Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 June 1911 — GROWTH OF THE INTERURBAN [ARTICLE]

GROWTH OF THE INTERURBAN

Remarkable Showing of the Various Lines Now Operating in Indiana. Indianapolis, Ind., June f. —In three of the finest interurban cars belonging to the Indiana Union Traction Co.. the State Democratic Editorial Association are today leaving Indianapolis for a four-day trip through the northern part of the statt;, making stops at Peru, Warsaw, Goshen, Elkhart. South Bend, Laporte, and Michigan City, returning home from the latter point on Saturday, June 3. The cars in this service have been especially fitted up for the party, combining every possible convenience. In no other manner would it be possible to make such a trip and have the same comfort and cleanliness as can be afforded by the interurban service—dying across the country with wide open windows, a cool breeze blowing, seeing the best of the cities and towns through which they pass —absolute absence of dust and cinders and no annoyance, to mar the perfect pleasure of such a ride. The trip itself was carefully selected as being one which would probably offer the greatest amount of pleasure for the time allowed—starting from the Capital City northward through counties of Marion, Hamilton, Tipton, Howard, Miami, Fulton. Kosciusko, Elkhart, St. Joseph and Laporte, a distance of approximately 400 miles for the round trip, passing over lines of the Indiana Union Traction Co., Indianapolis to Peru; the Winona Interurban Railway, Peru to Goshen; and Chicago, South Bend & Northern Indiana. Goshen to Michigan City, on the cool shore of Lake Michigan. Ten years ago such a trip would have been impossible. Now there are many trips of like distance and even trips of much greater mileage can be taken in the states of Indiana, Ohio, Illinois or Michigan, the four states that represent probably the greatest development of interurban lines in like territory in the world. When we look backwards less than a score of years and see the development that has come about during that time —the trolley being the greatest of all—we can in a measure grasp the immensity and wonder, what the next decade will bring. However, the one live subject we know of now is the interurban. The advent of the trolley has put life in dead communities, built new towns, and in fact no factor in the world’s history can point to the rapid advancement in the upbuilding of the territory as has and is being brought about by the interurban; business, both mercantile and industrial —society, education, and the latter the greatest of all. The February issue of “Forward!” the Commercial Club publication for Indianapolis, featured the I. U. T. system and the interurban lines generally, entering Indianapolis. The article told of how the first interurban car entered the Capital City eleven years ago, to be precise, on the first day of January, 1900. It was from Greenwood, eleven miles away to the southeast. Today there are, on an average, 472 traction cars in and out of Indianapolis during each twenty-four hours —approximately twenty to every hour of the twenty-four. This article states that fiction is outdone and romance is out-ro-manced in the wonderful story of interurban development in Indiana. Its end no one can fortell, and its past, present and future importance to Indianapolis is equally beyond the power of approximation. There are nearly 16,000 people being carried in and out of Indianapolis every day on the interurban lines.

An article by Will J. Dobyns, secretary of the Indianapolis Trade Association, of a trip by The “Boosters” Club, over the same territory as is now being made by the Editorial Association, has this to say: Indianapolis the Hub. The interurban lines radiating from Indianapolis traverse a great section of the State of Indiana. In this respect Indianapolis is like the hub of a wheel, the spokes representing the interurban lines. There are now six separate and distinct companies operating interurban lines in and out of Indianapolis. These are the Terre Haute, Indianapolis and Eastern, with 380 miles of track; the Indiana Union Traction Company. 365 miles; the Indianapolis, Columbus and Southern. 117 miles; the Indianapolis and Cincinnati, 108 miles; the Indianapolis. Crawfordsville and Western, 45 miles, and the Indianapolis, Newcastle and Toledo, 45 miles. The total mileage is 1,060. Directly contributory, and running their own cars into Indianapolis. are four Other lines, the Fort Wayne and Wabash Valley, the W> nona Interurban, the Ohio Electric and the Lebanon and Thorntown, their mileage being, respectively, 130. 67. 50 and 11.’ The mileage of these four companies is ’248. which, added to the mileage of the first six companies, brings the total to 1,308 miles. There is, in addition, 710 miles of track in Indiana over which cars are not run into Indianapolis. This makes the total interurban mileage in Indiana. 2.018. Of the 710 miles not directly contributory to Indianapolis, however, only 128 miles is not connected with lines that do enter Indianapolis. The actual number of companies, does not give an adequate idea of; scope of the ihterurban systems. Three or the six companies that operate in and out of Indianapolis are composed of divisions that constitute nractica’iv separate and individual lines. Thus, the Terre Haute; Indiahapolis and Eastern has five divisions, the Indiana Union Traction three. So while only six companies are operating, thirteen distinct lines enter Indianapolis. Again, these divisions have various terminals and connections. Quoting again from the I. U. T. system magazine for February:

Trolleys and Badtaese. I Wall Street Journal.) Business opinion in Cincinnati estimates that the commercial and financial interests of that city profit to the extent of $50,000,000 annually as a direct result of trolley communication with the surrounding country and neighboring towns. The middle west has a large number of points which have excellent interurban systems, among which Cincinnati, O.; Indianapolis, Ind., and Columbus, 0., are especially worthy of mention. Ten years ago nothing of the sort existed, but a revolution in merchandising and in the relations of i the rural and village people to the larger cities has since taken place, i The country merchant has not been wiped out. He still handles the | small trade, while the people of the towns and country go to the cities for their larger purchases. The i country merchant can make a turnover in goods more quickly now by aid of telephones and trolleys. Another result has been the increase in the value of farm land. Census reports for different states frequently show gains of 100 per cent, of more. Not a little of this is among the older portions of the country, and has come from interurban electric roads. It is different with steam roads, because their influence on the value of the land depends more largely upon the distance from the stations. The trolley lines, nowever, have stations everywhere; each farm is a station for passangers and goods. The transformation is doing marvels in making the country more attractive and the city more accessible. Millions of pounds of copper, thousands of tons of steel rails and hundreds of cars of a modern type will be needed to supply the expansion of interurban electric lines for many years to come. Another article in the I. U. T. system magazine for April aptly tells the tales of the merchant in a small town and his trade: The Interurban and tfe* Small City , Merchant.

The retailer in the small city or town with trolley line to the larger commercial centers, has learned the solution of what was at first glance a paradoxical situation. He watched the growth of traction line travel primarily with alarm, but now with a few years experience, knowing that while some of his customers will avail themselves of the city trip to make purchases, in the end nothing could serve his purpose better than that they should, as the bringing within his zone of trade, of new merchandise or styles of wearing apparel serves to stimulate or create new business for him. Is he not making weekly trips to the same sources of supply and arranging for a showing of the very articles which the “city snopper” has secured? Novelties in every line of general merchandising can be turned quicker because the demand has been created for him. Moreover the farmer (and the farmer’s wife) have more ready money to spend, also by reason of the rraction line influence. Quick and frequent transportation facilities have brought city produce buyers to the farmers who live near the trolley, offering a continuous market for all his surplus—he has learned that it is worth a considerable sum every year to be near a traction line, aside from the convenience to his family and should he want to buy or sell, it is astonishing how much more a farm within a mile of hourly traction service is worth in cash than ten miles away. One Jnousand dollars a front foot for business property is not uncommon in any thriving city. Why is not the same principle applicable to farm property? Tne return to the original text—the retailer looks at Interurban travel complacently—it all helps. All of the foregoing artices apply in a general way to the Interurban situation and what is true of one locality is true of all others, where goes the trolley—advancement in every line of business is sure to follow. The trolley always builds up—never tears down. As a finish to this article on what we consider the greatest of all modern enterprises, I will take the liberty of quoting an article by Daniel Vincent Casey, of the Editorial Staff of System:

Market Making By Interurban Trolley. The interurban trolley is the newest high-speed tool of business. Carrier of freight as well as passengers, it has worked revolutionary changes in methods of trading and distribution wherever it has reached its great expansion and developed its highest commercial efficiency. Its social side has so impressed the popular imagination that less account has been taken of the interurban as a tremondous twentieth century engine of trade. The towering, sixty-foot cars which roar down village streets and dwarf the equipment of urban lines, the low fares, the frequent stations, the hourly service for local traffic, the Pullman built "limiteds” which rush from city to city, all focus attention on the interurban’s facilities for handling people rather than goods. To the wholesalers and retailers who have learned how to Use the trolleys, however,' the drab freight vans which trail the passenger cars by day or scurry about their tasks when tracks are clear at night have become the most important, the indispensible cogs in their machinery of buying and selling. They give improved service for getting merchandise to dealers, on the one hand, just as the passenger trains otter improved mediums for bringing customers to the goods on the other. Many wholesalers arid more retailers have already readjusted their business to the new conditions the interurban roads have brought. They are employing this new transportation to double the dollar-pow-er of their capital and credit, to Increase sales and profits, to reduce losses, to do a bigger, better, safer business.