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May i6, 1908.
RECORD AND GUIDE
907
large chance of profit iu purchasing the existing system
at a fair appraisal, we may trust tiie city government oE
that future period to take advantage of the opportunity.
ESTABUSHED-^ HWPH 21^^ 186 8,
DeV&TED 10 REA.L ESTAJE.BUlLDIlfc A^ITECTURE .KoUSOJOlll DEGCD^TlOrl.
Bt/sii/ESS Aifo Themes bf'GEiteR^l Irrtof sj.;
fRlCE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS
I Communications should be addressed to
C. W. SWEET
Pabtished Eoery Satardag
By THE KECORD AND GUTDE CO.
President, CLINTON W. SWEET Treasurer, F. W. DODGE
Vlce-Pres. Sc Genl. Mgr., H, W. DESMOND Secretary, F. T- MILLER
Nos. 11 to IB Eaat 24th Street, New York City
(Telepbone, Madison Square, 4430 lo 44.33.)
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''Entered at the Post Office at li'cv> York, N. Y., as seconil-class malte)-.--
p^-----------------------------------------------------------•----------.----------,—^.^—,-----------------------------------------------------------__
Copyrigbted, 1908, by The Record & Guide Co.
Vol. LXXXI-
MAT 16, 190S.
No. 2096
T is improbable that the rise in prices in Wall Street can
be carried much further under existing business con-
ditious. To be sure the success of the movement has been
due in the flrst place to the much easier condition of the
money market, and iu tlie second place to the anticipation
of better business to come- These reasons are probably
sufflcient to justify as rauch of a rise as that which has
already taken place, but they would hardly justify any pro¬
longed continuation of the movement. Before still further
gains are made, they wil! have to be justified by some cer¬
tain evidence that business is really on the upward grade;
and no such evidence is as yet forthcoming, Tbe railroads
have been managing, by heroic measures, to cut down their
expenditures; but their economies have been effected rather
in the maintenance account than in that of operating ex¬
penses. They are still faced by a most difficult alternative.
They cannot re-establish any proper equilibrium between
income and outgo without either reducing wages or raising
rates. Of the two alternates, the raising of rates is un¬
doubtedly the one to be preferred, because the railroads
are entitled to rates adapted to the generally liigher level
of prices, and because if wages are not lowered the revival
of business will be a much easier and quicker process. On
the other hand, it Is by no means certain that the rail¬
roads can put an increase of rates into effect without in¬
curring a revival of legislative and administrative inter¬
ference. This, of course, is only one of the problems which
faces the big business enterprises of the country; but there
are many others. The revival, in order to be wholesome,
must be gradual, and must be justified by much preliminary
work of reorganization. The country cannot be "boomed"
into renewed prosperity.
THERE is much to be said in favor of Mr. Wiliam M.
Ivins' criticisms of the Robinson amendments to the
Rapid Transit Act, but their whole weight disappears when
confronted by one supreme consideration- It is only by
such an amendment that New York can begin the construc¬
tion of new subways at any time within three years. The
city has no money to appropriate for rapid transit con¬
struction until a constitutional amendment can be passed;
and such relief is both remote and precarious- Under these
circumstances, and considering the critical need for the
early beginning of subway construction in Manhattan and
the Bronx, there was nothing' to be done but to seek the
help of private capital and offer to it a profit sufficient to
tempt Its owners. The city has inore to lose by delaying
indefinitely construction of new subways than It has to
lose by paying capitalists the price of their assistance. The
Robinson amendments will accomplish this object without
prejudicing tho future in any respect. If the city wishes
eventually to return to a policy of municipal ownership
there will be nothing to hinder it from so doing, and the
weakness of Mr. Ivins' argument consists in the fact that
he gratuitously assumes the permanence of the present policy.
There is no reason to suppose, that the city, as he claims,
would be likely to hold its credit for new improvements
rather than use it up in purchasing existing subways. Such
would only be the tendency, in case the city's debt limit
for transit improvements is restricted; but long before the
decision has to be made the city will be free to borrow as
nincU as it pleases for profitable subways, If i^ere is a
THE elaborate experiment wbich will soon be made in
' Cleveland of a three-cent fare on the surface rail¬
roads will be watched with interest throughout the whole
country- If, as is expected, the receipts on the basis of
such a fare will be sufiicient to pay six per cent, on the
stock of most important of tbe old companies, the cause
of cheap railway fares will be furnished with the strongest
a,rgument that has yet been found in its favor; and there
seems to be good reason for believing that it will be suc¬
cessful. There can be no doubt, at any rate, tbat European
street railways bave been able to make substantial profits
on the basis of an average fare decidedly less than five
cents. It is usual in Europe to graduate the charges to the
length of distance traveled, so that the passenger who
goes only a few miles will pay less than five cents, whereas
the long-distance traveler may pay more. The American
system of charging a universal rate of five cents has been
defended on the ground that it encourages the expansion
of a city by stimulating the habitation of the outlying dis¬
tricts. The company gets back frora the travelers for a
short distance the money which is spent upon the long¬
distance travelers, and the real estate and business interests
of the whole city are stimulated by the low fare to and
from the outlying districts. There is much to be said for
this system of street railway fares. A flat postage-stamp
rate is much better for the growth of the whole city than
is the graduated system which prevails abroad. On the
other band, there is reason to believe that the flat rate of
five cents charged by the American surface railroads is too
high. It is much higher than the average charge on the
street railways of Europe; and there seems to be good
reason why it should be. The fact that wages are higher
in this country has not prevented the steam railroads from
carrying freight cheaper than do the steam railways of
Europe. The recent bankruptcy of the New York City
Railway Company has been used as a proof that an ex¬
cessive development of the transfer system and consequently
a lower average fare is necessarily disastrous to a street
railway company; but such an inference is wholly unneces¬
sary. The street railways of New York have failed chiefly
because they were so congested witb'traffic that they could
neither increase their business nor handle it economically.
If a subway company can afford from a flve-cent fare to
pay interest on a roadbed which costs several million dol¬
lars a mile, surely a surface railroad company, whose flxed
charges are so much smaller, can afford to make a good
proflt with a lower fare. It may be added that the subway
in Paris earns good dividends on a flat rate of three cents
for more than five-sixths of its passengers.
THE chances that Governor Hughes will be a candidate
for renomination are getting better and better. In¬
deed, it is being stated from apparently authoritative sources
that iu case he fails to pass his anti-gambling bill at the
special session of the Legislature, the Governor will appeal
to his constituents for another term- Mr. Hugbes is needed
at Albany far more than he is at Washington. He has
really done nothing to deserve his immediate promotion to
the Presidency—nothing, tbat is, compared to what his
chief competitor, Mr. Taft, has done. On the other hand,
he has done much not merely to deserve but to require his
coutinued presence in the Executive Mansion at Albany.
He has had placed on the statute books the most radical
piece of legislation for the supervision of public service cor¬
porations enacted in any State in the Union; and he should
remain at Albany until that legislation has passed well be¬
yond the experimental stage. It may be added that another
term at Albany for Mr, Hughes will be very benefleial to
the interests of New York City. He has shown a better
understanding of the needs of New York and more of a dis¬
position to meet them than any Governor since Roosevelt.
It is particularly important that lie should be in a position,
of aulhority when the work of tbe Charter Revision Com¬
mission comes belore the Legislature at its next session.
There is, we are afraid, small chance of the passage of tha
proposed new charter, unless it is baclvcd by the approval
and the authority of a very influential Governor. Th«
more New York City has of Mr. Hughes at Albany the better.