Show H 1 rr Yr- Yr r T r Tl Y rM f t 6 l' l r t I Rt t. t i t p i 9 o ff I r rr t tlc lc q V f i w r if 2 1 r. r ty d- d Back 0 the i i o 0 I t t STAGECOACH y r i lib rr I a aR aF I f F l R By Polly Fergusson er usson il rr f THE HE covered wagon famous i in American American American Amer Amer- ican history a and d the movies is again filling an important place in our country's transportation system r Those good old days you read about D' D when people journeyed picturesquely picturesque 1 I overland by stage and country inns waxed prosperous appear to ta have rei returned re- re i turned turned with with a few changes In place v. v of the old mud bespattered stagecoach with its four or six horses its r with his horn its driver and his whip and pistols we have today a cover covered d k wagon de which is the last word In modern mechanical skill and com comfort ort The old stagecoach clattered alon along at the languid pace of six miles an hour jolting its passengers over over roads y that were for long stretches little better better bet bet- r ter than pack-horse pack trails The new newt t t stagecoach equipped with deep-cush- deep coned Pullman chairs with extra sized extra sized l' l tires a and d shock abs absorbers with vent ventilation ventilation la i tion devices and large larg glass windows with a rear locker for baggage and andin in r front a n powered high-powered motor rolls r rapidly idy f- f over smooth macadam roads offering a jr P minimum of offense to the human spinal cord I Of course s some e of the thrilling fea- fea j f fea- fea features tures which glorified the old stagecoach w 4 In rhyme and literature are gone for I good The Indians and an ana buffalos buffalo which i 1 helped to enliven the career of the iI famous Overland Stage are now peace peace- P dully ully settled on Government reserva- reserva I r I bons Most of the bad men who amount to anything have left the highways of the i rural districts for the big cities The trip from New York to California i is isnow I now less perilous than a trip up Broadway Broadway Broad Broad- it way at the crowded theatre b hour ur Even t in England wh where re villages ar are slow to L change with the passing of years the the ther spread of petrol has hns made a great r difference in the roadside map so th that t tr r r It would be hard to recapture the at atmosphere atmosphere at- at of Canter E H However wever it i is d doubtful if ih if-ih the modern It traveler seriously objects to the passing of these former opportunities for adventure adventure ad- ad venture along the highway The old J charm chaim of the open road is still there inI in I spite of upholstered comfort and t. t con con- crete And country inns are more charmIng charming charm- charm Ing than ever now that they contain t. t well-appointed well bathrooms and steam t heat z I of i REGULAR REGULAR routes rutes with established 7 schedules now operate between all A. A the large cities In Philadelphia you youcan t can walk out of the Benjamin Franklin climb in a bus and never stir thereafter until you arrive at the door of your hotel in New York City or Wilmington orti or AU Atlantic City From New York you youcan ti can ca'n can go on to Boston by bus and from fromI I Boston you OU can explore the whole of New England including the mountain di districts by this means of j tion will take you into l any part of California they will carry r you through the old trails of the Rocky J Mountains they will dash you over thew the w wide American prairies and across the bro broad d deserts they will transport you f from almo almo- r known point to Florida I a In Louisville Ky a new bus term terminal ter ter- m urinal minal nal is is' being erected wha which ch is to 6 cost a million dollars It is to be used t by the many bus lines now operating in inthis inthis I this region region bus bus lines from Louisville I to Florida and from Louisville to Cincinnati Cin Cin- and Indiana Indianapolis In Florida since the recent boom one onet t company alone has put a fleet of seven seven- t five five ty-five on th the road with regular schedules to vanous various vari van i ous points in Georgia North Carolina Alabama Mississippi and Tennessee Occasionally it sends busses h halfway liway across th they the continent continent jn in one case as faras far faras as Omaha Neb and from Omaha to f Chicago and thence back to Florida fy y The passengers traveling over its lines are given the same service as tourists with a tour director They are allowed two suitcases as a rule which are deposited deposited deposited de de- de- de posited in the bus locker at the rear of the car and that solves the baggage transportation question Their hotel NS ar are all arranged for in adVance advance ad- ad ad ad- vance by one onel of the bus drivers who acts as a courier assuming responsibility for all tall the traveling details TN fN SOME sections of the country you 2 L would suppose the weather might in interfere interfere interfere in- in with regular bus schedules as it did in in n the old stagecoach days but modern road-clearing road equipment has Virtually u eliminated this difficulty There Thero 4 i Overland ver 1 Mail and De DeLuxe j v an at an Wagon a on e o of f Ye e Canterbury an er ur Tales a es Lore ore oreba ba e Live Liv Again in in the Modern Motor 0 i Caravan That Wends Its lis I K ter t a Way Wag Across t the e Continent With I the Speed and Comfort of the Horse Iron Horse Express Train Tram 1 tl 1 L' L I fib j t- t q t H iH 1 J t r t d ir t t an and d t the h e L Luxury o 0 of if a af v fJ o. o f t Js cx i c. c 4 X vy r J f f y t 7 y fig if J. J Ii y Private Automobile Z e I. I 14 t i i r x s' s w II x M h Hi z zjr jr w ow fj t. t c y w 1 r ve ry y 4 I L. L a I y k r Zv f 1 j ji P f ji i w dry N. N a S o A oft F r e i I a Y a 4 r tt 4 c k r is a company operating a fleet of busses through the snow belt of Minnesota for instance which maintains a days a year service regardless of blizzards It Ita a achieves hieves this high standard of service through the use of eight tractors fitted with specially designed plows and one ton ten-ton tractor equipped with what is is thought to be the biggest road sno snowplow snowplow snow snow- plow in existence It is nine feet wide yide by three feet high so that it can clear cleara a passage for a bus in most cases at atone atone atone one sweep I Of this fleet of twenty five busses only twenty are in constant operation Two busses buses are kept ready for emergencies emergencies emergencies emer emer- and the other three are usually undergoing repairs The drivers are paid according to t the e amount of mileage covered For the first year they receive 2 cents a a mile and after that cents cents a mile Since the daily dily trip trip- over one route is miles and that over another another another an- an an an- other is they average between 42 42 and 52 a week week enough enough nough to attract expert expert expert ex ex- ex- ex pert chauffeurs chauffeurs' in that part of the coun coun- try The company reports that it has noticed no no d decrease crease in winter travel travel- that if anything ing even more people than ever have been using its lines during the last two months N A Y the new popularity of stagecoach travel has not been viewed with equanimity by the railroads As far back as 1914 when a plague of parasite jitneys descended on the country country country coun coun- try and carried off railroad as well as street railway passengers in large numbers numbers num num- bers th the representatives of these branches of transportation raised a furious furious furi furi- furious ous pr protest test Gradually the jitney plague abated but the publics public's cs c's demand for motor transportation did not As a B result the licensed appeared on the scene to meet it As long as the motorbus confined its operations to urban localities or at the most to short sightseeing trips it was peacefully tolerated but when the first stage lines from city to city with regular regular regular regu regu- lar passenger and freight schedules met with unqualified success the railroads raised the alarm For the last five years they have strenuously fought the extension of passenger bus service with all the means and devices o of which a B powerful railroad is capable They have not only kept up their campaign for fOl heavier taxes for the bus lines but in some instances they have appealed for fOl injunctions to protect their own lines from what they termed irresponsible competition The Federal Government was appealed to for relief and the Government Government Government Gov Gov- started studying the question The V United States Bureau of Public Roads made an exhaustive investigation of motor motor motor- truck passenger and freight service throughout through through- out the co country but its findings were n not t. t at all alt in sympathy with the claims of the railroads We find it anno announced that Ii 11 hauling a uli ng freight or passenger is almost entirely noncompetitive noncompetitive noncompetitive noncom- noncom with railroads It Itis Itis Itis is a co complementary ice Meantime l various railroads railroads rail rail- roads were finding it necessary to abandon thousands of miles of track which had been made unprofitable because because- the public preferred mo mo- tors Some of their officials officials officials of of- frankly declared their gloomy belief belie that the th-e doom of the rails was inevitable If it keeps up up at this rate said one of off them the railroad will eventually go the way Q of the old horse-drawn horse stage stage- coach We are witnessing an evolution in tation r c G t t r r 3 t rr ad-rr J. J k S' S x i W. W s r Gone are the bouncing bumping bumping bump ing days of the Western Vestern stager stagecoach stagecoach stage stage- r coach and the masked road Others also pIo professed t tsee to see the handwriting on th the but t they ey found a more cheerful J wall interpretation bon tion The motorbuS motorbuS' they insisted for for never L long-distance long be able to SUPPlant the rail railroads o ds travel It is as the thee Bureau of of PubliC Roads e asserted an adjunct capable merely of complementary comple comple- complementary service Yet it was an important im- im import im im- port nt adjunct which the railroads would lose if th they y continued to fight it as a competitor Thus it happens that within the last few months the railroads have been buying up all the established motorbus lines operating in their territories Eighteen Eight Eight- een months ago not one railroad in inthis inthis inthis this co country was using Then the Boston and Maine 1 and the New Haven lines set the pace by proper ordination co-ordination of the bus with the rail service At the present writing thirty leading railroads are planning to use the motorbus extensively m in in recovering revenues diverted by automobile riding and putting unprofitable branch lines into the paying column Among these are the Great North Northern rn the Santa Fe and the Pennsylvania systems Competition has been changed to co With those bus lines which still remain in independent operation operation operation opera opera- tion outside the railroad merger the railroad companies are entering into arrangements whereby all ali short-haul short freight is turned over to the trucks in return for which the trucks agree more or less to keep out of the long-haul long field Trucks are preferable to railroads in hauling perishables where time is of utmost importance and the railroads know it Equipped with refrigerator plants they can handle fresh meats dressed poultry eggs butter milk fruit and other perishables in record time On the oth other r hand they are not nearly so well suited as the railroads to handling handling handling han han- cargo in bulk The two branches of f transportation can therefore co- co co operate to good advantage Like the railroads the street rail rail- agents who took tribute in gold golddust golddust golddust dust and in its stead the in in- in- in closed motorbus glides alon along the rim of the canyon the last word in luxurious automobile travel ways a at first fought the busses wit with with h great energy Now they themselves ar are e buying up bus lines and establishing g new ones to fill in the gaps in their own transportation systems Although h the increase of busses has bas been so enormous enormous enormous enor enor- during the last five years in ou our r big cities they have not injured th the e street-car street trade as much as was predicted predicted pre pre- when they first caused a flutter r in street railway securities Statistics Statistic s show that the year 1923 marked th the e largest number of passengers carried b by Y the electric railways in their entire e history some history some sixteen billion persons In Ii I 1924 when there was a slight decrease e in industrial activity there was a fallin falling g off of only 2 per cent The bus bus bus' busis is isan an adjunct rather than thaD t the successor to the street car according according accord accord- N ing to William J J. J Harvie president nt of the New York Electric Electric Railway Asso Asso- We are arc facing a new condition condition condition condi condi- tion not a complete transition from ono one form of transportation to another form but a partial transition and a revamping revamping revamping revamp revamp- ing of our methods so that we may bythe by bythe bythe the addition of the bus furnish a more moro complete and more mOle extensive transportation transportation transportation tation service than was possible before Our danger as I see it is that some somo of us us may feel that we are fa facing ng a complete transition in existing transportation transportation tation facilities and the consequent disappearance disappearance dis dis- disappearance appearance of electric cars cars and and indeed some do think so I do not share this thought for so long as large numbers of people d desire sire to be transported by a public conveyance from place to place at about the same time the electric carwill car carwill carwill will be the most expeditious method by which that can be accomplished The overcrowding of Mr Harvie points out is not not practical and nd not be allowed a allowed d. d Trolleys could not exist but for the straphangers he ha asserts but the motorbus must expect to o give every passenger a seat for safety's sake W We e mu must t take for granted that busses cannot give as good service as the the trolley at trolley rates Each has its own own field and they must be co co- co THE HE widespread rise of the motorbus E in rural districts is likely to have an Important effect upon the development of the country Already a boom is noticeable in some of the larger towns whose railroad service is scant and in in- in- in complete It is playing a leading partin part partin in the new real estate development of Florida The radio has brought the individual farmer into close touch with the cities but the is actually transporting him and his farm products to metropolitan Main Streets Sections of the West which have heretofore de depended depended depended de- de upon burros and pack mules for communication with the outside world now now receive their theira a- a daily papers and bottles bottIe of milk with the rest of us Two months o the ago ono the last of the historic his his- tonic twenty-mule twenty s two wagon teams which for some thir thir- ty-five ty years have h handled and led all aU the freighting in and fr R around Death ValS Valley Valley Val Val- S ley Se Searles rles Lake and the Panamint x Range in one of the hottest driest an and most precarious sections sections sections sec sec- of California made its final trip week the next The rhe across the desert mules were sold and the wagons attached at- at attached attached at at- as trailers to the new motor motor- truck trains Trucks |