Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 10.djvu/812

 796 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

surface car, and hence handles a much larger relative proportion of the traffic. While there are less than one-ninth as many ele- vated as either type of surface cars, the mileage made by the elevated cars is more than one-sixth of the total made by the sur- face. This, of course, increases the average seating capacity of the rolling-stock as a whole.

In summer the average seating capacity of the elevated and open surface cars on the Boston system is nearly, if not fully, equal to that of the Glasgow cars, and this with protection from the weather, and without the delays and inconvenience in requir- ing passengers to climb to the roof. Double-deck cars were tried in Boston at one time, but abandoned because it was found impos- sible to handle heavy traffic with sufficient expedition; and it is chiefly on this account, in fact, that the street-railway judgment of this country has been, on the whole, against the use of this type of rolling-stock.

The Glasgow system, June I, 1903, with 130 miles (measured as single track), represented a total capital investment of $13,- 405,024, or $103,115 per mile. The Boston system, including stock and bonds of leased lines, is capitalized at a little less than $44,500,000; and if to this be added the cost of the city-owned subway, on which cost the company pays the interest and a liberal sinking-fund contribution, the total capital investment becomes approximately $48,500,000, or $110,227 per mile. There is no presumption of overcapitalization here, as compared with Glasgow, in view of the costly elevated and subway sec- tions which form a part of the Boston service, and of the further fact that labor cost of construction in this country includes a wage-rate practically double that of Scotland, and which is only partially offset by the superior skill and energy of our workmen.

The Boston system, with earnings of about $12,000,000 annually, pays a direct tax of seven-eighths of one per cent, on gross earnings, a state corporation tax of about $16 per $1,000 of market value of the stock, and local taxes on its real property, in the various municipalities through which its lines pass, ranging from $15 to $20 per $1,000 of assessed valuation; and, in addi- tion, is required to remove snow and ice from, and maintain the