Indianapolis Times, Volume 34, Number 199, Indianapolis, Marion County, 30 December 1921 — Page 10

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The Needs of Today Are as Nothing Compared With the Demands of Tomorrow

Ten years ago Indianapolis was a city of two hundred and fifty thousand people. Today three hundred and fifty thousand people live inside its limits. How many ten years from now? At least 450,000 and probably more. The Indianapolis of the future will be a million, and we will live to see it. Indianapolis can’t be stopped. But it may be SLOWED UP. * * * For TRANSPORTATION IS essential to the growth of a city. Given safe, sure and rapid transit our city will grow. New industries will come in, old industries will expand, real estate will increase in value, homes will be built, and work will be ready for those who want to work. PROSPERITY and transportation drive as one in double harness. Ask Chicago, ask Detroit, ask Cleveland. They grew with transportation. • # * The Indianapolis Street Railway Company should plan AT ONCE to meet the demands of the future. But it can not, because every ounce of our energy and thought is exhausted NOW just to keep the cars running. In 1920 its loss was $264,715.86. This year the loss is even greater. The jitneys alone took $1,700 a day from us that could have gone into new equipment.

Indianapolis Street Railway Company

INDIANA DAILY TIMES, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1321.

The service YOU want is the service WE want. We simply CAN’T give it. Our hands are tied, until some way is found to make this system self-supporting. We are operating today because we have been able, from time to time, to get temporary financial assistance and stretching our credit to the utmost limit in meeting current bills —methods that are very expensive and undependable. • * * RIGHT NOW we should have substations and more power. We should have new cars. We should have new switches and rails and we should repair the rough stretches of track that mean discomfort to patrons, and excessive maintenance bills to us. And then we should have new and modern shops and additional car barns. But even a part of this costs money. We haven’t a fraction of the two or three millions it will take. And we can’t borrow as long as we show a loss year after year. You wouldn’t loan us money nor will any one else with this kind of a showing. # * * What is the answer? It MUST be found, for an efficient transportation system is the first essential of a growing city. No satisfactory substitute for street cars has been developed. Des Moines, lowa, tried to get along with something else. The experiment was a failure. Now Des Moines has got anew franchise that is fair to the city and fair to the company. It works. Tlie problem is one of mutual obligation, resting on the city as well as on the company. The Public Utilities Commission is a state commission. The Board of Works represents the city. All are no doubt prepared to cooperate in an earnest attempt to solve the matter for the common good. All have the best interest of Indianapolis at heart. These are the facts. Will you give the matter some thought?