Check account in Bank of Orleans, Jan. 11, 1919. Deposit on 3′, Certificates, Hibernia Bank $3,$36.50 2,222.72 Discussion Upon the Paper Entitled "Suggested Changes in the The Local Street Railway Situation. In the February issue It is a sign of healthy activity and progressiveness in the the liberty of quoting a few words from a letter of Mr. E. J. Glenny, our Commissioner of Public Utilities, which bear upon this very point: "I wish to thank the Engineering Society for the opportunity to appear before it, and to assure them that it was a most helpful evening. "If the city had other bodies which were as constructive in their efforts as the Engineers showed themselves to be, it would go a long way toward solving many of the difficult problems with which the authorities are confronted." The entry of our country into the world war imposed very severe conditions upon the public utility corporations in almost every part of the land. Many of them, like our own Railway and Light Company, were already finding the going very difficult, and the declaration of war simply added to their burdens. Almost everything they had to purchase in order to produce the product they offered for sale, viz., electric power and the privilege of riding upon their street cars, increased tremendously, while the general public at the same time strenuously opposed any increase in the selling price of this product. The other alternative presented by these conditions was to cut down the operating expenses by carrying the same amount of traffic with fewer cars. This would naturally also raise a protest from the general public. Increased cost of operation of street railways is a problem. with which we shall have to contend most probably for a number of years to come, and we shall be obliged either to pay a higher price for the service rendered or to find means of reducing the operating expenses by making some radical changes in the present methods of operation. From the point of view of the physical conditions affecting the solution of the New Orleans Railway's problem the following stand out prominently: 1. The great area of the city, with a consequent low density of population, requiring the maintenance of very long lines of track, which cannot be used in the most efficient way. 2. Too much duplication of service on neighboring parallel streets following in a general way the longer axes of the city. 3. Too few "cross-town" lines or lines taking the shortest distances between residence and business sections. 4. The unfortunate conditions resulting from the fact that there are two different track gauges in use, preventing the interchangeable use of equipment or the shifting of traffic from line to line as occasion may demand. 5. Too few paved streets, which results in vehicular traffic, both light and heavy, following the car tracks, thus bringing about greater congestion and consequent interruption of traffic. The natural solution of the problem resulting from these conditions involves a rerouting of existing lines, which in its simplest elements means the changing of certain lines from their present locations to others, and also the complete removal of tracks from certain streets. This is the standpoint from which the problem was principally discussed by Mr. Hogg, Mr. Datz and others. Immediately, however, the subject of rerouting is broached there arises a storm of protest from such of the general public as feels that its sacred rights are being interfered with. The power of the ancient and never-ending franchise is invoked, injunctions are sued out and all progress is stopped. This seems to put the problem squarely up to the municipal authorities and the lawmakers, and such changes must be made in the existing laws or new ones must be enacted which will enable the authorities to take up the problem as a whole and reroute the lines according to some efficient plan which shall be worked out by a fair and impartial board of experts in such manner as to serve the best interests of all parties concerned. The franchise bugaboo has too long been permitted to hinder progress in this community. There are other points brought out by the different men who discussed this problem which are worthy of our attention and perhaps worthy of a trial in our railway system whenever it gets into a condition for trying out new schemes. And even here we come up against existing laws and ordinances. Why should there be a stop of five minutes at the end of every run? Why must we have two men upon each and every car when other progressive cities are operating with great success and economy the new type of car which has come to have the popular name of "safety car," requiring the use of only one man? Why should we not put into force again the skip-stop system? As a rule the length of our blocks is so short that the skipstop does not inflict a real hardship upon any person. We did not give this system a really fair trial here in New Orleans; it was discontinued before the people grew accustomed to it. The general public as a rule is opposed to any innovation where it has grown accustomed to a certain kind of service, and it must be educated up to an appreciation of the advantages of the change. With persistence the general public may even be educated to an appreciation of poor service as recently pointed cut by the Commissioner of Public Utilities. It should certainly, therefore, not be too difficult a proposition to teach the people to understand the advantages of a readjustment of conditions of routing and operation of the street railway system which would ultimately lead to better and more efficient service for the public while at the same time giving to the owners of the utility a fair return upon their investment. It may be recalled that not long ago when the Sewerage and Water Board found itself in need of more funds to meet the increasing cost of operation, it did not ask the general public what it thought about the proposition, but simply cut down the amount of free water allowed to the property holders, which amounted virtually to an increase of about twenty-five per cent in the water rate. Strange to say, this brought forth scarcely a protest. Quite a number of our people believe that the broad road to the successful operation of our street railways and lighting lies in municipal ownership. Suffice it to say here that with existing political conditions in our American cities the majority of independent engineers hold that municipal ownership is not a solution of the many problems now confronting our publie utilities. Widening Our Field of Activity. A recent number of Engineering and Contracting contains a leading editorial entitled, Why Engineering Societies Should Endorse Meritorions Public Works Projects." We take the liberty of reprinting the editorial here for the main idea in it is suggestive of a direction in which we might turn some of the energy of our own organization. **Engineering societies have not hitherto considered it to be one of their regular functions to advise the pub |