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Show p WHAT WE THINK OF THE JITNEY BUS. Tho Standard has been receiving: l number of unsigned letters In reference refer-ence to the Jitney bus service. Of ecurse. these letters are all consigned to the waste basket, but we have :i Inter from :i lady who wants to know why the Standard does not encourage the Jitney bus. and we gladly slate J , the Standard does not and ban ret encouraged the Jitney busses. Of course, as everybody else tnu.it r. recognize, the street railway compa ny must take chances on losing all j of its investment by the adaptation of new invpn lions for modes of travel . y hut at the same time, as a newspa- t per voicinr tne best interests of Og- " den City and her people, we Iirvc n 1 duty to perform and this duty should be performed fearlessly and we eon- cettre that duty to be to give notice X to the public that the Jitney bus fprvice in Ogden City would not he. i -M any benefit to the people or the city at large. Individually, now and then, a person might be benefited In rett'ng an automobile ride for five i cents from the center of the city to i a residence in the city, and return for the same fare. But would the J Jitney service buiid up Ogden City.' ! For years this city has witnessed the railroads bringing people through Ug d"-n Ciy and on to Salt Lake. For yean Ogden City hung at the canailf figures of 12.00 to 16.000. Then in Ben shor' years it Jumps from those fisures to a city of 5.on0 peop'e. What has done this? The leaving of our streets, the buildlne of a modern street railway 6ysiem. 'he branching of our street railway system to Piam City, another to North Ogden. another un Ogden Canyon, another to Brighar.i City, and now the Logan branch is b-ing constructed. One Jitney bus at a cost of SO0 could establish a line -j from Ogdn to Logan and return, but I it will coAt in the neighborhood ot I three and one-half million dollars to grade .nd construct the Ogden VL-L-2sr Railway from Logan to Ogden. rnd when this road s constructed the l.nr will b 'axed by our State Board of Equalisation something like $20.-000 $20.-000 to $20,000 per mile, while the Jitney bus making the round trip to I Logan would bo wxrn out and untax-able untax-able at the. end of the -year,, if 4t vers sti'l in existence. Tho. Ogden-Rapid Transit , company employs between one hundred and'fifty and. two hundred hun-dred ;ind-,tv,eutv-frve. men everyday in the year, and this, street; railway company uinst continuo to do this or v.o out of business. Tho Jitney bus service can take its little automobile and run offito an- other olty at any time. Ia there really any comparison between tbe two? Is there any reason why a newspaper news-paper should favor the Jitney sor-, sor-, vice' If the Standard were to como out tomorrow and ask the City Commissioners Com-missioners to grant the. Jitney franchise, fran-chise, we dare say there would be a meeting of the directors of the Ogden & Lofran Railway within twenty-four hours and we believe the president nl the road would bo Justified in stating: stat-ing: "Gentlemen. Olden s leading newspaper news-paper frvors a Jitney service in pref rente to a legitimate electric railroad. rail-road. If only costs ?8nn to put the Ford ear on the road and one man to operate it to corap?t? with us, and yet we must build r.iilroad grade? at a cost of $30,000 per mile over wttCfl fo run our cars. If the people of Ogden feel that the Jitney bus I? what they want, we must stop build-'nir build-'nir the railroad at once " Not only that, but the paving of the SM-w,.tsi 0f Ogden would be stopped at once because the railroad company would be justified in abandoning theft fran hlse in the city. This Jitney bus business is a mighty small ihing to the man who has only a nickel to invest in a ride and does not care a snap what becomes oi Ogden Og-den and her people. Hut to a QOBt-pany QOBt-pany of Ogden people who bought out j the Jarvis-Conklin company in order io put in a meritorious railway in this , city and have spent millions of dollars to reconstruct the Ogden Cltv railway ' and buiid branch lines, and who are ready t.. ttofld more, whose whole in- : terests are In Ogden City and who must continue the construc'ion of i branch lines rn order to make Oqden grow, to them the Jitney bus service j on the two best streets in Osden to lick up the cream of the business, to : them, wc say, the Jitney bus moans much so much that the people who j have Ogden Cit's best interests at j heart cannot afford to cry for the I Jitney bus. The Jitney bus company wants to pot on five automobiles to take the cream 01' the gtreef railway busineFS ! Five four-passenger Fords cost 1 g3,50 .Against this the Ogden Rapid Transit company must pave one-third at the streets of Ogden and keep them in repairs The cost of each i block is more than the entire .litnev service company proposes to expend In starting its business. The work ; that our cily railway' company did during the year lf14 in the way of improvements, tracks and pavements amounted to 118,233.1? In addition ! to this, the payroll of the Ogden 1 Rapid Transit company for 10111 amounted to $140,;.', 1.07. in addition, to this, the company constructed a new depot at a cost of 114,000 and i spent $!. 000 for new cars and electric equipment and employs this very month over one hundred and fifty peo ple. And the C'den RaPlfl Traneil people have spenf tn's money Unow ing- that the road ne, ver paid a cent nl dividends since they101111 th' P,atf from the Jarvis-ConkftJ" concern. Wo do not mean toV Sil' hut street railway company V" n"1 any money, but wo do ltan to say that if those people made cf'' money they have put it all back irr'mprove menip. and a rea' deal morrV In Inv provements than' they have anV"n,"'F of getting back in the very vnenr future. If the Jitney bus service will start up a service in some part of Ogden 1 where (heir- is now no service ulveir by the street railway company and where there would he no competition with the street railway company, there would he no objection either by the Standar.i or by the street railway rail-way company, but the Jitney people are very frank and sav they will put on the bus service where the Ogden Rapid Transit company has its great- it traffic. If the Ogden Rapid Trail-; git company did the huslness that c in Francisco or Los ngeles does where enrs followin? each other every min I ute are packed to standing room, 'then there 1 1 1 I be no objections to ! a Jitney service in Ogden. We are ! told tha' in San Francisco and Los Angeles iho Jitnev is a relief to the street railway company, but In cities the size of Oirdeu where the street railway company cannot hope to make a profit for several years to come, there is no ftood reason whv people should ask that a Irtney service or franchise be granted in an effort to put the street railway company out of business. Personalis, the Standard editor would like to see (he Jitney bus stop In front of the Standard office and take us to lunch every day. and we would be glad to pay five cents for this service, and yet we would rather walk every day. as we now do. than to have this bus service pui In force to the injury of the Ogden Rapid Transit company and the discontinuing discontinu-ing of the electric lines now under construction. Xo. rather than encourage the Jitney Jit-ney plan, let the people he loyal to the Ogden Rapid Transit company, a concern more than fair to the people of Ogden. Let us look at the accident in the Ogden canyon one year ago last Fourth of .lulv when a number of people peo-ple were injured and killed. The company already h.s paid over Sso.i'.uo to the injured and not half of the claims are adjusted. That shows a spirit nf fair play. Contrast this statement, and the prompt paying of the cash by this Ogden company with the old Jarvis-Conklln company which simply allowed the people to hring suit and get judgment, and then every' two or three vears the company had the bondholders foreclose the mortgage mort-gage on the street railway companv and. the company's property would not sell for enough to pay the bonds or mortgage ami In that way they would wipe out all the judgments the Injured In-jured people sot acainst the company. The Ocden Rapid Transit company's present management could have done this same thing, but decided to settle with each person injured and pay the cash. Ogden people caunot afford to go back on a company that treat its people peo-ple ag fairly and generously as the? present company does. Yes. give the Jitney company a franchise, but mke it pave one-third of the streets that the busses run over. Make them pay the same kind of taxes and licenses that the Ogden Rapid Transit company must pay If they want to go into competition with the Ogden Rapid Transit company, give them the same terms exactly and there will be no complaint. |
