Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 10.djvu/810

794 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY under the very best of the municipalized systems with those realized in many of the larger American cities, the differences are pronounced. Dr. Albert Shaw, author of Municipal Government in Great Britain, who has sometimes been quoted as an advocate of municipal ownership, declared before a committee of the New York legislature: "I have never dreamed of advocating municipal ownership in the city of New York. I have never thought of it as a remedy." And, as to foreign cities: "I never believed any experience derived from them of any applicability to our cities." Mr. Charles Francis Adams, who was a member of the special Massachusetts investigating committee appointed in 1897, and whose right to speak with considerable authority on these matters is unquestionable, declares that he has "never yet found in Europe anywhere a case of municipal or public transportation worthy an instant's consideration as compared with our own." This has the appearance of an extreme view, to be sure; but concrete facts go a long way in support of it.

Suppose, for example, the comparison is made between the Glasgow experiment, which is decidedly the most favorable for municipal ownership that could be taken, and the Boston system, which, if it is indeed the best in the United States, has many a close second so far as practical operation is concerned, whatever may be said of the general fiscal relations with the community. Of that, more later.

Glasgow today has 139 miles of tramway, measured as single track. The population of the city is about 800,000; and in the financial statement and general account issued by the Tramways Committee the total population served, including the suburbs, is given as one million. The Boston Elevated Railway Co. operates, as a unit, some 440 miles of elevated, subway, and surface lines, and serves approximately the same aggregate population, including the suburbs. In other words, Glasgow has one mile of track for every 7,200 of population, in round numbers; Boston, one mile for every 2,270. The Glasgow system in 1902-3 carried 177,179,594 passengers; the Boston company carries about 236,000,000 paying passengers, of whom 130,000,000 use free transfers, making 366,000,000 separate trips furnished. The