Show WIlY IS IT One of the inexplicable things is the opposition op-position manifested in the city council and in certain other quarters to the Salt Lake City Railroad company The enmity shows itself with especial distinctness whenever the company goes before the council with a request for permission to extend its track along some street not covered cov-ered Councilmen act as if a big steal were contemplated We believe if every prop ertyowner in a street were to ask that the company be granted a right to lay track and run cars along the street some fellow would jump up and suggest the presence of a colored gentleman in the woodpile wood-pile and it is not improbable that there would be a rustling around to induce some other company to petition for a franchise on the same street Ask any opponent of the company for the cause of his opposition and he will be unable to make answer We have questioned some as to the reasons for their opposition and the nearest to a satisfactory reply yet received re-ceived was because THE HERALD is not the champion of the street railway company and has no interest in it but we do like justice and fair play and we think that meritoiiJus performances should be recognized recog-nized Much has been said about the valuable valu-able franchise that was given to the company com-pany and the council has been criticised as if it had gone in with a band of robbers to plunder the city of something which might have been sold for a large sum At the time the franchise was granted and for long years afterwards its value was mighty smalL Up to ten years ago we doubt that a franchise such as the company possesses could have been sold for a cent if it involved the expenditure ture of half the money that the street railway people had put into the lines at that time It was really an advantage to the municipality that somebody accepted the franchise and took the financial risk which that acceptance meant just as it was beneficial to the city when a few men with courage and cash accepted the gas franchise erected expensive works and laid long lines of mains the matter of pay in the investment being problematical Do the men who are doing all this kicking against the street railway company know that the company has invested here 500000 Do they know that there are twenty miles of track covered cov-ered by electric service the line being one of the best equipped in America 2 Do they know that the mule lines aggregate six miles Do they know that track has been extended not only to paying districts but beyond cars being run on lines at a direct loss to the company 1 Do they know that the city has cean built up much faster along the lines of the railway than elsewhere else-where the street car service doing more than anything else to make land remote from the business centre valuable 1 Do they know that for a long time the company has not only been putting the earnings into new lines and improved equipment but has also been placing heavy assessments on the stock to obtain money to pay for more road Do they know that the company while enjoying a monopoly and having the right to charge 15 cents voluntarily for carrying a passenger has reduced the fare until the rate years ago reached the minimum charged in the United States 1 It seems to us that if the city council were as familiar with the facts as it should be there would be no more of the enmity which shows itself so plainly and there would be no more of the disposition to cinch the company which one cannot fail to observe |