of the arbitrators dies or falls out for any cause, or declines to assume or to exercise the duty of an arbitrator, then the party which named him must name a substitute at the latest within four weeks after a demand made on it by the other party, unless it has, without such request, already done so. g. If the president (at d) dies or from any cause falls out, or declines to assume or to exercise the duties of a president, then the party calling to- 180 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. gether the board of arbitration shall cause the choice or naming of another president, or the regulations in c find application. h. Arbitrators and president shall not be officers, servants or employees of either of the parties to this contract. Section XXXIXa. — Formation of a Pension Fund. The companies are obliged, within six months from the date of this con- tract, to establish a pension fund, after an agreement with the city officials as to the by-laws. This shall be established under the rules in force in city and Imperial businesses, and shall apply to all employees (drivers, con- ductors, workmen, grooms and stablemen, as well as for all employees in the offices, etc.). Section XL. — Taking Effect of this Contract. This contract takes effect, so far as no particular clauses in the same may otherwise establish, immediately after its signing. Section XLI. — Stamp Tax. All stamp taxes which are to be paid on this contract are to be borne by the companies. Frankfort. There are in Frankfort four street railways, with a total length of about 57 miles, of 'which 38.5 miles belonged to one road, the Frank- furter Trainbahn Gesellschaft. This company, which has its headquarters in Brussels, made a contract for twenty-five years from the 1st of January, 1890, with the city of Frankfort, in which the right was reserved to the city to purchase on the 1st of January, 1898, or on the 1st of January, 1906, all of the property of the company under certain conditions laid down in the contract. The payment was to cover the entire property, fixed and movable, and the stock of materials on hand. In addition to this, the city agreed to pay during the entire period which the con- tract had to run an amount annually which would suffice for the amortization of the share capital, and also for a dividend at the rate of 101 p er ceu t. on the undrawn shares and 5£ per cent, on the enjoyment shares. (Genussactien, actions de jouissance) .* Acting under this power, the city in 1897 decided to purchase the plant and to make arrangements for its equipment for electric trac- tion ; and on the 7th of September, 1897, a special report was sub- mitted to the city council in relation to the change of power. This report recommended emphatically that the road should not at pres- ent be operated by the municipality, but that a contract should * These Genussactien or actions de jouissance are certificates representing the shares which hare been drawn and paid off, but continue to enjoy a dividend, which divi- dend is equal to the excess above 5 per cent, of the dividend on the undrawn shares. 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 181 be made for the necessary changes in construction, and a further contract for the operation of the road, and also advised the adop- tion of the overhead trolley system. The contract relating to the construction of the road was in the usual form, and lhat submitted for its operation was, on the 26th of October, 1897, adopted by the municipal council, which approved the making of a contract with Siemens & Halske, and Brown, Boveri & Co. The city officials were also authorized to make a temporary loan, amounting to "2,500,000 M. ($600,000), being the amount necessary for taking over the tramways and for all immediate ex- penses in connection with them. The terms of this arrangement, by which the municipality, after purchasing the tracks, has transferred their operation to a company, are as follows : — On the 1st of January, 1898, the whole plant, with everything belonging to it, is to be transferred to the undertakers. These take over the operation of the whole street railway system in its present extent, and also the maintenance of the track for the account of the city. They pledge themselves to operate the road in a proper manner, to take care of the interests of the city, and to properly maintain the plant and inventory until the dissolution of the contract. For the present, horse traction is to be continued. The city determines how, to what extent and in what order electric lines are to be established. A special board of directors is to be formed in Frankfort, and the head of this board is personally responsible for the operation of the road, and his orders are binding on the under- takers. The city must approve the naming of the manager, and may at any time demand his removal and replacement inside of six months. The director has the usual rights and duties which belong to such a position. The city reserves to itself : (a) the annual approval of the ac- counts ; (6) the determination as to the construction of new lines, and the introduction of other systems of motive power ; (c) the de- termination of the rates of fare and time tables ; (d) dealings with the State supervisory officials ; (e) the employment of renewal and reserve funds, and the approval of supplementary expenses ; (/) the issuing of general rules in relation to operation and employees, the deter- mination of salaries and wages ; (g) the approval of the contracts with the employees ; (/i) the granting of free passes or special reduc- tions of fares; (i) the granting of allowances, rewards and aid (financial) ; (7c) the control of the entire operation of the business ; (I) the determination, on complaint, of orders made by the manage- ment; (m) the control of the working out of accident cases and 182 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. law matters ; (n) the giving of contracts for work amounting to more than 3,000 M ($720) ; (o) the control of the operation of the business and the maintenance of the road, and this may be done by specially paid municipal officials. The undertakers pledge themselves to keep all the employees of the Frankfort Tramway Company on the 1st of January, 1898, with the exception of the directors, so far as they do not retire of their own accord, and to employ them as long as possible. In so far as the change of form of operation renders it impossible to avoid dis- missals, these shall be made with as great avoidance of hardship as possible. The gross income is to be employed on the following basis : After covering the cost of operation and maintenance, the city receives the annual rent, estimated at 293,000 31. ($70,320), which must be paid to the tramway company; the city then gets 4J per cent, on the total cost of the plant for interest and for the sinking fund on the capital employed by it, including the amount paid to the tramway com- pany, and including further the cost of the introduction of electric traction, as well as the amounts expended for extensions. Of the excess remaining, there goes to the city, for the formation of a re- newal and reserve fund, 4 per cent, on the capital expended, ex- cluding the value of the real estate. Of the residue still left the city takes 95 per cent., and the undertakers 5 per cent, as payment for their services. The price for the electric current to be delivered is to be deter- mined by the city officials, but shall not be more than 10 Pf. per kilowatt hour, alternating current, measured at the central station. Expenses of operation include the cost of necessary paving. The stock of materials on hand, as well as the horses, are to be taken over by the undertakers at the price that the city pays the tramway company, 20 per cent, of the value of the horses is to be written off each year for depreciation. The capital employed by the city is determined the 1st of January, 1898, and then quarterly, The city receives as payment on account, for the amount due to it, quarterly until the 31st of March, 1900, 180,000 M. ($43,200) ; from the 1st of April, 1900, to the 31st of March, 1903, 250,000 M. ($60,000) ; and from the 1st of April, 1903, on, 350,000 M. ($84,000). The contract is for an indeter- minate period. The city has the right to end the contract on the 1st of April of any year, but must give notice twelve months before- hand. The undertakers have no right to give notice until the 31st of March, 1903 ; after that, they have the same rights as the city. The undertakers are answerable, according to general rules of law, for the operation of the undertaking ; and, moreover are liable to the 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 183 city and to third persons for all damages which are the fault of their officers, workmen or other employees. After the approval of the contract the undertakers must deposit security of 200,000 M. (S48,000). The undertakers have, from the 31st of March, 1903, on, the right to transfer the contract to a com- pany, if the city shall approve the form, the individuals and the capital of this company. The city may put in a company in its place, and give to this company its rights in the property of the road or in the contract. Differences are to be settled by arbitration. The legal residence of the undertakers is in the city of Frankfort. During the last year of the tramway company, that ending the 31st of December, 1897, this road ran 3,381,547 car miles, and received as gross income. 2, 643, 900 M. (8634,536). Hamburg. There are in Hamburg three different street railway companies, having altogether 149 miles of track, of which 130 miles belong to the Strassen-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft in Hamburg, which is operated partially by electric power and partially by horse and steam power. The other two lines are the Hamburg Altonaer Trambahn Gesell- schaft and the Hamburg Altonaer Centralbahn Gesellschaft, each of which has about 9£ miles of track. The latter is operated wholly by electric power, and the former is now being converted for the use of this form of traction. The contract between the city and the largest of these companies has been recently renewed for a period of twenty-five years from 1898, and contains provisions for the payment to the city, in lieu of all charges for paving and cleaning streets, of 1 Pf. per pas- senger carried for a cash fare and 5 per cent, on commutation tickets. For the first five years from the date of granting of the concession the city receives nothing from the company except this payment per passenger, but after that time it gets 25 per cent, of the profits above 6 per cent, dividend paid. If the dividend rises above this, the fol- lowing rates are to be paid : — Thirty per cent, of the profits above 6 per cent., if the dividend paid is from 1\ to 8 per cent. Thirty-five per cent, of the profits above 6 per cent., if the divi- dend paid is from 8J to 9 per cent. Forty per cent, of the profits above 6 per cent., if the dividend paid is from 9J to 10 per cent. Fifty per cent, of the profits above 6 per cent,, if the dividend paid is above 10| per cent. 184 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. At the expiration of the concession the permanent way becomes the property of the city, free of charge, but the equipment is to be purchased. The Hamburg Altonaer Centralbahn Gesellschaft has a contract which extends to the end of 1922, and it requires the payment during that time of 500,000 M. ($120,000) to the city of Hamburg and 260,000 M. ($62,000) to the city of Altona, in addition to the usual payment of 1 Pf . per passenger. The capital stock of the Strassen-Eisenbakn-Gesellschaft in Hamburg is 15,000,000 M. (S3, 600,000) in shares, and 10,131,200 M. ($2,431,488) in bonds; and during the year 1896 the receipts from all sources amounted to 6,671,673 M. (§1,601,201) and the net profits to 2,2*3,755 M. ($548,101), from which a dividend of 7 per cent, on the stock, amounting to 1,050,000 M. ($252,000), was paid. The number of passengers carried during the year was 53,215,962, at rates of fare varying from 10 Pf. to 45 Pf., according to dis- tance. Of these passengers, 75.85 per cent, were carried for 10 Pf. and only 1.34 per cent, at rates greater than 20 Pf. The average receipts per passenger were 11.79 Pf. The number of car miles run was 10,623,014. Of the 130 miles of track belonging to this road, 11 miles are in Prussia, outside of the territory of the free city of Hamburg, and 119 miles are within the city. The Hamburg Altonaer Centralbahn Gesellschaft has a capital stock of 800,000 M. ($112,000) in shares and 1,200,000 M. ($288,- 000) in bonds. During the year 1896 the gross receipts were 1,054,985 M. ($253,196) and the net profits 379,006 M. ($90,961), from which 240,000 M. ($57,600) were paid out as a dividend of 30 per cent, on the capital stock. This company carried about 9,000,- 000 passengers during the year. The Hamburg Altonaer Trambahn Gesellschaft has a capital stock of 1,500,000 M. ($360,000) in shares and 938,000 M. ($225,120) in bonds, but it has been voted to reduce the capital stock to 1,000,000 M. ($240,000). During the year 1896 the gross receipts were 713,314 M. ($171,195), of which 82,263 M. '($19,744) was profit, which was wholly applied to depreciation, no dividend being paid during the year. The number of passengers carried by this com- pany during the year was 6,601,953 and the car miles run were 1,146,184. The present arrangement of fares in Hamburg on all the lines divides each route traversed into sections, for which the rates of fare are fixed by the contract, but the tendency is towards the introduction of a uniform rate of 10 Pf . on each route. 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 185 France. In France the construction and operation of tramways is governed by the law of June 11, 1880, relating to tramways and railroads of local interest, and ministerial decrees specifying the details as re- gards construction and operation. A translation of this law follows : — Sections 1 to 25 relate to railroads of local interest. Sect. 26. There may be established on roads belonging either to the public domain of the State, the departments or communes, tramways or iron ways (tracks), to be employed for traction by horses or by mechanical motors. These tracks, as well as branches constructed outside of the roads and classed as annexes, shall be submitted to the following regulations : — Sect. 27. When the main line is to be established in whole or in part on a road dependent on the public domain of the State, the concession is granted by the State. This concession may be made to cities or to in- terested departments, with reservation of the right to revoke. When the tracks, without touching a national road, are to be established in whole or in part on a departmental road, or on a main road or a road o{ common interest, or over the territory of several communes, the concession is granted by the general council, in the name of the department. If the line extends over several departments, articles 89 and 90 of the law of the 10th of August, 1871, shall be applicable. When the track is entirely established on the territory of the commune, or on an ordinary vicinal road, or on a rural road, the concession is granted by the municipal council. Sect. 28. A department may grant a concession to the State or to the commune, with a reservation of the right to revoke. A commune may do the same in regard to the State or a department. Sect. 29. No concession may be made until after an investigation in the form determined by an administrative order and a hearing, at which the general councils of the departments and the municipal councils of the com- munes through which the road is to pass shall be heard, provided that these bodies are not required to act upon the concession. Public utility is declared and construction authorized by a decree considered in the Council of State on the report of the Minister of Public Works, after notice to the Minister of the Interior. Sect. 30. All changes made in the clauses of the typical contract ap- proved by the Council of State must be expressly stated in the contracts made to cover the concession, and these changes are to be submitted to the Council of State and annexed to the decree. Sect. 31. When the taking of land is necessary for the establishment of a tramway, either for the enlargement of a vicinal road or for one of the changes referred to in section 26, this expropriation shall take place in accordance with section 16 of the law of May 21, 1836, in relation to vicinal roads, and with section 2 of the law of June 8, 1834. Sect. 32. The plans shall be approved by the Minister of Public Works whenever the concession is granted by the State. When the concession is 186 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. granted by a department or a commune, the rules of section 3 of this act apply. (Sect. 3. Plans must be approved by the chief engineer of the department and the prefect, subject to an appeal to the Minister of Public Works.) Sect. 33. The rates charged within the limits of the maximum fixed by the contract are determined by the Minister of Public Works, whenever the concession is made by the State, and by the prefect in other cases. Sect. 34. The concessionaires of tramways are not subject to the tax established by the law of 1836 in regard to carriages and horses, so far as these may be used exclusively for the operation of the tramway (vehicle tax). The departments, or the communes, cannot demand any payments from the concessionaires not expressly stipulated in the contract. Sect. 35. At the expiration of the concession the administration may require that the tracks which they have granted shall be taken up in whole or in part, and the public ways put back into good condition at the cost of the concessionaire. Sect. 36. In the case of the establishment of a tramway operated by locomotives and intended for the transportation of merchandise as well as passengers, the State may agree to contribute in part towards the payment of a deficiency, on condition that at least an equivalent part shall be paid by the department or the commune, with or without the assistance of inter- ested parties. This payment shall be made in case of insufficient gross income to cover the expenses of operation and 5 per cent, per year on the capital employed, as provided for by the grant of the concession, and increased if need be by the deficiencies accruing during the period allowed for construction under the terms of the concession. The subsidy from the State shall be formed (1) of a fixed sum of 500 francs per kilometer operated, (2) of a quarter of the sum necessary to raise the annual gross receipts (taxes subtracted) to the figure of 6,000 francs per kilometer operated. In no case shall the subsidy from the State raise the gross receipts beyond 6,500 francs, nor allow the payment of more than 5 per cent, on the original capital. The payment by the State shall be suspended when the gross receipts reach the limit fixed above. Sect. 37. The law of the 15th of July, 1845, in relation to railway police, is applicable to tramways, with the exception of articles 4, 5,6,7,8,9 and 10. Sect. 38. Administrative regulations shall fix the measures necessary for the execution of the preceding requirements, especially (1) those special conditions which must be carried out either in the construction or oper- ation of cars and trains on tracks whose establishment has been authorized on the public ways, and (2) the relations between the service on these tracks and that of other interested parties. Sect. 39. The regulations of sections 4, 6 to 12, 14 to 19, 21 and 24 of the present law shall be applicable to the tramways. (Sect. 4. The contract shall determine the tolls and rates of fare which the concessionaire is authorized to collect. Sect. 6. The authority which makes the concession has the right at any time (1) to authorize other railways to connect with or to branch off from the lines conceded, (2) to grant to these new enterprises the right to operate their carriages on the lines conceded in return for suitable compensation to 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 187 be fixed in the contract, (3) to buy the concession on conditions determined by the contract, (4) to revoke or modify a part of the plan when, after investigation, such change shall have been recognized to be necessary. In these last two cases, if the rights of the concessionaire are not regulated by agreement, or by the terms of an arbitration established under the terms of the contract, or of an agreement, the indemnity which shall be paid is to be determined by a special commission formed as provided in section 3 of article 11 of the present law. Sect. 7. The contract shall fix (1) the rights and duties of the conces- sionaire during the whole duration of the concession, (2) the rights and obligations of the concessionaire at the end of the concession, (3) those cases in which the non-execution of the conditions of the concession may lead to the failure of the concessionaire, as well as the measures to be taken in regard to the defaulting concessionaire. The default is pronounced in all cases by the Minister of Public Works, with appeal to the Council of State by legal processes. Sect. 8. Xo concession may be set up as an objection to the grant of concurrent concessions, unless by a contrary stipulation contained in the concession. Sect. 9. At the expiration of the concession the grantor is substituted for all the rights of the concessionaire over the tracks, which ought to be put by him in good condition. The contract regulates the rights and the obliga- tions of the concessionaire in whatever concerns the movable or immovable property used for the operation of the road. Sect. 10. All cessions, total or partial, of the concession, the fusion of concessions or of administration, every change of concessionaire, the substi- tution of direct operation for operation by concession, the rise of rates above the fixed maximum, may only take place by virtue of an act of the Council of State given on the advice of the council general if it is a question of lines conceded by the departments, or by the municipal council if it is a question of lines conceded by the communes. Other modifications may be made by the authority which granted the concession. If it is a question of lines granted by the departments, this shall be made by the general council, stat- ing in conformity with the law of the 10th of August, 1871. For lines conceded by the communes, these changes may be made by the municipal council, whose determination must be approved by the prefect. In case of cession, non-observation of the preceding conditions renders the cession null and void, and may give place to revocation. Sect. 11. At any time a tramway may be taken out of the departmental or communal domain and classed by law in the domain of the State. In this case the State is substituted for the commune or department in every respect, so far as its rights and duties towards the concessionaire are con- cerned. In the case of the eviction of the concessionaire, if his rights have not been determined by contract, they are to be determined by a special commission of nine members, three of whom are to be appointed by the Minister of Public Works, three by the concessionaire and three by a unani- mous vote of the six already appointed. If that does not happen within a month, a choice of those of the three members who have not been elected by unanimous vote shall be determined by the President of the Court of Ap- 188 STEEET EAILWAYS. [Feb. peal in Paris. In case of disagreement between the State, the department or the commune, indemnities or penalties which may be due to the State are determined by decree of the council of State. Sect. 12. Funds created by virtue of the law of May 21, 1836, may be employed in part to subsidize tramways by those communes which have completed the construction of the subsidized roads, and provided for the maintenance of all classes of roads. Sect. 14. This subsidy may only be granted within the limits fixed an- nually by the budget. The total annual charge laid on the treasury in the execution of this law may not in any event exceed 400,000 francs ($80,000) for all the lines situated in any one department. Sect. 15. In the case of lines which have enjoyed subsidies, if the profit becomes sufficient to cover expenses and 6 per cent, on the capital, half of the surplus receipts is divided with the State, the department or the com- mune, in proportion to the advances made by them up to the complete reimbursement of these advances without interest. Sect. 16. Administrative regulations shall fix (1) the proofs to be fur- nished by the concessionaires for determining the annual income and ex- penses, and (2) the division of the amounts to be paid by the different parties in interest, or in the event of repayments the amount to be paid to each party in interest Sect. 17. Only those roads which receive or have received a subsidy from the State can be required to give the State a gratuitous service or a reduction in the rates of fare. Sect. 18. No emission of bonds shall be made by undertakings under the provisions of this act without authority of the Minister of Public Works, after notice to the Minister of Finance. The bonds must not exceed the amount of the share capital, and the capital stock shall be fixed at half the amount considered necessary to complete the construction and equipment of the road. The share capital must be paid in in money, no account being taken of shares to be issued in payment for any property. No bonds may be issued until four-fifths of the share capital has been paid in and em- ployed in the purchase of land, or supplies, or deposited as security. The concessionaires may be authorized to issue bonds at any time when the share capital has been fully paid in, and it has been proven that more than half the share capital has been employed in the manner provided in the preceding section ; but the receipts from such an issue must be deposited with the State, and can only be paid over to the concessionaires upon the formal authorization of the Minister of Public Works. The provisions of sections 2, 3 and 4 of this article shall not be applicable in cases where the concession is made to a company already operating a road, if the Minister of Public Works is satisfied that the net income of such road is sufficient to assure the payment of the charges due to the issue of sucn bonds. Sect. 19. A detailed report of the results of operation, including the expenses of construction and operation and the gross receipts, shall be sent every three months to the prefect, to the president of the departmental com- mission and the Minister of Public Works. The form of these reports shall be fixed by the Minister of Public Works. 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 189 Sect. 21. Construction, maintenance and repair of tracks, and mainten- ance of rolling stock and the manner of operation, are under the supervision of the prefect, acting under the authority of the Minister of Public Works The costs of this supervision are to be paid by the concessionaires, and are regulated by the terms of the contract, or, in the absence of such terms, by the prefect, with the consent of the general council, approved by the Minister of Public Works. Sect. 24. All agreements relative to concessions and revocations, as well as the annexed contracts, must pay a registration fee of one franc.) Paris. The street transportation systems of Paris present in some re- spects features similar to those of London. A large central area, dense in population, is served only by omnibuses, and from the out- skirts of this area tramway lines run in various directions. At only two points do the tramways touch the great boulevards, — at the Madeline, from which point, operated mainly by steam, they depart, and at the point where the Boulevard Sebastopol crosses the Boule- vard St. Denis. One line also runs along the right bank of the Seine for a short distance. On the left bank there are two or three lines of tramways, and several lines radiate from the Arc de Triomphe in various directions into the suburbs. The first tramway was started in 1852, but until 1873 was not de- veloped to any great extent. Nearly all of the tramways are in the control of the Compagnie G-dnerale des Omnibus de Paris, which also has the exclusive right to run omnibuses in the city. This company, which was formed in 1854, had granted to it a franchise for thirty years, and this contract was renewed in 1860, and extended at that time until the year 1910. The contract pro- vides that the company shall pay to the city a license fee for each omnibus in use, which is fixed, after 1886, at 2,000 francs ($386) each, with a minimum payment of 1,000,000 francs ($193,000) annually. The payment for tram cars is fixed at 1,500 francs ($289) for each car. In 1896 this company had a capital stock of 122,721,641 francs ($23,685,277), made up of 17,000,000 francs ($3,281,000) in shares, 102,430,172 francs (819,769,023) in bonds and 3,291,469 francs ($635,235) of a premium capital, due to the sale of certain shares at a premium. During the year 1896 there were earned on the omnibus lines 135,379,665 passengers, on tramways operated by horse power 95,- 350,591 passengers, and on tramways operated by mechanical power 15,305,635 passengers, making a total of 246,035,891 passengers. The gross receipts from all sources were 50,015,500 francs ($9,652,- 190 STEEET KAILWAYS. [Feb. 991) and the gross expenses were 44,091,372 francs ($8,509,635), leaving a profit of 5,924,128 francs ($1,143,356). From this there was deducted 4,430,323 francs ($855,052) for the redemption of bonds and shares, and 1,491,775 francs ($287,912) was paid as a dividend of 55 francs per share on all undrawn shares and 30 francs ($5.80) a share on those which had been drawn. By the terms of the original by-laws the number of shares is fixed at 34,000, and a provision was made for the amortization and redemp- tion of the whole of these during the life of the contract with the city of Paris. This redemption is to be made by drawing annually a certain number of shares, which are paid off, and in the place of each is issued an action de jouissance (page 180) ; and provision is made for the payment first of all of a dividend of 5 per cent, on the undrawn shares, and the net divisible balance of profit is then divided equally among the whole 34,000 shares, including those drawn as well as those undrawn. The contract also provides that, besides paying to the city a license tax on every omnibus and tram car, the company shall pay one-half of any profits in excess of 8 per cent, on an assumed value of 875 francs ($169) for a 500 franc ($96) share; that is, if the net profits are sufficient to pay more than 70 francs ($14) per share per year, the excess above that amount is to be equally divided between the city and the shares. Various other charges in the nature of taxes, such as street clean- ing and payments in the shape of rents for locations on the public way, including octroi taxes laid on materials and forage, bring up the total amount paid, directly or indirectly, to the city of Paris for the year 1896 to 3,521,714 francs ($679,691) ; and taxes of the same nature, including stamp taxes, paid to the State amounted to 1,332,333 francs ($257,140), or a total in taxes of 4,854,047 francs ($936,831), or 142 francs and 76 centimes ($27.56) per share paid in taxes, as against 55 francs ($10.61) per share paid to the stock- holders. The heavy taxes of 2,000 francs ($386) annually on each omnibus and 1,500 francs ($289) on each tram car produce the usual effects of a limitation on the number of vehicles employed to the lowest pos- sible number, and this, coupled with the fact that all the capital must be redeemed and paid off by 1910, prevents the expenditure of the necessary amount of capital to enable this company to intro- duce on its lines the modern systems of electric traction. Propo- sitions looking towards that end have been submitted to the company, but the company has declined to take any action, owing to the short length of time which the present concession yet has to run ; and the present municipal council of Paris seems disinclined to pro- long the present concession, in return for such change. 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 191 Paris, like Berlin, is very densely settled in the central portions, and the people to a very considerable extent live either immediately over their shops or within a very short distance, which makes the number of persons carried on these lines, relative to the population, much smaller than in American cities. Rates of fare on the omnibuses and tram cars, both of which are provided with seats inside and out, vary from 10 centimes (2 cents) to 40 centimes (8 cents) , according to distances run and according to the seat, fares inside being twice as high as those outside. On all lines transfers are given free to those paying the fare for the inside seats, which on most lines is 30 centimes (6 ce/its), but those who occupy the outside seats must pay a supplemental amount equal to the fare inside to obtain this transfer. A concession has just been granted for a new road, to be run partly underground and partly as an elevated road, which will pass entirely around the city, and cross it both from north to south and east to west. This concession has been made to a company for thirty-five years, at the end of which time all rights and property of the company become the property of the city. The city has estab- lished in this contract very stringent conditions as regards the num- ber of trains to be run and the wage requirements, and has fixed the price of travel at 20 centimes (4 cents) for any journey, and at 10 centimes (2 cents) for trains before eight o'clock in the morning. This road is now in process of construction, and it is intended to have it in operation before the opening of the Exposition of 1900. Rouen. In 1895 the municipal council of Rouen made a contract with the Compagnie des Tramways de Rouen for the introduction of an elec- tric railway in that city. This concession was granted until the 31st of December, 1945, at which time the whole fixed plant becomes the property of the city, free of charge, and the company must deliver it in good condition. In the last five years preceding the termina- tion of the concession the State is given the right to take posses- sion of the revenues of the road, and to employ them to re-establish the track in good condition, if the concessionaire does not keep it up properly. The system to be employed is the overhead trolley, and the com- pany is required to maintain the paving within the tracks and 50 centimeters (20 inches) outside. If the city desires to purchase the road before the expiration of the first fifteen years, it may do so under the provisions of paragraph 3 of section 11 of the law of the 11th of June, 1880 (see page 185). If the city, however, desires to purchase after the expiration of 192 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. fifteen years, the price is to be determined by taking the net annual returns for the preceding seven years, and deducting the two smallest ; and the average of the other five years is the amount which shall be paid by the city to the company each year until the expiration of the concession, but in no event shall the amount be less than the net product of the last of the seven years. The rates of fare are established by the terms of the contract for each different route, and provision is made for first and second class fares. Fares range, first class, from 15 centimes (3 cents) to 30 centimes (6 cents), and second class, from 5 centimes (1 cent) to 20 centimes (4 cents), according to the length of the route. Transfers are to be given by the payment of an extra charge of 10 centimes (2 cents) first class, and 5 centimes (1 cent) second class. Morning and evening, on week days, at the hours of opening and closing the work shops, the price of a second class fare is to be 10 centimes (2 cents) for any distance if the municipal council shall require it; and workmen, moreover, may obtain, by payment of an extra fare of 5 centimes (1 cent) on the morning cars, a return ticket good in the evening over the same line. A direct payment is to be made annually to the city for the use of the streets of 200 francs per kilometer ($61.76 per mile) per year for the first five years ; from the sixth to the tenth year, 250 francs per kilometer ($77.20 per mile) ; from the eleventh to the twentieth year, 300 francs per kilometer ($92.64 per mile) ; from the twenty- first to the thirtieth year, 350 francs per kilometer ($108,08 per mile) ; from the thirty-first to the fortieth year, 400 francs per kilo- meter ($123.60) ; and from the forty-first to the fiftieth year, 500 francs per kilometer ($154.40 per mile) . The above rates apply to new lines, and lines already in existence shall pay 300 francs per kilometer ($92.64 per mile) per year up to the twentieth year of the new concession, after which time they shall pay the same as the new lines. The company, moreover, agrees to furnish the electricity neces- sary for lighting electric lights over the whole system at the price of 20 centimes (4 cents) a kilowatt. By a supplementary contract on the 31st of January, 1896, in con- sideration for the sale of electric light at this low rate, the city releases the company from the payment of an octroi tax on the coal used in its operation. A contract has been also made with a suburban road operated by the overhead trolley system, running from Rouen to Bonsecours and Mesnil-Esnard. This contract is made for a term of sixty years, at the end of which time the road becomes the property of the State, and the State is also given the right to purchase, upon the same terms as in the case of the other road. 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 193 The rates of fare are fixed at from 15 centimes (3 cents) to 50 centimes (10 cents), first class, and from 10 centimes (2 cents) to 40 centimes (8 cents), second class; and morning and evening work- men's cars are to be run at a fare of 20 centimes (4 cents), second class. The road is obliged to maintain the track between the rails and 50 centimeters (20 inches) outside. No special tax is paid for the use of the highways. In the case of both these roads whose contracts are above given, there is a provision made for a payment of 50 francs per kilometer ($15.44 per mile) per year, to pay the cost of supervision by the officials. Belgium. In the various cities in Belgium, the tramways, which are mainly short lines and still in the tentative stages of development, some being electric and some horse-power, are established under the terms of the general law of the 9th of July, 1875, a translation of which follows : — Article 1. Tramways are granted concessions : (a) By the com- munal councils, when they do not extend over the territory of more than one commune, and when they are established exclusively on communal roads, or principally on roads of this class and only secondarily on State and provincial roads. (6) By the permanent deputations of the provincial councils, when they extend over the territory of more than one commune in the same province, and are established exclusively or principally on com- munal ways, (c) By the provincial councils, when, without extending beyond the limits of the province, they are established exclusively upon the provincial way, or principally upon this way, and secondarily on the com- munal way or on the State roads, (d) By the government, (1) when they are established exclusively or principally on the State ways, and (2) when, whatever may be the nature of the way, they extend over the territory of more than one province. Akt. 2. The concessions granted by the communal councils must be sub- mitted to the judgment of the permanent deputation of the provincial coun- cil, and the approval of the King. No concession may be granted by the permanent deputation of the provincial councils, or by the councils them- selves, without hearing the communes interested. They must receive the approval of the King. No concession may be granted by the government until the communes and the interested provinces have been heard. Every concession must be preceded by an investigation of the necessity of the enterprise, the plan of the way and the duration of the concession and rates of toll. Art. 3. Concessions for tramways may be granted to private individuals or to companies only by public adjudication, and for a maximum period of fifty years. Adjudication may be upon the duration of the concession, or- upon the rates of toll, or upon the amounts of payments to be made. 194 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. Art. 4. When a request for a concession has for its object the prolonga- tion of an existing tramway, or is for the purpose of connecting two tram- ways with one another, the concession may be granted after investigation, but without public adjudication, to the concessionaires of the existing tramways, or to either of them. Art. 5. The amount to be eventually paid by the concessionaire may be to the State, to the province or to the commune, according to the kind of road upon which the tramway is established. When the tramway lies in ways of different kinds, the act of concession shall determine the division of the payments. The government is authorized to renounce its interest in the part due to the public treasury, in consideration of the maintenance of the State road occupied by the railway by the province or by the com- mune. The province is authorized to give up its share, in consideration of the assumption of the maintenance of the provincial way by the commune. Art. 6. The contract shall determine the rights and obligations of the concessionaire at the expiration of his concession. It reserves to the proper authorities (1) the right to authorize other tramways to branch off from the lines conceded, or to connect with them, (2) the right to grant to these new enterprises the right to operate their carriages over the sections of the primary tramway in return for suitable compensation, (3) the right to buy the concession and the conditions of this purchase. It shall stipulate the obligations which the government deems it wise to impose on the concessionaires in the interest of certain public services, such as post and telegraph. It cannot prevent the granting of concurrent concessions. Any contrary stipulation shall be null and void. Art. 7. The police rules relative to the operation of tramways shall be exercised by the authority by whom the concession is granted. They must in all cases be approved by the government. Art. 8. The mode of traction and transportation, so far as they are reg- ulated by the contract, may only be changed after investigation and with the authorization of the government, the communal and provincial author- ities being understood. Art. 9. The law of the 23d of February, 1869, shall be applicable to concessions of tramways. Art. 10. The government may, in case of grave infraction of the clauses and conditions of the contract, pronounce its revocation by royal decree. If the concessionaire contests the fact of the infraction, it may proceed ac- cording to Article 3 of the law of Feb. 23, 1869. Holland. Outside of Amsterdam, Haalem, Alkmar and Hoorn, a general tramway law exists, established by the Legislature of the province of North Holland in 1887, and modified in 1896. The general pro- visions of this law are as follows : — All roads must obtain the permission of the Legislature of North Holland, and submit with their application for such permission plans and descriptions of the proposed road, and also written consents 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 195 from the local authorities having control of the ways and bridges. These plans and papers are to be considered by the Legislature, and, if it finds no objection, opportunity is to be given to the various communities through which the road may pass to present any objec- tions which they may have. The franchise granted must specify the time within which the road shall be constructed and put into operation, and this time may be ex- tended. After construction is completed, investigation must be made of the plant by officials appointed by the Legislature, and approved by them. The general law prescribes the gauge on which the road shall be built, and requires the construction in such a way as to leave free passage for all other traffic. Trains must be provided with proper brakes and signals, and after dark with lights. The speeds are lim- ited, and elaborate provisions are made for the safety of the travellers and of the traffic. This act, which was primarily intended to cover light railways operated by locomotives, is also made applicable to the use of other forms of traction not horses. Amsterdam. In this city the tramways are operated by the Amsterdam Omnibus Company, which received its original concession in 1876, but this has since been modified by a number of later grants, the last having been made in 1890. The principal provisions of this contract are as follows : — Certain specified lines are to be constructed and maintained, and on those lines the city gives up its right to construct lines ; but, in the event of the company's declining to build, the city may itself build, or transfer the right to other contractors. Provisions are made by which the company must allow the joint use of its tracks by other roads ; and, if the city should request the company to construct certain lines, then the company must either accept or refuse the lines as a whole, and they may then be granted to other parties, with permission to use jointly the lines of the Am- sterdam Omnibus Company. The operation of the tramway is to be by horses, until such time as the city council shall prescribe some other form of traction. Widening of streets, construction and paving of new roads, the building of new and changing and widening of old bridges, the filling and arching over canals and the laying of sewer pipes, are all to be done by the city, and the company is to pay towards this a sum of 1,500,000 florins ($600,000). The city council is to fix the rates of fare and determine the number of persons who may be 196 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. carried on each ear. The rates of fare are to be fixed on the follow- ing principles : season tickets are to be issued at the rate of not over 7 \ Dutch cents ^3 American cents), and the highest cash fare is to be 10 cents (4 American cents). The city government can require the company to issue transfer tickets to other lines not owned by this company, but which connect with it, and the company may be required also to accept the tickets issued by such lines. Twelve free passes are each year to be placed at the disposal of the city government, to be given to certain city officials ; and besides this, a certain number of tickets is to be delivered to the city officials at the rate of five cents (2 American cents) a trip, and these are in- tended exclusively for the use of city employees employed on public works, the police and the street department. The time table must be approved by the city government. The police are given supervision over the employees, as far as concerns good order or public security, and they may be suspended by the chief of police if they fail to obey his orders. This concession may not be transferred without the consent of the city council. As compensation for the use of the streets, the company pays 5 per cent, of its gross receipts to the city ; and if the entire receipts of the company, after the deduction of operating expenses, interest on loans, the 5 per cent, payable to the city and depreciation, allow the payment of a dividend for more than 8 per cent, on the capital, then the company must pay one-half of one per cent, more of the gross receipts for each per cent, of increased dividend ; and if the dividend reaches 10 per cent., the company must pay an additional one-half of one per cent, for each per cent, increase in the dividend. The city is given full supervision of the books and accounts of the company, and no increase of capital stock may be made without the consent of the city council. If the city has built a line of track which the company has refused, the city may require the company to maintain and operate such a line on the following terms, the accounts of each line being kept sep- arately. This account is to be credited with the gross receipts from the lines, and is charged with the cost of operation based on the average cost for operating the whole system, the interest on the capital needed for the construction and operation of the line, taken at 4 per cent., an allowance for depreciation and the 5 per cent, tax on the gross receipts ; and if this account shows a loss, the city is to make it good. If it shows a profit, this is turned over to the city until the losses of previous years, plus interest at 4 per cent., have been covered. Profits after such time are to be equally divided between the city and the company. 1898. J HOUSE— No. 475. 197 The concession may be revoked at any time by the city council for the non-fulfilment of conditions, or the winding up of the company, or if the city should desire to operate it on its own account. In the two former cases the company is to replace the roadways in proper condition at its own expense, or the city may take over the property at a valuation to be determined by three experts. If the city de- termines to operate the road itself, it must give notice at least one year in advance, unless it shall declare itself ready to take over all the obligations of the company for this period of one year. The city is bound to take all the property, including the movable property. The inventory is to be made up each year, showing all increases or decreases ; and expenses for extensions are only to be included when the same have been approved by the city authorities, and increases and decreases of prices are not to be considered. The value of the permanent way is to have deducted from it the amount due to the sinking fund, the rolling stock and horses are to be reduced by depreciation to be mutually agreed upon, and the stables and personal property are to be paid for at a valuation deter- mined by three experts. In addition to these amounts, there is a premium to be paid in case the city assumes the operation of the road, and binds itself to carry it on until 1910. This premium is to be as many times the average profits of the last five years preceding the transfer, above 5 per cent. 6n the share capital, as there are years which the concession would have remained in the hands of the company if it should have been transferred on the 1st of January, 1910. If, however, the city should transfer the operation of the road to a third party, it must pay as premium either an amount which represents, at 4 per cent, per annum, compound interest, the sum to which the shareholders would be entitled, above 5 per cent, on the stock, based on the average of the last five years, until 1910, or an amount representing the actual value determined by arbitrators as the value of the concession over and above the actual property, if the same had the right to run until the 1st of January, 1910 . The right of the city to manage the road begins with the day of the taking over, and no dispute as to the amount to be paid inter- feres with this. The company is obliged to put the streets into proper order after construction, and to maintain them between the rails and 50 centi- meters (20 inches) on either side ; and this paving is also to be laid down in unpaved streets. The company is also obliged to clean the streets between the rails, and to wa,ter the same. No change shall be made in the by-laws which would influence the distribution of profits without the consent of the city council. This road has at present about 19 miles of track, operated by 198 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. horse-power, the longest distance from the centre of the town on any route being 2.5 miles. Under the provisions of the contract, in regard to payments from the gross receipts the company now pays 8 per cent, to the city, and pays dividends of 12 per cent, to the shareholders. Italy. In Italy the development of tramways running on country roads and operated by steam power has been extremely rapid in the north- ern provinces, so that the districts around Milan and Turin are covered with a network of these secondary railway's. In the cities these railways in many cases come to the edge of the city, and systems of tramways exist in all of the larger towns. The introduc- tion of electricity on these tramways within the cities has been comparatively rapid, and in Genoa, Milan and Rome it has been very extensively developed, and a beginning has also been made in Florence. The law under which these roads operate is assimilated to the law in relation to secondary railroads of the 27th of December, 1896, and a translation of so much as governs the tramways follows : — Article 1. The grant of the use of the necessary portion of the street for the laying of a street railway is a right of the owner of the street. The concession may only he given for a maximum period of sixty years. Mechanical traction may oiily be used by Royal permission, given on the request of the Minister of Public Works made before work is begun. Art. 2. Street railways shall be carried on the ordinary streets, with the exception of those cases where for short stretches it is advisable to turn out from the street. The tracks shall be so laid in the street as to present the least possible hindrance to the ordinary traffic. There must always be as much space left as in the opinion of the grantors of the concession is nec- essary for the free passage and crossing of carriages, as well as for the safety of foot passengers at the time of the passage of the trains. If this space is less than 4 meters (13 feet, 4 inches) in width, the consent of the government is also required. The widest portion of the rolling stock, with such exceptions as the government may permit, shall be at least 80 centi- meters (32 inches) distant from every obstacle which stands more than 1 2-10 meters (4 feet) above the level of the street. Art. 3. Official inspection, with the aid of a representative of the gov- ernment, must precede the opening of any road for operation. Art. 4. The approval of the pattern of the rolling stock and of the electrical or other mechanical form of traction is reserved to the govern- ment. This approval must be given at the same time as the permission to open the road, or, if it relates to improvements introduced after the road has been opened for operation, before their employment. Art. 5. All stations and points designated as stopping places by the prefect must be connected with one another by telegraph or telephone, and 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 199 equipped with signal apparatus. Moreover, the concessionaire must place,, at such other points on the line as the prefect may designate, suitable sig- nals and warning signs, which are to be approved by the prefect after consultation with the government technical officers. Aet. 6. The greatest permissible speed on different parts of the tracks shall be fixed by the prefect after consultation with the government techni- cal officers. The speed may, in the case of trains having brakes fitted throughout the whole train, be 30 kilometers (19 miles) per hour, other- wise 20 kilometers (12 J miles). The prefect, after consultation with the technical officers, shall determine the speed on sharp inclines, curves and dangerous points, at crossings in villages, and in the nighttime, taking into consideration the safety of persons and the punctual arrival of trains. Art. 7. The prefect, after consultation with the government technical officers, shall determine the greatest permissible length of trains, the least permissible number of officials for the management of the train and for the watching and safety of the road, and the least allowable distance between two trains following one another, taking into consideration the conditions arising from the grade and width of the streets. Art. 8. The prefect shall approve the time table, taking into considera- tion the terms of the concession, under which certain stopping places may be required. The approval of the time tables shall be taken as granted if the prefect makes no communication to the contrary within fourteen days after their filing. Special trains require the same approval after notice to the local authori- ties, giving the time tables and the composition of the train. The silence of the prefect shall be considered as an approval. Art. 9. Street railways that are laid in the territory of several provinces shall be acted on, so far as regards the subjects referred to in articles 6, 7 and 8, by the several prefects acting jointly. Any difference in opinion is to be settled by the minister of public works. The approval of the time table under article 8 is given by the prefect of the province in which the management of the street railway has its principal office. Art. 10. The highest rate of fare for transportation shall be established in the concession made by the proprietors of the streets. Each later rise in rates requires the same approval. Art. 11. The supervision of the traffic, so far as public safety is con- cerned, shall be fixed by the government by the issue of regulations. The government can, on the ground of public safety, stop the operation of the road after hearing the proprietors of the streets, and, if no relief is given, it may withdraw its approval. Art. 12. Street railways shall make an annual kilometric payment, which shall be fixed by the order allowing the operation of the road, and shall not exceed 20 lire per kilometer ($2.50 per mile). This money shall be paid into the State treasury, to compensate the State for the cost of su- pervision. For those street railways which already exist, the amount of the payment shall be determined by the government in each separate case, but shall remain within the above limit. (Articles 13 to 37, inclusive, relate to secondary railroads.) 200 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. Art. 38. Applications for concessions for secondary railroads, or for the approval of the operation of street railways by mechanical power, must be accompanied by the documents specified in article 244 of the law in relation to public works, of March 20, 1865. In the case of secondary railroads built in part on ordinary streets, or in the case of street railways, it must be shown by the presentation of the concession granting the right to use the surface of the streets that the owner of the streets has given his consent. If the streets which are to be used by a secondary road or by a street railway belong to different owners, companies must be formed under the provisions of the law of June 29, 1873. Provinces, cities and other legal persons may, if their local interests are affected, grant subsidies to secondary railroads and street railways, prefer- ably in the form of a payment per kilometer, from the date of opening the road. The provisions of article 2 of the law of July 28, 1894, are to be ap- plied to this subsidy. The provisions of this article may be set aside by Royal decree, if public necessity require, after an opinion from the Min- isters. Art. 39. Street railways with mechanical traction cannot be operated by provinces, towns, legal persons or companies. The operation must be given to a private undertaking. Art. 40. The proprietors of streets in which secondary railroads or street railways with mechanical traction are laid may require a bond from the concessionaires to secure the fulfilment of the terms of the concession. They are also permitted to demand the payment of a tax on the income, or a share of the same. Art. 41. Street railways with mechanical traction, and secondary rail- roads of any kind, are, on account of their public use, granted the power of eminent domain, to be exercised under the law governing that subject. Art. 42. The concessionaires of secondary railroads, and persons operat- ing street railways by mechanical power, have no claim for damages if their operation is temporarily interrupted on account of the repairs or construction of the streets, and such roads must remove their tracks if necessary. They must also maintain the space included between the rails and 50 centimeters (20 inches) from the inner edge of the rail towards the centre of the street, including also a proportional part of the cost of clearing the streets from snow, but with power to make special agreements in this respect. Art. 43. In case concessionaires of non-competing secondary railroads or street railways wish to use a stretch of road belonging to a line already granted a concession and built, the government may require the common use of the stretch in question, and may fix the amount of damage to be paid and the conditions to be imposed. Art. 44. The servants of the street railways and secondary railroads are to be considered as officers of the street police, to see that the law in re- lation to the control of the streets is carried out on streets through which the roads run. Art. 45. The concessionaires of secondary railroads and street railways are bound to carry letters free, and to arrange for the transfer with the post- office authorities ; and also, in connection with the post-office officials, to 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 201 arrange for the receipt and delivery of letters at the different stations. They are also obliged to carry postal packets on the payment of a fee of 8 centimes (1 T % cents) for a package up to the weight of 3 kilograms (6 t 6 ff pounds), and 12 centimes (2^ - cents) for a package weighing from 3 to 5 kilograms (6 T % to 11 pounds) . If the maximum rate now allowed for postal packets be raised, then for every kilogram the fee shall be raised 2 centimes ( T 4 ff of a cent) . Agreements at present in existence shall remain undisturbed by these provisions. Aet. 46. All street railways with mechanical power in existence, or hav- ing a concession, come under the provisions of this act so far as these do not conflict with rights expressly granted by contracts, or change conditions in the contracts already in force. The concessionaires must send their exist- ing rates of fare for approval by the owners of the streets, and must, within a year, declare whether they wish their lines to be considered as street rail- ways or as secondary railroads. Rights previously acquired are to be con- sidered in this connection. The registration is made after an inspection by a government official, and after consultation with the higher railroad officials. A special certificate of the variations from the existing concessions will then be issued. If the year goes by without the concessionaire having made the choice, the govern- ment proceeds in a legal manner to enroll the street railways with mechan- ical power in the manner prescribed in the foregoing clause. Aet. 47. For street railways with mechanical power, and for secondary railroads as treated by this act, the provisions of the law of March 29, 1865, remain in force so far as applicable, and so far as not superseded by the provisions of this act. Milan. In Milan a contract has been closed between the city and the Edison Electric Company of Milan, which presents some curious features, and varies from that of any other place. The contract, which runs for twenty years from the 1st of Janu- ary, 1897, contains the following provisions: — The tracks are the property of the city, which is obliged also to maintain them. The company pays the entire return from traffic to the city, which pays to the company a definite sum for every car kilometer, and, after the deduction of the costs which arise from the ownership of the tracks, a portion of the balance is paid to the company. The amounts paid are : for all cars which are operated from the 1st of January, 1897, to the 31st of December, 1901, 0.255 lire for every car kilometer (7.8 cents per car mile) ; for all addi- tional cars operated from the 1st of January, 1902, to the 31st of December, 1906, 0.270 lire for every car kilometer (8.3 cents per car mile) ; and for all additional cars operated from the 1st of January, 1907, to the 31st of December, 1912, 0.285 lire for every car kilometer (8.8 cents per car mile), until the end of the conces- sion,' and also 0.130 lire (2.5 cents) for every trailer car. 202 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. The company also allows to the city 4,500 lire per kilometer ($1,390 per mile) for maintenance of track ; and the balance remain- ing after deducting the payments to the city and the allowance for maintenance of track is divided in the proportion of 40 per cent, to the company and 60 per cent, to the city. The rate of fare is fixed at 10 centimes (2 cents), and the city re- serves the right to reduce this fare for two hours daily, on all or part of the lines, to one-half. The total length of track in Milan is about 37.5 miles, and it is expected that the car miles for the year 1897 will amount to about 5,578,125. Austria. The law in relation to secondary railroads, of the 31st of Decem- ber, 1894, governs, under the name of tertiary railroads, all street railways with steam, electric power or horses. The concession for such a road is made originally by the Minister of Commerce, acting with the Joint Minister of War, and the duration of the con- cession is limited, in the case of companies, to ninety years, and for other concessionaires to sixty years. The State reserves the right to approve the tracks, and leaves to the undertaker the fixing of fares, with the proviso that all fares shall be uniform ; but the State reserves the right to reduce the maximum rate of fare after hearing parties in interest, if during three successive years the capital stock has paid a dividend of 6 per cent. These roads are freed for fifteen years from the special tax imposed on local railways. Vienna. In Vienna there are two principal street railway companies, the Wiener Tramway-Gesellschaft and the Neue Wiener Tramway- Gesellschaft. The Wiener Tramway-Gesellschaft had, on the 1st of January, 1896, about 104 miles of track, and the Neue Wiener Tramway-Gesellschaft about 24| miles. The contract between the Wiener Tramway-Gesellschaft and the city of Vienna, which was originally drawn in 1868, extended to 1903 ; and in 1887 a supple- mentary contract extended this time until the 31st of December, 1925, under the imposition of additional conditions. In considera- tion of this extension, the company made one payment of 1,550,000 gulden ($620,000), and also agreed to pay a fixed sum of 2,220 gulden for each kilometer ($1,410 a mile) of street occupied, the minimum payment to be 125,000 gulden ($50,000). If the in- come of the company should exceed 3,500,000 gulden ($1,400,000) per year, 3J per cent, additional on the excess above 3,500,000 gulden was to be paid. 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 203 Provisions were made for the widening of certain streets and for a contribution from the company towards the cost of this. At the expiration of the contract the entire lines of the company become the property of the city without charge, and the city may buy all the buildings of the road at a valuation to be determined by the court. This valuation is to be asked for in the year 1921. If the city in the second half of the year 1923 declares itself ready to make this purchase, in 1925 a new valuation is to be made. If the city of Vienna does not decide to take over the tracks, the company is obliged to remove all tracks from the streets and put them back into their former condition. The capital of the company is 12,316,890 gulden ($4,926,756) in shares and also 1,671,930 gulden ($668,772) in Genusscheine (see page 180). The gross income for the year 1895 was 5,120,- 982 gulden ($2,048,393), and the profits, after deducting amortiza- tion and charges for the pension funds, were 1,194,620 gulden ($477, 848). The contract between the Neue Wiener Tramway-Gesellschaft and the city of Vienna was made in 1889, and has a duration of forty years from the date of the opening of its first line, Jan. 1, 1887. For the use of the streets the company pays during the first five years 1,650 gulden per kilometer ($1,050 per mile) to the city, and after this period the amount to be paid depends upon the profits earned, but is never to fall below 1,650 gulden. If the profit earned does not exceed 6 per cent., this payment is the only one to be made; and it is to be increased by 300 gulden a kilometer ($192 a mile) from 6 per cent, to 7 per cent., by 500 gulden a kilometer ($320 a mile) between 7 per cent, and 8 per cent., and by 300 gulden a kilometer ($192 a mile) for each additional 1 per cent. The company is obliged to pave, maintain, clean, sprinkle and clear the snow from the streets occupied in a width of 2.52 meters (81 feet) for each track. When the concession is terminated for any cause, either wholly or in part, the company must take up the tracks and put the streets back into their former condition. The Wiener Tramway-Gesellschaft carried during the year 1895 56,811,543 passengers. A system of return tickets and of subscrip- tion tickets for definite periods, and also of workmen's tickets, exists, so that the rates of fare, partially governed by the distance travelled, range from 4 kr. (1.6 cents) up to 20 kr. (8 cents), the greater number of passengers being carried at 10 kr. (4 cents) rates, and the average rate of fare being 8.93 kr. (3.6 cents). The num- ber of car miles run was 8,586,219. 204 STKEET KAIL WAYS. [Feb. The Neue Wiener Tramway-G-esellschaft carried during the year 1895 9,586,482 passengers. Vienna has, like many other of the continental cities, an old central city, formerly surrounded by a wall, and within comparatively few years changed by the conversion of the wall and its outlying moat into a broad ring promenade about the centre of the town. Only one line of street railway crosses this inner city, which is the so- called Transversal line. This was in February, 1897, opened for travel, as an experimental line, with electric traction. The horse cars run around the inner city through the Ringstrasse, and from this circle radiate a number of lines to the various suburban districts. There is also at present under construction an elevated road around the city in a street further removed from the centre, similar to the elevated road in Berlin. 1896. J HOUSE — No. 475. 205 Appendix B. The following pages contain a full abstract of a paper read before the Committee by Hon. Robert P. Porter of New York, giving his views on the results of the municipal ownership of street railways in Great Britain. STATEMENT IN RELATION TO MUNICIPAL OWNER- SHIP AND OPERATION OF STREET RAILWAYS IN ENGLAND. BY ROBERT P. PORTER. Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : — The chairman of your Com- mittee has honored me by an invitation to lay before the Committee the results of a recent inquiry which I have conducted, both at home and abroad, into the relation of the street railway to the munici- pality. In the course of this inquiry I have ascertained some inter- esting facts in relation to concessions granted by European cities to those operating their street railways, and I have also examined into the working of those systems of street railways in England owned and operated by the municipalities. It is now more than twenty years since I first took up the question of the administration of American cities, and during that period I have conducted two offi- cial inquiries for the United States government, and examined into several phases of municipal work. The present inquiry has been undertaken in the hope of getting at the facts, and with no precon- ceived ideas or theories. The high character of the reports of the Massachusetts Legislat- ure for impartiality in dealing with these problems of our compli- cated modern life, and the request of the Committee to give my views on the subject without reservation, place me under obligation, both to your chairman and the Committee, and I will endeavor to present what I have to say as briefly and succinctly as the wide range of the subject permits. There is undoubtedly a growing demand in the United States in favor of municipal experiments, such "as those we hear so much about in England. That this demand has been more or less encour- aged by the accounts we have had of municipal operation, as seen by 206 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. the American student of municipal problems abroad, is undoubtedly true. It is only by a careful examination of the data for ourselves that we are able to judge to what extent these accounts are based upon tangible business facts, and to what extent they are colored by what I have termed the municipal spirit of the times, which seems to pervade so many European cities, and which has been transplanted and taken root this side the Atlantic. The cities of the old world seem to have suddenly awakened to the necessity of inaugurating new methods of rapid transit. Until within the last decade, these populations have looked with indiffer- ence upon the American street railway systems. In 1880, when I visited England for a department of the United States government, to investigate municipal budgets, our kin beyond the sea were still quizzing us about that "extraordinary American George Francis Train," who in the sixties had obtained permission to lay tramways in Liverpool, Birmingham, and possibly some other places. In England, the "Tramways Bill," which constituted the legislative basis of the British tramway system, did not become a law until 1870, and it was not until some years after that the more enterpris- ing cities of England began to inaugurate street cars propelled by horses. A few crude experiments at utilizing steam for street pro- pulsion were under trial, but the necessity of rapid transit had not then dawned upon the British mind. The stupendous development first, of the horse car, and, secondly, of the motor car, in American cities, under conditions peculiarly our own, has suggested possibili- ties in this direction, alike to England and continental cities, which, in a measure, accounts for the unusual amount of attention the street railway problem is attracting abroad. The street railway, however, has had both physical and political difficulties in Europe to overcome which do not exist in the United States, and hence these undertak- ings, when transplanted across the Atlantic, have not shown the strength of growth which has characterized the motor car in the country of its first adoption. The latest statistical data show that while in the United States we have about 16,000 miles of street rail- way and a population of 72,000,000, or 4,500 inhabitants per mile, the street railway mileage of Europe, with a population of upward of 400,000,000, is 7,500 miles, or 53,333 to the mile. This disparity may be largely accounted for by the vastly differing conditions which confront both municipalities and private corporations projecting or installing systems of rapid transit. In the United States the steam railway was the advance courier of population, I might almost say civilization ; while the trolley car in the western and southern divi- sions of our domain has not infrequently accompanied the surveyor of streets and lots into the suburbs, additions and outlying regions 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 207 of our centres of industrial and commercial activity. That the rela- tion, therefore, of street railways to municipalities which the rail- ways themselves have in a measure created, should be widely different from the relation of street railways to municipalities which have existed centuries without such methods of rapid transit, should not be a matter of wonderment. In the one case, we find the cities made for the system of transportation; in the other, we find en- gineers perplexed over the problem of how to make the street rail- ways fit the complicated topography of cities which have already reached their majority. Another essential difference is the relatively greater area of American cities, and the fact that even our largest towns are developed in spots, and not compact in all directions, as in Europe. The above are fundamental differences, and easily discernible to those familiar with the principal cities of the world ; and yet, as it seems to me, much popular error on this question of dealing with street railways arises from the confusion of these primary conditions. Comparisons are made of the street railway systems of Chicago, of Philadelphia, of Boston and of Brooklyn, with those of Glasgow, of Birmingham, of Liverpool and of Manchester, as though there was some similarity or some common point wherein the systems of transit in these cities were comparable. In the same way the deadly parallel has of late been frequently drawn between American cities, and continental cities, with an utter disregard of the entirely different conditions. If those who have filled our library shelves with disser- tations on municipal matters had expended half the energy in studying, from a broad and practical stand-point, the development of the up-to-date street railway system of Chicago, with a total mileage actually exceeding that of the United Kingdom, which they have devoted to the " Common Good Fund"* experiment of three ♦Glasgow Corporation Tramways. — Common Good, — What It Is. — The property and revenues of the Corporation which are not held under special Acts of Par- liament nor raised by taxation are known as the Common Good. It is the ancient cor- porate estate of the Burgesses of the City and Royal Burgh of Glasgow. The lands and property forming the capital of the Common Good were originally gifted to the city under certain burdens, or were purchased by the municipal rulers of the sixteenth cen- tury onwards from the proceeds of the imposts charged on all meat and drink entering the city. These proceeds were chiefly invested in land, and to-day a large portion of the revenue of the Common Good consists of Feu-duties on the ground originally ac- quired in this way. The Common Good, although now but a small concern as com- pared with some of the other undertakings under the charge of the Town Council, performs many important duties. It watches over the interests of the citizens in regard to legislation. It acts as nursing mother to all municipal schemes in their initial stages, by advancing expenses and performing other parental duties until its offspring is able to stand alone. It now consists of the Bazaar, City Hall, St. Andrew's Hall, Old Clothes Market, Bird and Dog Market, Land at Coplawhill, Feus in Gorbals and other parts of the city, Blackhill Lands, the Tramway Undertaking, and other minor items. The net free capital amounts to £363,661 14s lOd ($1,769,759.86). 208 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. years in horse cars, on 77 miles of track in the city of Glasgow, they might perhaps have discovered some useful testimony. If the ability of these writers had been exercised in perfecting a system of municipal ownership for the network of street railways now under one management, and known as the Consolidated Traction Company of New Jersey, which runs through thirteen different municipalities of New Jersey, each with its own peculiar conditions, we should be in possession of far more useful data as to how municipal opera- tion can be made practical, and the public best served under such conditions, than is afforded in a volume on the disastrous experiences of the town of Huddersfield in municipal ownership and operation of 22 miles of badly managed tramways. To change the field of inquiry further west, we have an opportu- nity to study the marvellously well conceived, equipped and managed street railway undertaking which connects the twin cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and brings not only the population of these two important cities together, but furnishes the inhabitants of each an almost perfect rapid transit for a cost lower than that ever attempted in any European territory, of equal area, even though American enterprise pays more than double the rate of wages for its labor. In such a study it might be well to look over a plan of both the Boston and Brooklyn street railway systems, and ascertain exactly what these great enterprises have accomplished for populations numbering respectively 700,000 and 900,000. It has been truly said there is no possible way of ascertaining the average ride of Brooklyn or Boston street railway passengers, but the large areas covered by these cities, and the location of their residence districts at considerable distance from the business centres, make it certain that the average cost of riding is less than the cost of similar service in European cities. In New York we have practically three systems of rapid transit, and, in spite of continued demands for additional methods of transit, the people of the metropolis are taken to and from their homes and from point to point in the city much more rapidly than in either London, Berlin, Vienna or St. Petersburg, and at a lower cost. The bulk of the London traffic goes by omnibus, or over 326,000,000 passengers annually. The tramways carry about 225,000,000 passengers and probably the Underground 200,000,000. It is doubtful if as many people use rapid transit annually in London as in New York, as now constituted. Yet London contains 2,000,000 more population. The reason is that New York is more satisfactorily supplied with the means of rapid transit. The London field should yield 1,000,000,000 passengers annually, and would, if the right system of handling the traffic were adopted. In New York one-third of the passengers last year on one of the surface road systems travelled on transfers, and, 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 209 as a result, the average fare was reduced to about three and three fourths cents. The Metropolitan Street Railway Company and the Metropolitan Traction Company, which together form one of the three great systems of transportation of New York before consolida- tion, paid in 1896, in State and city taxes, rentals, licenses, mileage, etc., nearly $600,000. Philadelphia has an excellent system of street railways, and one that is not at this moment yielding great profit to those who have brought the innumerable small companies under one management. Between 1891 and 1896 this company paved 271 miles of street from curb to curb, at a cost of $9,000,000, while the company itself claims to have expended $14,000,000. The paving dividend tax and car tax, together with the taxes on real estate, are equivalent to a revenue of from $650,000 to $700,000 to the city. The history and present condition of the street railway system of Philadelphia has been the subject of an interesting his- torical and economic study,* and the conclusions reached by an apparently impartial and capable investigator are that the policy of "manipulating the political machine," which forms, as a rule, the burden of attacks on American street railway corporations, has been abandoned, " and Philadelphia is thus one step nearer the realization of the hope that Mr. Bryce expressed in her behalf after describing her imposing city hall, — that ' the officials who reign in this munici- pal palace will be worthy of so superb a dwelling and of the city where the Declaration of Independence and the Federal Constitution first saw the light.' " In St. Louis may likewise be found one of the best equipped street railway systems in the world, giving a good service, carrying pas- sengers, by the aid of transfers, fifteen miles for five cents, and at the same time contributing liberally to the municipality for the lease of its franchise. These are merely some of our larger systems, all, however, the result of recent consolidations, and made possible by the remarkable advance we have made in increasing the efficiency and reducing the cost of motive power. Of course the primary cost of such extensive operations has been enormous, partly by reason of the rapid and successive changes in equipment, partly because of the immense cost in the purchase of small companies, and partly because experiments to perfect the art of rapid transit are costly. The capitalization of these properties is undoubtedly in many cases high, and perhaps the speculative features too great. This, how- ever, will adjust itself in time. The pluck, the courage, the enter- prise, the ingenuity which have evolved these magnificent sys- » Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science. " The Street Railway System of Philadelphia. Its History and Present Condition." By F. W. Speirs. 210 STEEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. terns, are both admirable and American. In no other country can be found anything equal to these American enterprises; and, although the investment of $1,500,000,000 which they represent may look large, the possibilities ahead are ample to make them safe as population expands and receipts increase. To assume for one instant that the same results could have been attained in any other manner is to ignore the facts within the reach of every American citizen. When compared with these results, what have we in Europe ? In glancing at European experiences in street railways, let us first ascertain what has been accomplished by municipal ownership and operation, because so much has been made by writers on this subject in the United States of these experiments. Attention may first he called to the city of Glasgow, because, though a comparatively recent experiment, it is generally conceded to be the most satis- factory. Huddersfield is in reality the oldest British experiment in municipal operation, but the results in that town have been so unsatisfactory that the subject presents but few attractions, and is, as a rule, dismissed with a general tribute to municipal ownership, but with no particulars. Glasgow, however, is different. The facts about Glasgow have been published in great detail, and the three annual reports which bring the operations down to May 31, 1897, are familiar reading to those interested in the subject of municipal ownership. Yet, with all this data before us, there are two dis- tinct views of the municipally operated street railways of Glasgow. First, we have the view of the advocates of municipal operation, who see in this experiment a great victory for their theory, and who argue that the facts warrant the immediate absorption of such un- dertakings by American municipalities. Indeed, these advocates go much further than the capable gentleman upon whom devolves the responsibility of conducting the enterprise in Glasgow. The story runs something in this way : After suffering the exactions of a private company for twenty-three years, the Corporation of Glasgow, finding it could not make a satisfactory arrangement or a renewal of the lease with the company, decided, upon the day the lease expired, to equip and operate the tramways itself. To this end it built new and handsome cars, bought a stud of horses, se- cured ground, buildings and machinery, and, in accordance with the program, put the street railway in operation. This was in July, 1894. Since then traffic has almost doubled, receipts have largely increased, fares have been reduced about half, wages of employees advanced, hours of labor reduced, and a largely enhanced revenue paid the city. Here is a tale familiar to those who read "munici- pal reform" literature. 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 211 The real facts about Glasgow, while indicating that the city has shown commendable enterprise in dealing with a difficult situation unexpectedly thrust upon it, are not of the slightest value to the United States, either as illustrating street railway enterprise or sagacity, or the ability of a municipality to operate such undertak- ings. On the contrary, a study of the Glasgow management of its tramways is one of the clearest exemplifications on record of the in- capacity of a city to deal as thoroughly with such undertakings as private enterprises. I mean, of course, from the stand-point of an American city. When the advocates of municipal ownership pro- pose to transplant the idea from abroad, and rest their case purely on foreign experiments, they must submit to a scrutinizing cross- examination of their principal witness, and not rest the case on a general statement, which, even though technically correct, is in fact absolutely misleading, because of the vastly differing environments. Thus, when these gentlemen announce that Sheffield, a town of 347,278 inhabitants, and Plymouth, a town of nearly 100,000 in- habitants, have, by act of Parliament, taken over their street rail- ways, and that the respective municipalities propose to operate them hereafter, the statement is extremely misleading to the American mind, for this reason : towns of the size of Sheffield with us have in the neighborhood of 200 or 300 miles of track, while places of the size of Plymouth can generally boast of from 75 to 100 miles of street car lines. No one would suppose that the first undertaking meant the acquirement, at the expiration of a lease, of 10 miles of worn-out track, most of which was sold as old iron, together with a few very antiquated steam trams. Yet this is what Sheffield has actually done, and the transaction, including horses, cars, engines, buildings and plants, involved about i?130,000. Nor in the case of Plymouth would the ordinary American mind realize that the statement as respects that flourishing town of 100,000 inhabitants meant the payment of a few thousand pounds to a company of London speculators, who, after securing a franchise to put down tracks and actually tearing up one important thoroughfare, failed to fulfil the contract, and literally compelled the city to complete a portion of the line. Here we have two actual cases in which a bare fact without explanation becomes so nearly a falsehood that it is difficult to define the difference. In the same way, the extracts from the reports of the Glasgow municipal street railway experiment are just as misleading, when published without proper explanations, and for the purpose of show- ing a greater capacity for dealing with such problems in Glasgow than exists in cities of a similar grade in the United States. What, then, is the real history of the Glasgow experiment, and wherein 212 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. may be found its lesson? To understand the Glasgow situation fully, it is necessary to go back to 1872, when the first lines were leased to the Glasgow Tramway & Omnibus Company. These lines were laid by the city, at the expense of the city, and were leased to the company. The total capital expenditure of municipal money on these lines from 1872 down to July 1, 1894, when the city installed its own plant, was $1,678,776.63. Of this amount, the company paid the city during its twenty-three years' lease, $980,- 454.09 towards the cost of construction of the lines, reducing the capital account by that amount, and enabling the city to enter into possession of a property which cost $1,678,776.63 at a nominal cost of $698,322.54. So carefully is this fact guarded in the official reports quoted by municipal ownership advocates that it has never been referred to in any statement of the so-called profits accruing to this undertaking. This item of nearly $1,000,000 I find entirely omitted from the capital account, and only the sum of £143,495, 16s., lid. ($698,322.54) charged up. In addition to this payment of nearly $1,000,000, the city received as revenue during the twenty- three years of the lease $1,169,125.28, in name of interest on capital expenditure, and $223,823.38 as mileage rate, while the sum ex- pended by the corporation for interest on current tramway debt and on sinking fund was $1,083,302.74; leaving a balance of $309,- 645.92, or an annual average during the whole of this time of $13,462.86,' as the mileage rate and profits of the corporation. The advocates of municipal operation have a way of putting this $13,- 462.86 against the $43,798.50 now paid annually to the Common Good Fund, forgetting to add that the average payment runs back to the time when the city had only $16,867.28 invested in track, and that it steadily increased until for the last thirteen months of the lease it reached $32,109.16. This would indicate that, with ordinary business foresight, the private company would have been able to pay the Common Good Fund at this time even a greater revenue. The facts certainly do not warrant the comparison with the average of the twenty-three years of the lease, which is the way it is generally given the American public. On the first day of July, 1894, the municipality of Glasgow found itself in possession of about 65 miles of single track, which had originally cost the city $1,678,772.17, but on which $980,454.09 had been paid by the old company, in addition to the net profit of $309,645.92 for the Common Good. What would an American city have done under like conditions? Leased the right to a private company to install a first-class electric plant, extending the mileage to 200 or 300 miles of track, for this Glasgow system serves a popu- lation of 800,000. This company would have paid the city a good 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 213 mileage rate for the track, and a much larger sum to the Common Good Fund, together making, for the privilege of carrying 100,000,000 passengers, a sum far greater than that the Glasgow corporation will ever make for the city out of its enterprise. Of more value than all this to the community would have been the service, which would have taken the people into the small suburban places around the city, and, by the aid of low fares for long distances, given them the benefit of comfortable and cheap homes. What has Glasgow done? With a capital account which May 31, 1897, aggregated $3,065,741.32, without counting the $980,000 paid back to the city construction account by the old company, which really represents $4,046,195.41, Glasgow has, in the latter half of 1894, installed a system of horse cars. In so doing, she has purchased new horses, new cars, bought the ground, built new barns, and in fact purchased an entire equipment. Naturally, the business-like American asks the question, Why did Glasgow commit this act of folly ? And the answer comes promptly, Because the Town Committee of twenty-five members could not agree on a system of mechanical motor. Under like conditions on this side of the Atlantic there would have been a dozen enterprising American firms, ready with bonds to any amount, to take the whole responsibility, and give the people a good service and pay the city a liberal revenue. Yet we are seriously told, by earnest gentlemen, that in the management of rapid transit we have much to learn by studying the situation in Glasgow. The municipality of Glasgow therefore has in fact upward of $4,000,000 invested in 77 miles of horse railways and the equipment therefor. It will be noted that the track mileage has not been greatly increased, as it was 31 miles 3 furlongs of double track in 1894, when the city took the roads, and only 32 miles 2 furlongs May 31, this year, when the last report was made. If an enterpris- ing private American firm could not have made more out of this opportunity, both for the corporation of Glasgow and the com- pany, it would indeed be strange. And now a word in relation to the revenue of this system. The total revenue for the fiscal year of 1897 was $1,804,897.25. Of this amount $1,393,210.81 was paid out for working expenses, of which about $632,000 was paid direct for salaries and wages. The wages paid in Glasgow are a trifle less than half the rates paid for similar employment in New York, and about half the rate in cities of the same size in the United States. A forcible illustration of the danger of making comparisons between the results achieved by these under- takings at home and abroad, especially in relation to cost of service, has recently been brought to my attention. Mr. John Young, manager of the Glasgow Corporation Tramways, sent me an official 214 STEEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. statement of the scale of wages paid employees, which is as follows : — Glasgow Corporation Tramways, Scale of Wages. Per Day. Point boys, . $0 28 Horse turners, 34 Trace boys : — First six months, 40 Second six months, . 44 Thereafter, 48 Horse keepers : — First six months, 80 Second six months, . 82 Thereafter, . 84 (And 24 cents for Sunday morning duty.) Sick-horse keepers : — 84 Second six months, . . 88 Thereafter, . 92 Car washers : — First six months, . . 84 88 92 96 Drivers and conductors : — First six months, 92 Second six months, . 96 Second year, . 1 00 Third year, 1 04 Thereafter, 1 08 The above rates apply equally to Sundays and week-days. John Young, Gene? al Manager Wishing to compare this with the rate of wages paid persons similarly employed in the United States, the above table was sent to President Vreeland, of the Metropolitan Street Railway Company of New York, with request to furnish similar information for the United States. In reply the following table was prepared : — Metropolitan Street Railway Company of New York, Scale of Wages. Per Day. Point boys or switch boys, . $1 00 to$l 25 Horse turners or changers, . . None Trace boys or tow boys, . . 1 00 Horse keepers or hostlers, . 1 75 Sick keepers or hospital men, . 1 75 1898.] HOUSE -No. 475. 215 Metropolitan Street Railway Company of New York, Scale of Wages — Concluded . Pel . Dav . Horse-car drivers, $2 00 Horse-car conductors, 2 00 Cable gripmen : — First year, 2 25 Thereafter, 2 40 Cable conductors : — First year, 2 00 Thereafter, 2 25 Motor men, electric : — First year, . 2 25 Thereafter, 2 40 Electric car conductors : — First year, 2 00 Thereafter, 2 25 H. H. Vreeland, President. An examination of the rates paid in Glasgow and in New York shows that in every case the American rate of wages is more than double.* Deducting the $1,393,210.81 from the total revenue of $1,804,- 897.25, we have $441,686.44 for rent of one small line, interest on capital, sinking fund, depreciation, written off capital, permanent way renewal fund, the $43,798.50 payment to the Common Good Fund, and for a general reserve fund. I have shown that nearly * In this connection the rates of wages paid by the West End Railway Company of Boston may be of interest. The following table has been sent me in response to a re- quest to the officers of that company. West End Street Hallway Company, Scale of Wages. Chief inspectors, $2 75 per day Inspectors 2 50 " " Starters $2 00, $2 25 and 2 50 " " Receivers . 2 50 and 2 75 " " Conductors, 2 25 " " Motormen and drivers, 2 25 " " Checkmen 2 00 and 2 25 " " Shifters, 1 50, 1 75 and 2 00 " " Car cleaners, . 1 50 and 1 75 " " Watchmen, . 1 75 and 2 00 " « Switchmen, 11 00 " week Sandmen, 11 00 " " Feeders, 1 50 " day Hostlers, 1 50 " " Harness cleaners, . . . . . . . . 1 50 " " Tow boys, . . . . 9 00 " week Flagmen 2 25 " day 216 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. $1,000,000 of the original cost of constructing the track by the city had been wiped out by the private company prior to 1894, so the undertaking is thus, even at the low rate of 2J per cent, interest, relieved of $24,332.50 per annum, which reduces its interest account to $67,326.75. A private company, with a capital of $4,046,195.41, would probably have to pay 4 per cent., or $161,847.81 per annum interest, instead of $67,326.75, which is an important saving. The Glasgow Corporation shows hard Scotch sense in writing off $65,- 747.30. for depreciation of plant; in setting aside, as it did in 1897, $72,997.50 for permanent way renewal fund; and in setting aside the remainder for general purposes. A careful examination of these accounts does not indicate that the sums thus set aside are any too great, when we remember that much of the track has been in use for many years, and that constant repairs are necessary. There is, how- ever, another contingency that will surely soon arise, as it is already under serious consideration, namely, an entire change of equipment from horse to mechanical equipment. Under the present act, the Glasgow Tramway has still left and unused borrowing powers of $781,686.42, which may be utilized for such a purpose; but when that is exhausted the city will have really in the neighborhood of $5,000,000 invested in a railway system of 32 miles of double track. This, however, is for future consideration ; for the present the 800,- 000 or more people served seemed contented with the present track and with horse cars. However the Glasgow experiment may be re- garded in Europe, in the United States the Glasgow system cannot be regarded as satisfactory ; and a city having such an opportunity, and throwing it away, as Glasgow has done, would be regarded as the man in the parable, who buried his talents in the ground. A further examination and comparison of the revenue reports of 1896 and 1897 shows that, though the revenue in 1897 was $177,- 651.98 in excess of 1896, the working expenses, increasing from $1,222,026.31 to $1,393,210.81, practically used up the increased earnings ; the amount set aside for interest, depreciation, reserve fund, etc., only showing an increase from $405,218.85 in 1896 to $411,686.43 in 1897. A striking feature of the examination of the accounts of the Glas- gow Municipal Tramway experiment, with a view of comparing it with similar undertakings in the United States, is the fact that the actual figures show that, had the same wages been paid labor as in the United States, the total paid out for the year 1897, instead of being 'about $632,000, would have exceeded $1,264,000, making the working expenses exceed the total revenue of the road by $220,- 313.56, and left the whole system in a hopeless condition of bankruptcy. 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 217 The true history of the Glasgow street railway enterprise certainly indicates that the initiation, in the summer of 1894, of a horse street railway was a mistake, from the American point of view ; that the ex- tension of track has been inadequate ; that the payment of wages is less than half the sum paid in the United States ; and that general ex- penses are apparently increasing at a greater rate than revenue from traffic. Nor do the figures show that the city is any better off to-day than it would have been under a good lease with a reliable enter- prising company, willing to spend the necessary capital to install a modern street railway plant, with mechanical motor and adequate mileage. The old company, bad as it was, — and all companies naturally lack enterprise during the last few years of a lease with little hope of renewal, — wiped out in twenty-three years nearly $1,000,000 of the cost of construction for the city, which went to the good of the municipal enterprise, but which could have been the source of $25,000 or $30,000 clear revenue from a private corpora- tion. The same company contributed $309,645.92 to the mileage and Common Good Fund. These are all important factors in the problem under consideration, and must be properly accounted for before comparisons of the two systems can be safely and fairly made. The only question which now remains to be considered is the ques- tion of fares. Have the fares been materially reduced? Fortunately, on this point, as on all others, I have a direct statement from Mr. John Young, the capable manager of the Glasgow City Tramways, which he sent me under date of August 9, 1897. Here it is : — ■ Fares and Distances under Glasgow Tramway and Omnibus Company, previous to 1st July, 1894. Fare. Average Distances. Jd. (1 cent) , None. Id. (2 cents), 1 . 12 miles. ljd. (3 cents), . 1.80 " 2d. (4 cents), 2.20 " 2£d. (5 cents), . None. 3d. (6 cents), 3.23 miles. Fares and Distances under Glasgow Corporation, j- are> Average Distances. id. (lcent), 58 miles. Id. (2 cents), lid. (3 cents), 2d. (4 cents) , 2Jd. (5 cents), 3d. (6 cents), 1.75 2.33 3.47 4.18 5.34 218 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. Mr. Young, as will be seen, has created a halfpenny fare for those who want to ride half a mile, and has increased slightly the distances for the other rates of fare. Mr. Young himself lays great stress on the boon of a halfpenny fare. I fail to see any great advantage in it, except for people in the city districts. As a matter of fact, one can walk half a mile about as quickly as he can wait for these horse trams, which jog along slowly and pull up at each corner. The moment, however, he reaches four miles, or a distance that will take a man from the crowded city to the suburbs, where houses are more plentiful, air better and rents cheaper, the price goes up to two pence halfpenny, or five cents. Much has been done in the way of improvement in various parts of Scotland ; but, according to the census of 1891, twenty-two per cent, of Scottish families still dwell in a single room each, and the proportion in the case of Glasgow rises to thirty-three per cent. Altogether there are in Glasgow over 120,000 and in all Scotland 560,000 persons (more than one-eighth of the whole population) who do not know the decency of even a two-roomed home. Compare with this phase of Scottish working- class life the fact lately revealed by an elaborate inquiry into the dwelling-houses of our own city of Boston, where rents are high. The number of families dwelling in single rooms was found to be only 1,053, or less than one and one-half per cent., as against Glasgow's thirty-three per cent. It would be difficult to say to what extent a good street railway system would change that condition, though we mast realize that the several hundred miles of track have had much to do with spreading population and building up suburban districts. The average fare last year on the Metropolitan Street Eailway was about three and three-quarters cents per passenger, after taking into account the transfers. This sum would not carry you much over an average of three miles in Glasgow. In New York, in Brooklyn and in Boston you can ride a distance of ten or even fifteen miles in almost any direction for five cents. The Glasgow system would simply be impossible in any of these cities, with its six different colored tickets and variegated distances. It may suit the conditions in Scotland, but it would not suit our conditions here. Moreover, it is against all sound principles of rapid transit, which on this side the Atlantic aim to get the people as far out of the city as possible, thus creating business for the street railways, and homes and values for the people. The European system, and especially the British system, seems to be to jog lazily around the cities, pick up the pennies for short distances, and charge such a high rate for the long haul that no public demand is made to extend street railways into districts that may prove unprofitable to the enterprises, — or 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 219 perhaps I should say undertakings, for there is little enterprise about the British tramway. While some municipal ownership advocates are eulogizing the system just described, the more advanced undertakings in Eng- land are adopting the American plan. Thus the elevated trac- tion of Liverpool has adopted a uniform fare, six cents first class and four cents second class. The Glasgow District Subway, a private enterprise opened since the city has had control of the surface tramways, charges two cents for short distances and four cents all around the city. The London Central Underground Rail- way I believe has also decided upon a uniform fare of six and eight cents, according to class. This is a wise decision, because the peo- ple who ride in the daytime on business can either afford to pay, or, if they cannot, in a majority of cases are furnished by their employers with car fare. It is of much greater importance to afford facilities to those who live on outskirts to enjoy the advantages of better air and cheaper rents. In other places a uniform fare is talked of, but the transfer system has not, so far as my observation extended, been introduced. The facts in the Glasgow case warrant the conclusion that a wideawake American street car company could have leased the Glasgow tracks when the city took them over, installed a modern system, extended the track, and, with the Glasgow wages, just half those paid at home, carried passengers as cheap, if not more cheaply, than Glasgow is carrying them to-day. It could, furthermore, have assumed all the risk, and paid the city more money per annum, with profit for mileage and Common Good, than it will get by operating the cars itself. If the facts do not indicate this, those who differ may have a chance to point out wherein these are not reasonable conclusions from the data examined. At any rate, I have been in- formed of one American syndicate offering to install a mechanical system in Glasgow, and, if granted a reasonable lease, guarantee the Common Good Fund a net income of 50,000 pounds ($243,325) per annum, the city to assume no risks. This offer may be open at the present time.* However this may be, the actual results in Glasgow, when put to the American test, in .no way indicate that the Glasgow experiment has either solved a problem in street car enterprises, nor is it of the slightest value in pointing out a civic moral, or adorning a municipal ownership tale. * It will be noted that Glasgow, at the time of my visit in August, had invested $4,047,195.41 in its entire street tram car system, including 77 miles of track. In the report of Mr. F. S. Pearson, engineer of the Metropolitan Railway Company of New York, to the city of Liverpool, this well-known authority on mechanical traction esti- mates (page 48) the cost of equipping with the overhead trolley system 70 miles of single track, with 300 cars and complete equipment, at £911,000 ($4,433,381.50). Had this course been adopted in 1894, instead of the installation of a horse system, the city 220 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. To the Yorkshire cloth town of Huddersfleld, and not to the city of Glasgow, belongs the honor of being first in the field of municipal operation. Huddersfleld is a manufacturing centre of considerable importance, and, while it cannot boast of much over 100,000 inhabi- tants, there are so many connecting towns around it that conditions would seem satisfactory for the right sort of street railway system. This fact, however, had not penetrated the mind of the British capitalist, and he has apparently not regarded Huddersfleld as a tempting field for street railway investment. In 1883 a private company decided to enter into an agreement to run a tramway system; but, after expending a considerable sum of money in ex- cavating and partly building a power station, the work was aban- doned, and, the company withdrawing, the Corporation of Hudders- fleld was left in possession of the field. I was frankly told in Huddersfleld that the authorities had no ambition to become pioneers in these experiments, though there are few cities more thoroughly imbued with the municipal spirit of the age than Huddersfleld. The people undoubtedly wanted the tramways, but were willing private enterprise should operate them. Such undertakings were regarded in Huddersfleld as trading concerns, not coming within the scope of municipal government, but rather as a field for private enterprise. And this view of the case was, until Huddersfleld was made an exception, held by both Houses of Parliament. Nor was the power to operate the street railways conferred upon Huddersfleld except as a temporary experiment and under the strictest limitations. of Glasgow would have saved several millions of dollars, and would now have a modern street car system, instead of facing, as the managers are, the problem of installing a new equipment. The detail of this estimate was as follows : — Estimate of Cost of equipping with Overhead Trolley System. Seventy Miles of Single Track ; Three Hundred Cars and Equipment : — Seventy miles of track, at $28,469.02, $1,992,831 75 Special track work, 121,662 50 Extra expense on twenty miles in city district, . . . 19,466 00 $2,131,527 00 Feeder system, $170,327 50 Transformers 58,398 00 Transformer stations, . 24,332 50 253,058 00 Car houses . $194,660 00 Shops, ... 97,330 00 291,990 00 Cars and equipment, 300, at $2,676.57, .... $802,972 50 Snow equipment, 29,199 00 832,171 50 Power station 924,635 00 $4,433,381 50 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 221 There is something amusing about this Huddersfield incident being used as an illustration in favor of municipal operation, because it was only attempted as a last resort, and because the hated capitalists refused all the offers and blandishments of the Town Council of Hud- dersfield to lease the property. Repeated advertisements were inserted in various journals and publications, but to no purpose. The British investor declared the population too sparse and scattered and the gradients too severe ; while the matter was probably never brought to the attention of the American street railway man, who would not have been deterred by such inconsequential obstacles as these. Unable to find any one willing to undertake the job, the city either had to abandon the tracks altogether, or go ahead, and equip and operate the road. Then the municipality applied to Parliament for power to work its tramways, but was only able to secure a license from the Board of Trade on certain restricted terms.* Armed with this instrument, the municipality of Huddersfield started not only first in the race for municipal ownership and operation honors, but the only instance of a municipality having constructed, operated and developed its own tramway system. With an investment of about 8700,000, a track of 22 miles and a traffic of about 5,000,000 passengers, it has made no profits, its operations showing annual deficits, with one exception, every year from 1882 to 1897. Some years, owing to serious accidents, these deficits have been alarming, once amounting, even on this small enterprise, to $80,000, and another year exceeding $60,000. These losses have been met by levying special rates, one year as high as five pence in the pound. I am more or less familiar with England's great cloth towns and with the surrounding country, and am satisfied that an enterprising Amer- * "If the corporation are unable to demise the tramways either already or hereby authorised, upon such terms as, in the opinion of the Board of Trade, will yield to the Corporation an adequate rent therefor, the Board of Trade may grant a license to the Corporation to work such tramways, and the corporation may therefore work the same, and proride such plant, materials and things as may be requisite or convenient therefor ; and in such case the several provisions herein before contained relating to the working of the tramways, and the taking of tolls and charges therefor, shall extend and apply mutatis mutandis to, and in relation to, the Corporation. " Provided, that if at any time during such working by the Corporation any company make to the Corporation a tender in writing to take a lease of and to work the said tramways for such period (not being less than seven years, unless the Corporation shall otherwise •agree) , at such rent and upon such terms as shall, in the opinion of the Board of Trade, be adequate and proper, and such company at the same time offer to purchase the horses, cars, engines and fixed and movable plant of the Corporaton not included in such lease, at a price to be fixed, unless otherwise agreed on between such company and the Corporation, by competent valuer to be appointed by the Board of Trade, then, upon payment of such price, the Corporation shall demise the said tramways to such company at such rent and upon such terms and conditions, and the powers of the Cor- poration to work the said tramways shall cease and determine." 222 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. ican company could have installed an overhead trolley system here, paid the city a liberal rental for the track, and, instead of carrying 5,000,000 passengers, would have been, carrying nearer 10,000,000, for, with better service, more would ride. The use of steam in this connection is not only expensive, but a long way behind the times ; and, as a result, the oldest experiment in municipal operation of which we have any information shows a total deficiency at the close of the fiscal year 1897 of about $306,000. Last year for the first time there was a surplus ($5,732.73) in this undertaking, involving a total annual expenditure of $150,000; and the advocates of munic- ipal operation immediately proclaimed the glad tidings that the tramways of Huddersfield have turned the corner, and are now paying a handsome profit annually to the city. They have not yet, however, advanced to the condition of the New York Association for the advancement of municipal ownership and operation of business under- takings, who assured New Yorkers last year that, " according to the most conservative authorities, half the city's revenues could he derived from its street car, gas and other franchises." Not content, however, with resting their case on this statement, they added: " In this event, taxes upon private and personal property would be cut in two." Now this is just what the people who ride on transfers, and who can go fifteen miles for five cents, are not concerned about. The many pay the nickel for the street railway ; the few pay the personal and real estate taxes. Nor have those who favor municipal tramways in Huddersfield reached the fortunate condition attributed in the following, from the Terre Haute (Ind.) Gazette, to the town of Anderson : — ■ Many Indiana cities are contemplating municipal ownership of semi- public corporations. Anderson has made a notable start. It has bought up the street, commercial and private electric lighting, the city and com- mercial water plants, and is now putting in its own natural gas plant. It is said that, if it gets possession of the street railway system at some time in the future, it will not need to levy even so much as a penny's taxation for the maintenance of the city. Why, therefore, go to Huddersfield and Glasgow for illustrations of municipal operation, when the town of Anderson, Ind. (population in 1890, 10,741), which is literally running itself by going into all sorts of profitable undertakings, is so much nearer home? And then there is no assurance about Huddersfield, for its expenses have con- tinually been greater than its receipts, and, even though it should now come out ahead, it will take many 'annual surpluses of $5,700 to wipe out the $306,000 already gone to the bad, — fifty-three years. 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 223 * The municipality of Huddersfleld frankly acknowledges the unsatis- factory results, and attributes the failure to these causes : — The causes contributing to the financial difficulties of the undertaking may, therefore, be summed up as follows : — 1. Delay in commencing to work, owing to inability to lease the under- taking. 2. Insufficiency of income, owing to the extensive nature of the under- taking compared to population. 3. Reconstruction and renewals. 4. Heavy accident claims. These are good reasons, but it must be borne in mind that private companies have to suffer from delays, from insufficiency of income, owing to extension into sparsely settled districts, from the necessity of reconstruction and renewals, and from heavy accident claims, — all of which must be paid, either by the earnings of the road or by increased capital, or the issue of additional indebtedness. Last summer the Huddersfleld authorities were congratulating themselves that they had not been helped out for two years by the rates, — two years out of sixteen. Those responsible for the Huddersfleld under- taking are honest enough to admit that " The duties of a popularly elected body and the fitness of such a body to undertake work of such a nature is a question on which there is room for a wide differ- ence of opinion." The comparison of wages between Glasgow and the United States so completely and officially disposes of the question that it is hardly necessary to again refer to this subject in detail. Previous to 1888 the trams were run fourteen hours per day. It was necessary for the public convenience that the services should be increased. The drivers and conductors at that time were working an average day of twelve hours. The wages of the drivers were $7.78 a week and the wages of the conductors $5.61 per week. It was thought undesirable to further increase the hours of the men. Eventually a scheme was adopted increasing the services to sixteen hours per day, and dividing the clay into two shifts of eight hours each. For the reduced hours the drivers were paid $6.32 per week, and the con- ductors $5.10 per week. During the past year the wages of the drivers were increased to $6.56 per week, a few special men being increased to $6.81. The conductors were increased to a uniform rate of $5.35 per week. The present rate per hour is : drivers, 13 and 14 cents; and conductors, 11 cents. Fares in Huddersfleld vary according to distance, as elsewhere in England, the lowest rate being two cents for short distances. The average fare paid, according to one estimate, is three cents, accord- 224 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. ing to another, four cents. With wages less than half the rates paid in the United States, the three cent rate is high enough. The longest ride is not much over three miles from the centre of the town. The tramway situation in Leeds is interesting, but of little value as indicating either success or failure in municipal operation. The first overhead electric tram car, painted in royal blue and with the coat of arms of the city emblazoned thereon, was put upon the track during my stay there last summer, and attracted considerable atten- tion. The installation started off satisfactorily enough, but no human being not endowed with prophetic gifts can tell anything about the probable success or failure of the undertaking. This is a correct diagnosis of the situation at Leeds. The facts in the Leeds case are simple, but we should call them somewhat arbi- trary. The town took in its street railways in 1894, and allowed the company nothing for the good will. The Leeds deal with the com- pany was in marked contrast with the liberality of the city of Liver- pool, mentioned further along in this statement. The private company had laid down the rails, and Leeds bought the whole busi- ness and equipment at its then estimated actual value. There were exactly 22 miles 21 chains of track, paying therefor $282,257; for land, depots and offices, $113,146.12; for engines, $58,884.65; and for horses, $35,997.50, making a total, including some mis- cellaneous items, of $546,142.96 for the whole outfit. The city of Leeds, on the second of February, 1894, thus came into possession of 22 miles of street railway track and equipment to work it, in a city which, according to the census of 1891, had a population of 402,449, for the sum of $546,142.96. That "the experiment of Leeds, since the purchase of its tramways by the city, is meeting with great success," to use the language of an able American advo- cate of municipal operation of street railways, will hardly surprise street railway experts. The net profit, without allowing for the sinking fund, for the three fiscal years has been: 1894-95, $15,670.01; 1895-96, $38,172.82; 1896-97, $44,849.66. The sinking fund will reduce these figures about $15,000.00 in each case. Now that the city has decided to construct 15 or 20 more miles of track, change the motor power and effect other improvements, the problem may assume a different form ; though, under the favorable conditions of the purchase, the fact that Leeds, after paying operating ex- penses and interest on capital, should show an average net profit, ■without deducting the sinking fund, of about $32,000 per annum for three years, is not a matter of surprise. The Abstract of Accounts for the city of Leeds for 1897 (page 176) shows that the city has put additional capital into the undertaking, the capital account standing in 1897 at $1,090,623.20. 1898. J HOUSE — No. 475. 225 From about half a million dollars it has increased to $1,090,000. The cost of the renewals, new plant and equipment contingent upon change of motor power, will materially increase the city's financial responsibility, and make the interest account more burdensome. The Leeds tramway budget differs materially from that of G-lasgow, inasmuch as nearly all future contingencies are in Glasgow provided for in the several funds set aside from the gross profits. The fol- lowing are the items in the Leeds budget for 1897 : — 226 STEEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. o -HO O 00 CN IN -H r-H ^ §" 8 U o pq GO *ej § ° "Sbj? » to CD C =2-2 fc t» 4> +° P3« —I ^ I IS J >■> 8,2 °*e? itv-sg OS l> r-T CD CD o o 00 5 CO Oi ~- CO CO iO I iONO I co co as o cq CO CO CN HOiCOCO CO O so T3 _c| • S» °^ _d ^ ■ S° °^ o o 03 & £ »S S o3 "S =3 J? d,ft 5=bJ3 d sh 03 is o bjj bfi d d o CO -*- O , • 691 01 350 41 340 60 - Northampton, 1,524 00 1,210 04 313 96 - Orange, . 341 85 212 54 129 31 - Peabody, 1,885 15 1,282 40 602 75 - Pittsfield, 598 42 176 44 421 98 - Plymouth, 470 38 349 16 121 22 - Quincy, . 1,355 91 823 66 532 25 - Randolph, 732 39 506 91 225 48 - Reading, 237 33 156 82 80 51 - Revere, . 3,306 23 2,249 18 1,057 05 - Rockland, 501 64 367 28 134 36 - Salem, . 2,566 29 1,745 76 820 53 - Salisbury, 819 23 862 10 - 42 87 Saugus, . 1,659 59 1,126 61 532 98 — Seekonk, 138 37 70 33 68 04 - Sherborn, 47 43 04 - Somerset, 499 15 144 61 354 54 - Somerville, 17,783 53 16,621 55 1,161 98 - South Hadley 515 52 423 53 91 99 - Spencer, . 437 01 248 34 188 67 - Springfield, 6,984 89 3,185 49 3,799 40 - Stoneham, 607 12 409 05 198 07 - Stoughton, 427 68 306 48 121 20 - Swampscott, 761 37 517 93 243 44 — Taunton, 1,752 83 1,029 92 722 91 ~ Tewksbury, 31 39 20 39 11 00 — Tyngsborough, 516 00 335 22 180 78 280 STEEET RAILWAYS. [Feb. Commutation Tax. Proportion o? Snow and Paving. Surplus. Deficit. Wakefield, . $593 32 $392 03 $201 29 _ Waltham, 844 36 840 43 3 93 - Wareham, 124 96 77 52 47 44 - Watertown, . 3,847 86 3,578 08 269 78 - Wayland, 103 75 112 76 - $9 01 Wellesley, 311 24 338 27 - 27 03 Wenham, 464 67 364 80 99 87 - West Newbury, 358 82 274 93 83 89 - West Springfield, 2,661 00 1,213 53 1,447 47 - Westfield, . 408 37 64 35 344 02 - Westport, 815 93 357 87 458 06 - Weymouth, . 1,492 51 797 19 695 32 - Whitman, 631 65 453 91 177 74 - Williamsburg, 340 83 268 40 72 43 - Williamstown, 297 74 388 95 - 91 21 Winchester, . 153 22 39 71 113 51 - Woburn, 856 71 492 45 364 26 - Worcester, 12,290 33 3,457 47 8,832 86 - Wrentham, 64 44 32 75 31 69 - 1898.] HOUSE— No. 475. 281 Appendix I. Mileage of Railways in Massachusetts, showing Amount of Track, measured as Single Track, in Each Town, as of the Date of Oct. 1, 1897. Amherst & Sunderland, 4.545 Amherst, 4.545 Arlington & Winchester, 3.596 Arlington, 1.701 Winchester, 1.895 Athol & Orange, 7.319 Orange, 3.258 Athol 4.061 Beverly & Danvers, 3.165 Beverly, !- 654 Danvers, 1.511 Blackstone Valley, 5 - 510 Millhury, i- 640 Sutton, 1 - 350 Grafton, 2.520 Braintree, 9 - 500 Braintree 7.000 Holbrook, 500 Randolph, 2.000 Braintree & Weymouth, 13.038 Braintree, 2.060 Weymouth, 10 - 978 Bridgewater, Whitman & Rockland, 12.000 Rockland, 2.100 ^^ sioo Whitman, d '""" East Bridgewater, 4 - 3 °0 Bridgewater, 282 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. Brockton, 43.360 Brockton, . . . . . . .26.080 Whitman, 3.480 Holbrook, 3.350 Randolph, 3.840 Avon, . . ' 2.360 Easton, 1.540 Stoughton 2.710 Brockton, Bridgewater & Taunton, 21.700 Taunton 1.900 Kaynham, 4.500 Bridgewater, 5.900 West Bridgewater, 4.100 Brockton, 5.300 Brockton & East Bridgewater, 4.400 Brockton, 1.700 West Bridgewater, .900 East Bridgewater 1.800 Commonwealth Avenue, 4.700 Newton, 4.700 Conway, 5.780 Conway, 5.780 Cottage City, 5.890 Cottage City, . 5.890 Dartmouth & Westport, 9.830 Dartmouth, 5.040 Westport, 4.790 Dighton, Somerset & Swansea, 12.000 Dighton, . 5.500 Somerset, 6.500 East Wareham, Onset Bay & Point Independence, .... 3.020 Wareham, 3.020 Fall River, . . . 2.695 Fall River, 2.695 Fitchburg & Leominster, ... 18.570 Fitch burg, . . . . . . . 8.970 Leominster, 7.450 Lunenburg, 2.150 Framingham Union, . 7.353 Framingham, . ..... 7.353 Gardner, 4.454 Gardner, ..... . . 4.454 1898.] HOUSE — No. 475. 283 Globe ' 27.708 Fall River, 27.708 Gloucester, 12.110 Gloucester, 12.110 Gloucester, Essex & Beverly, . . 22 . 300 Beverly, 4.000 Ipswich, 3.600 Hamilton, 3.100 Wenham, 2.000 Essex, 4.300 Gloucester, 5.300 Greenfield & Turner's Falls, 13.027 Greenfield, 4.027 Montague, 9.000 Hanover, 6.697 Norwell, 1.721 Hanover, 3.554 Rockland, 1.422 Haverhill & Amesbury, 28.700 Haverhill, 4.665 Merrimac, 5.966 Newburyport, .500 Amesbury, . . . . 5.700 Salisbury, . . . . . .11.869 Haverhill, Georgetown & Danvers, . ... 5.643 Haverhill, 2.140 Groveland, 2.443 Georgetown, 1.060 Hingham, 17.648 Hingham, 14.219 Weymouth, 1.769 Hull, 1.660 Holyoke, 30.613 Holyoke, 18.191 Chicopee 5.300 Northampton 2.575 South Hadley, . . . . . • ■ 4.547 Hoosac Valley, 12 - 708 North Adams, . 7.178 Adams, .....••■ 2.765 Williamstown, 2.765 Hull 1.827 Hull, 1-827 284 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. Interstate Consolidated, 24.696 Pawtucket, R. 1 4.975 Seekonk, 1.413 Attleborough, . . . . . . .10.610 North Attleborough, 7.040 Wrentham, .658 Leominster & Clinton, 12.141 Leominster, 3.437 Lancaster, 6.145 Clinton 2.559 Lowell, Lawrence & Haverhill, 60.707 Lowell 478 Dracut 3.436 Methuen, 10.489 Andover, 2.916 Lawrence, 14.491 North Andover, 2.753 Haverhill, 21.465 Groveland, . . . . . . . 2.020 West Newbury, 2.659 Lowell & Suburban, 62.389 Lowell, 41.020 Dracut, 8.005 Tyngsborough, 4.110 Chelmsford, 5.250 Billerica, 3.754 Tewksbury, .250 Lynn & Boston, 161.928 Lynn, 49.682 Swampscott, 3.872 Nahant, .105 Marblehead, 4.684 Saugus, 7.826 Woburn, 3.266 Salem 13.051 Beverly, 9.675 Hamilton, 1.421 Wenham, 1.839 Peabody, 9.587 Danvers, ........ 9.234 Revere 16.814 Boston 3.190 Stoneham, 2.058 Melrose, 8.189 Everett, 1.044 Maiden, 7.099 Chelsea, ,.,..... 9.292. 1898.] HOUSE— No. 475. 285 Marlborough, 7 943 Marlborough, 4.943 Hudson, 3.000 Martha's Vineyard, 1.000 Tisbury, 1.000 Milford, Holliston & Framingham, 18.750 Milford 4.250 Holliston, 6.500 Ashland, 1.750 Framingham, 1.250 Medway, 4. 500 Bellingham, 500 Milford & Hopedale, . ■ 2.125 Milford, 1.000 Hopedale, 1.125 Mystic Valley 3.356 Stoneham 1.178 Winchester, 2.178 Nantasket, „ 1.739 Hull, 1.739 Natick & Coehituate, 11.000 Wellesley, 4.500 Natick, 4.000 Wayland, 1.500 Framingham, 1.000 Newburyport & Amesbury, 19.780 Newburyport, . 7.303 Amesbury, 6.134 Newbury, 4.059 Merrimac, 2.284 Newton, 12.800 Newton, ........ 4.450 Waltham, 6.250 Watertown, 2.100 Newton & Boston, . 5.500 Newton, 5-500 Newtonville & Watertown, 2.950 Newton, 1-084 Watertown 1-866 Norfolk Central .6.650 Dedham, 2.500 Norwood, ... = .-• 3.650 Walpole 50 ° 286 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. Norfolk Suburban, 11.550 Boston, 3.978 Hyde Park, 5.850 Dedham, 1.722 Northampton, 15.020 Northampton, 9.760 Williamsburg, 2.700 Easthampton, 2.560 North Woburn 7.250 Woburn, 3.500 Winchester, 2.500 Medford, 1.250 Pittsfield, 8.806 Pittsfleld, 7.000 Dalton, 1.806 Plum Island, 3.000 Newburyport, .750 Newbury, 2.250 Plymouth & Kingston, 9.180 Plymouth, 6.180 Kingston, 3.000 Quincy & Boston 25.344 Quincy, 17.500 Boston, ........ .094 Weymouth 7.000 Milton, 750 Randolph, 2.070 Randolph, 2.070 Reading & Lowell, 12.085 Reading, 2.318 Wilmington, 6.211 Bill erica, .... ... 3.556 Rockland & Abington 17.406 Rockland, 6.195 Abington, 7.675 Weymouth, 2.518 Whitman, 1.018 Rockport, ..... 8.260 Gloucester, 2.000 Rockport, 6.260 Shelburne Falls & Colrain 7.007 Shelburne Falls, 2.339 Colrain, 4.668 1898.J HOUSE— No. 475. Southbridge & Sturbridge, Southbridge, . Sturbridge, South Middlesex, Natick, Sherborn, . Framingham, . Ashland, . Hopkinton, Springfield, Springfield, West Springfield, Chicopee, Longmeadow, . Taunton, Taunton, Taunton & Brockton, , Brockton,. Easton, Raynham, Taunton, . Union, New Bedford, . Fairhaven, Wakefield & Stoneham, Wakefield, Saugus, . Reading, . Stoneham, Wan-en, Brookfield & Spencer, Warren, . Brookfield, West Brookfield, Spencer, . Wellesley & Boston, Newton, . West End, . Arlington, Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Chelsea, . Everett, . Maiden, . 2.980 7.440 5.110 .006 2.624 3.313 2.199 35.830 13.650 6.870 3.860 18.396 2.100 5.690 4.280 1.380 15.462 2.357 6.950 1.415 2.782 2.373 4.000 5.000 3.000 2.000 2.340 6.600 195.200 10.600 37.900 1.700 12.400 3.250 287 10.420 13.252 60.210 18.396 13.450 17.819 13.525 14.000 2.340 303.250 288 STREET RAILWAYS. [Feb. 'i)8. West End — concluded. Medford, 5.900 Newton 1.500 Somerville, 23.600 Watertown, 4.600 West Roxbury & Roslindale, 9.490 Boston, 8.000 Dedham, 1.490 Woburn & Reading, 4.512 Woburn, 2.737 Reading, 1.775 Woonsocket, . . 15.090 Woonsocket, R. I., " 9.890 Cumberland, R. I., 3.220 North Smithfield, R. I , 390 Blackstone, . 1.590 Worcester Consolidated, 41.669 Worcester, 41.669 Worcester & Marlborough, 17.340 Northborough, 6.950 Shrewsbury, 5.060 Marlborough, 2.770 Westborough, 2.330 Worcester, .230 Worcester & Suburban, 23.142 Worcester, 10.142 Millbury, 4.500 Leicester, . 5.000 Spencer, 3.500 Woronoco, 4.361 Westfield, 4.361 INDEX INDEX. A. Abutters, appeal of, to Railroad Commissioners, 25, 48. Accrington, 249. Act allowing cities and towns to construct or acquire tracks, 55. Act, draft submitted by Rapid Transit Commission of 1891, 266. Act providing for appointment of Committee, 5. Alabama, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 88. Albany, 112. Alteration of tracks, 49. American cities, conditions in, 110. Amsterdam, 195. Appeal on order of revocation, 50. Application of commutation tax, 46. Arizona, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 89. Arkan ? as, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 89. Auction, sale of franchises at, 83. Austria, law of 1894, 202. B. Baltimore, 113. Belgium, law of 1875, 193 ; methods of organization in, 76. Berlin, 158 ; contract between city and street railway company, 162. Birkenhead, 249. Birmingham, 80, 142, 242; conditions of proposed lease, 245. Blackburn, 249. Blackpool, 228. Bolton, 249. Boston, history of street railway companies in, 62; wages, 215; note. Bradford, 80, 143. Buffalo, 115. c. California, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 89. Capitalization, 37; of expenditures for street widening, 53. Car tax, 81. Change desired in existing law by companies, 21 ; by municipalities, 21. Chicago, 117. Cincinnati, 119. Cities, American, conditions in, 110. Cleveland, 123. Colorado, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 89. Committee, act providing for appointment of, 5; bills submitted by, 41, 55; member- ship of, 7 ; report of, 9. " Common Good," Glasgow, 207; note. Commutation tax, 45 ; application of, 46 ; assessed and collected by local authorities, 45 ; distribution of, by mileage, 277; in place of work on streets, 27; rates of, 45. 292 INDEX. Comparison between England and the United States, 207 ; impossibility of, between Massachusetts and Europe, 16. Competition, futility of, in private ownership, 11, 12. Conditions, power of local authorities to impose, 22. Conditions, American, 110; Enropeun, 137. Connecticut, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 90. Construction of street railway tracks by cities or towns, 55. Contests, political, In relation to franchises, 111. Contracts between companies and municipalities in Europe, 29; in continental Europe, 69; limitations of, 69. Contracts, abstracts of, Amsterdam, 195 ; Berlin, 162; Dublin, 150; Frankfort, 180; Hamburg, 183; Milan, 201; Paris, 190; Rouen, 191; Vienna, 202. Corporation tax, distribution among cities by present law, and by new distribution, 269 ; distribution of, 35; readjustment recommended by Rapid Transit Commission of 1891, 262; recommended by joint special committee of 1893, 264. D. Definitions in act, 41. Delaware, 90. Depreciation, 67. Detroit, 124. Development, lines of, 13 ; from omnibus lines, 11. Distinction between street railways and steam railroads, 11. Distribution of corporation tax, 43, 269; of commutation tax, 275. Distribution of population, necessity for, 16. District of Columbia, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 91. Dublin, 150. Dundee, 250. Duration of franchises in different States, 71 ; of leases by proposed bill, 56. Dutch law of 1896, 194. E. Eccles, 250. Edinburgh, 250. Electric lines, increase in Massachusetts, 64. England, methods of organization in, 76 ; municipal ownership in, 205. English Tramways Act of 1870, 76, 137. Europe, methods of organization in, 73. European conditions, 137. Exclusive use, necessity of, 12. Extensions, grant of location, 48. F. Fare, basis of charges, 66; limitation of, 83; rates of, 66, 110; in Glasgow, 217; in Liverpool, 234; reduced rates of, 85; regulation of, 53. Florida, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 91. France, 185 ; law of 1880, 185 ; methods of organization in, 75. Franchises, 11; charges for, 86; definition of, 69; duration of, 70, 71; grant directly from State, 69; from local authorities, 70; greater fixity of, 18; objections to term franchise, 19 ; recommendations of Rapid Transit Commission of 1891 in regard to, 265 ; revocation of, 20, 23, 24, 50 ; sale of, at auction, 83 ; special taxation of, 36, 38, 42 ; tenure of, in Europe, 17 ; in Massachusetts, 17; value of, 36. Frankfort, 180 ; terms of lease to company, 181. Free passes, prohibition of, 51. INDEX. 293 G. Genussactien, 180; note. Georgia, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 91. Germany, 151 ; law of, 151 ; methods of organization in, 76. Glasgow, 79, 149, 211, 212; rates of fare, 217; wages, 214. Grade crossings, 84. Grant of location, 47. Great Britain, 137 ; law of, 76, 137 ; statistics of street railways, 141, 246. Greenock, 250. H. Hamburg, 183. Holland, law of 1896, 194; methods of organization in, 76. Horse lines, decrease in Massachusetts, 65. Huddersfield, 220. I. Ice and snow, commutation tax in place of, 27. Idaho, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 92. Illinois, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 92. Indiana, statutes relating to taxation and franchises, 94. Indianapolis, 126. Interurban lines, 65. Iowa, statutes relating to taxation and franchises, 94. Italy, law of 1896, 198 ; methods of organization in, 76. K. Kansas, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 94. Kentucky, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 95. Law, Austrian, 202; Belgian, 193; Dutch, 194; English, 76, 137; French, 185; Ger- man, 151 ; Italian, 198. Lease of tracks to company for operation, 56; duration of, 56; to company in Frank- fort, 181 ; to company in London, 79. Leeds, 80, 143, 224; revenue account, 226. Legislation, history of Massachusetts, 62. Leith, 250. Liverpool, 80, 231 ; conditions of purchase, 233 ; rates of fare, 234. Locations, grants of, 66; conditions imposed on, 66; in highways, 85; restrictions on, 68 ; revocation of, 68. London, 79, 144, 250. London County Council, acquisition of tramway lines by, 79; lease to company, 79. Louisiana, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 95. M. Maine, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 95. Manchester, 80, 146, 235 ; report of special committee, 238. Maryland, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 96. 294 INDEX. Massachusetts, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 97. Michigan, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 97. Milan, 201. Mileage of railways in different towns, 281. Minnesota, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 98. Mississippi, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 98. Missouri, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 98. Monopoly, nature of business, 61. Montana, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 99. Montreal, 134. Motive power, changes in, 12. Municipal control of streets, 14, 22. Municipal ownership in England, 205. Municipalities, 32 ; in England, 33 ; in Germany, 33 ; in Massachusetts, 34. N. Nebraska, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 99. Nevada, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 100. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 250. New Hampshire, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 100. New Jersey, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 100. New Mexico, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 101. Newport (Mon.), 250. New York, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 101. New York city, wages, 215. North Carolina, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 102. North Dakota, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 103. Norwich, 147. Nottingham, 80. o. Ohio, Rogers Law, 121 ; statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 103. Oklahoma, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 104. Oldham, 251. Omnibus lines, development of street railway from, 11. Oregon, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 104. Organization, methods of, in Belgium, 76; in England, 76; in Europe, 73; iu France, 75 ; in Germany, 74 ; in Holland, 76 ; in Italy, 76 ; in United States, 72. P. Paris, 189. Passes, prohibition of free, 51. Pavement, maintenance of, 82 ; repairs to, 46. Paving, commutation tax in place of, 27. Payments for street widening, 51 . Pennsylvania, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 104. Philadelphia, 127. Plymouth, 211, 231. Political contests in relation to franchises, 111. Preston, 251. Private ownership and operation, 13. Providence, 130. Public ownership of tracks, 29. Public ownership, private operation, 13 ; public operation, 14. Purchase clause iu English Act, judicial determination of meaning of, 79. INDEX. 295 Railroads, distinction between street railway and steam, 11. Rapid Transit Commission or 1891, extracts from report of, 262, 265. Rate of commutation tax, 45. Rates of fare, 66 ; basis of charges , 66. Recommendation as to powers of local authorities on original locations, 23 ; on exten- sions, 23. Regulation of fares, 53. Revocation of franchise, 20, 23, 68 ; appeal from local authorities to Railroad Com- missioners, 24, 60. Rhode Island, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 105. Richmond, 131. Rogers Law in Ohio, 121. Rouen, 191. s. Salford, 2.51. Sheffield, 80, 148 211, 228. Snow, 47, 82. South Carolina, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 105. South Dakota, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 105. South Shields, 251. Special cars, 50. Special franchise tax imposed, 36, 42. State taxes in United States, 81. Statistics, British street railways, 141, 246. Statutes relating to taxation and franchises, 88. St. Louis, 133. Street railways, Austrian law of 1894 in relation to, 202 ; Belgian law of 1875, 193 ; Dutch law of 1896, 194 ; French law of 1880, 185 ; German law, 151 ; Italian law of 1896, 198 ; owned by municipalities and leased for operation in England, 249. Streets, municipal control of, 14, 22; objections to divided control of, 27. Street widenings, 25, 84; portion to be borne by company, 26, 51, 52; capitalization of expenses for, 26, 53. Sunderland, 251. T. Taking of tracks by cities and towns, 55; compensation for, 56. Tax, on cars, 81; in commutation for work on streets, 27; distribution of corporation, 35 ; on dividends, 81 ; on gross receipts, 81 ; on stock values, 81. Taxation, 111; methods of, 86; in United States, 80; of franchises, 36, 42; municipal, 81; recommendations of joint special committee of 1893, 264. Tennessee, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 106. Texas, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 106. Toronto, 135. Track, miles of in Massachusetts towns and cities, 281 ; in various cities in Europe and United States, 249. Tracks, acquisition of, by municipality, 30, 55 ; construction of, by municipality, 55. Tramways Act of 1870 in England, 76, 137. u. United States, methods of organization of companies in, 72. Utah, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 107. 296 INDEX. v. Vermont, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 107. Vienna, 202. Virginia, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 107. w. "Wages, Boston, 215; note; Glasgow, 214; New York, 215. Washington, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 108. West Virginia, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 108. Widening streets, 84; where no tracks are located, 51 ; where tracks are located, 52. Wigan, 251. Wisconsin, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 108. Wyoming, statutes relating to franchises and taxation, 109.