Newspaper Page Text
April, 1915
THE ATLANTIAN
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hall. Forsyth street has become a business street from
the Carnegie Library to its southern end at Whitehall.
With this in mind one can readily grasp the importance
of this short street. #
It was paved once upon a time with Belgian blocks.
This event was so far back in our ancient history that
no one seems to remember when it was done.
It needs a new pavement. If you doubt our statement
take a look at it with your own eyes.
It is not necessary to squabble over the character of
the pavement, whether vitrified brick, or granite cubes.
Fither will do, provided it is done quickly and well. By
all means, let us do away with the interminable ‘‘jaw
fest” which it seems must precede every piece of needed
work, and do this one necessary work harmoniously,
thoroughly, promptly and thus break the hoodoo which
during the past few years has buried all our public work
under a pandemonium of wasted lung power.
A Bad State of Affairs Exists in
Our City Government
The administration of the affairs of the City of At
lanta presents a most perplexing question. For many
years past, the City has had a phenomenal growth in
population, in volume of business and in the way of
buildings. The various communal interests, however,
such as sanitation, education, good streets and public
works, have not kept pace with the growth of the City,
and resulting from this, we find ourselves annually faced
by a finance problem which seems as years go by to
grow rather more acute instead of improving.
It is not our purpose here to find fault with anybo'
—we are not criticising the personnel of the City Gov
ernment. The individual members average up well
enough. They are usually men of good character, of
average intelligence, and not lazv< When these men
come together, however, to administer our City affairs,
they appear to meet with insuperable difficulties. We
have approximately five million dollars per year to
spend, and that five million is annually one million short
of our needs. In other words, we are trving to run a
six-million,’dollar town on five million dollars. This is
the crux of the question. Unless we can find a remedy,
we are bound to go from bad to worse.
The Use of Hired Guards
There is no question at all that in many strikes arms
and badges of authority are bestowed on* men who have
no business with either. Here is a typical case: A min
ing strike occurs: the mine owners call on a private de
tective agency for guards; the sheriff immediately dep
utizes these hired guards and turns the job of maintain
ing order or protecting property over to them.
Furnishing such guards is a regular business of the
detective agency. The leaders and many of the rank and
file of the guards are simply Hessians, whose regular
occupation consists in'protecting property against strik
ers. Of course, they are not neutral in the labor dispute.
They are partisans of the property owners who pay
them. Hire a man by the year to sit with a gun in his
hand in order to see that your neighbors on the south
do not molest vour chickens, and his general sentiment
toward the neighbors on the south will soon become
about that of a dog toward a cat.
Cases of wanton or reckless shooting of strikers almost
always come back to hired guards clothed with the law’s
livery. It is entirely probable that hired guards are usu
ally less interested in upholding the law than in breaking
the strike. The trade of a hired guard is not one likel i
to attract the sort of men who hold a high view of the
majesty of the law.
That there is frequent need to protect property from 1
strikers no open-minded person will deny. To supply that
protection is the business of the state. It has no busi
ness to hand the function over to either of the parties to
the dispute. That is merely a return to the private wars
which so enlivened and ensanguined urban life in medie
val Italy.—Ex. ‘
New Transportation Problems
The European war has been far reaching in its results
in many ways, but perhaps one of the things least ex
pected was that it would strike an American street car.
However, it has reduced very materially street railwav
incomes in manv cities because it brought about the jit
ney service—delivery of passengers by automobile from
one part of a city to another for five cents. Many men
who were out of work as a result of the war owned in
expensive automobiles. Some of these men began to
carrv passengers for five cents. The innovation proved
popular and other cars were purchased for use on jitney,
lines. From the Pacific coast cities the movement swept
eastward; Southern cities quickly adopted the new meth
od of transportation and the Northern and Eastern cities
are now being invaded by the jitney drivers. Approxi
mately five hundred automobiles were turned into -jitney
cars in Dallas; in other Southern and Western cities the
number was proportionately great. The revenues of
street car companies were cut down thousands of dollars
per month. Naturally, they protested; in some cities thev
have secured regulations which, if enforced, will practi
cally drive the jitneys from the field; in other cities the
question of iitney regulation is a very live issue.
But the effect on the street car companies is really a
minor one so far as the average citizen is concerned. It
has been demonstrated that it is possible, on good roads,
to haul passengers in automobiles for several miles for
five cents. That is the chief thing. Opponents of the jit
ney service allege that sufficient allowance is not made
for depreciation and maintenance of cars and that the
owners must eventuallv “go broke.” Many of the own
ers claim otherwise. Probably in this, as in other lines
of business, a good deal depends on the men in charge.
At present, of course, riding in jitneys is something
of a fad and when the noveltv wears off some patronage
will be lost; also, with the increase in industries now
becoming apparent throughout the country, many of the
men now driving jitney cars will return to their former
vocations. Sentimental patronage will be ended and the
iitney service will come down to a plain business prop
osition. This will bring a new tvpe of cars: practical^
all of those now in use were built for pleasure cars and
are unsuited to their present service. Automobile com
panies. however are not likelv to leave unsupplied any
active demand for snecHlv designed iitnev cars.
The jitney line.s are not wholly confined to cities; in-
terurban automobile lines are also being established, fur
nishing passenger service to a considerable number of
towns hitherto lacking in transportation facilities. The
fare on such lines is usually more than five cents, but is