license was to be paid on this last quotient. As the number of trips of each car diminishes with the increasing length of the street car lines, and as the number of cars not in use at any one time increases, with the growing use of open cars in warm weather and closed cars at other times, the license per car steadily falls. Under the law of 1878 the three main companies would have had to pay $318,150 on the 6363 cars claimed by them in 1896, while the actual licenses paid that year were only $55,491.48, or 17.4 per cent. of the full tax of $50 per car. What the companies would pay under the regulation car license and what they did pay is illustrated by the following straight lines, whose respective lengths represent the two items:

The companies agreed to pay the expenses of the past litigation over the question of car licenses, and it was agreed that "nothing in this section contained, or the acceptance hereof, shall, in any manner, impair, change or alter the existing rights, duties and obligations of the city or of said companies, respectively, from and after the expiration of said term of years hereinbefore mentioned."

In his endorsement of this measure in his message to the City Council of August 6, 1883, Mayor Harrison thus spoke: "No one can be more impressed than I by the enormity of the injustice attempted to be perpetrated upon this city by the General Assembly of the State by the act of 1865 extending the franchises the several railroad lines affected by it nearly three-quarters of a century. I have always entered upon the discussion of that act with all my prejudices arrayed against it, but I am forced to yield to the opinions of lawyers far abler than myself that the act of 1865 is valid. Hemmed as are the courts at the present time by decisions which they consider binding upon them, I fear that, were the matter to be taken before them at this time the city would stand a poor show for a favorable decision. There has been, however, a tendency in our higher courts, during the last few years, to lean somewhat to the people, and to recognize that they have some rights which the legislatures of the day can not barter off forever to powerful corporations. Day by day the Darmouth College decision is becoming less and less sacred. Perhaps in twenty years from now the courts may be so free that the city may be able to get a hearing which to-day would be denied it. With these views I was anxious to stave off the determination of the question of the validity of the act of 1865. The present ordinance leaves the whole matter in abeyance for twenty years, and is therefore favorable to the city."

From an aggregate original capitalization of $350,000 the three companies grew until, in 1886, their aggregate capitalization was $14,437,000. In making comparisons the year 1886 is chosen because in that year began the absorption of the two companies controlling the street railway traffic on the North and West Sides of the city by an eastern syndicate. With this absorption began a system of financing which made for its managers millions of dollars.

The following table shows the mileage and capitalization of the various street railway companies in 1876:

*Name afterward changed to North Chicago Street Railroad Company. Afterwards absorbs Chicago Passenger Railway Company and name changed to West Chicago Street Railroad Company.

The table below gives the mileage and capitalization of the three great companies at the close of 1896:

This table shows that the outstanding obligations of the Chicago City Railway are $16,619,500 or $90,216 per mile; of the North, $14,780,900 or $146,346 per mile, and of the West Chicago Street Railway Company, $30,291,900 or $149,500 per mile. The total par value of the obligations of all three systems is $61,692,300 or $126,460 per mile.

The particulars of the outstanding obligations of the three companies are given in another table.

OUTSTANDING OBLIGATIONS.

WEST CHICAGO STREET RAILWAY COMPANY.

Capital stock

West Chicago Street R. R. Co., first mort., 5 per cent. bonds... 6 per cent. debenture bonds..

Floating debt, about..

Chicago W. Div. Ry. Stop. (35 per cent. guaranteed)

first mort., 412 per cent. bonds

Chicago Passenger Ry., 6 per cent. consolidated bonds..

first mort., 6 per cent. bonds.
stock, 5 per cent. div. guaranteed

West Chicago St. Ry. Tunnel Co., first mort., 5 per cent. bonds

Recapitulation.

In other words, the capital per mile of track has grown from 1886 to the end of 1896 from $66,838 a mile to $126,255 a mile.

In 1882 all the lines were horse car. Of the 78.3 miles of street occupied, 15.5 miles belonged to the North Chicago Street Railway Company, 18.8 miles belonged to the City Railway on the South Side, and 44 miles were possessed by the Chicago West Division Railway.

In 1886 only 20 miles were cable-on the South Side-and the remaining 196 miles were horse car. At the close of 1896 the mileage was as follows:

The following tables show the approximate cost of duplicating the properties of the three leading street railway companies:

Maximum Cost of the Three Leading Street Railways of Chicago.

While a liberal allowance on all items would bring the cost of duplication of the three main street railway systems to $31,739,626, or $65,061 per mile as given in this maximum table, there is good reason for the belief that the cost would not exceed $28,535,699, or $58,494 per mile, as given in the accompanytable. The 390.36 miles of electric track and the 15.14 miles of horse car track is there estimated at $14,000 a mile, at which it could certainly be duplicated at the present price of steel rails. The 82.34 miles of cable track are here given at $37,500 a mile, the figure given to a representative of the Bureau by a good authority. Overhead construction feeders and conduits are reckoned at $4,500, which is considered reasonable for Chicago by good electricians. The land of the companies is quoted at the value put upon each property by more than one disinterested dealer in real estate, while the miscellaneous account is reduced to $1,500 a mile. In view of the allowance of $1,822 for Boston by Mr. Higgins and the considerable amount of items usually credited to this fund, which is here credited to the "other cars" than electric motors and grips, $1,500 seems a fair figure. With the discarding of horses, $1,000 a mile is a good allowance for storage barns and shops.

One of the lerding street railway builders of Chicago informs a representative of the Bureau, after a careful examination of each item of the maximum table, that those figures were certainly "safe" and he believed these three systems could be built today for $60,000 a mile.

Minimum Cost of the Three Leading Street Railways of Chicago.

$5,677,000

405.5 miles electric track, at $14,000 per mile. 82.34 miles cable track, at $37,500 per mile.

390.36 miles overhead construction feeders, etc., $4,500 per mile. Equipment, as before.

Power machinery, 53, 200 horse-power, at $70.

Power houses, as before, at $20 horse-power.

Storage buildings, shops, etc., $4,000 per mile
Land..

3.087,750

1,756, 620

6,016, 500

3,724,000

1,064,000

1,951,360

2,526,709

731.760 2,000,000

$28,535, 699 58,494

A review of what these estimates are based upon may here be made.

In defense of this minimum estimate reference may further be made to the following:

1. An official of one of the Chicago street railway companies, which has built many miles of track in the past four years, estimates that, aside from special work, paving and filling, (which cost under $4,000 a mile for cedar block, cobble stone or macadam) the cost of eighty pound rails, overhead construction, iron poles and all else pertaining to a good track, except feeders, is only $12,733 per mile. As our allowance for track, overhead construction and feeders in the minimum estimate was $18,500, this leaves about $2,000 a mile for feeders and special work at crossings and curves. Our maximum estimate would leave $3,500 for these items.

2. It seems altogether likely that if all of the three great Chicago roads were electric they could be duplicated to-day for $50,000 a mile. Mr. E. E. Higgins, in the Street Railway Journal article already referred to, estimates that the maximum cost of duplicating the great West End electric road of Boston is only $62,682 a mile, aside from paving, and more than once refers to his estimate as too high. The Boston road, however, carries twice as many passengers per mile and runs cars 43 per cent. more miles per mile of track than does the Chicago City Railway in the case of its electric, cable and horse car lines. The nature of Boston's streets, also, would tend to make street railroad construction there more expensive than in Chicago.

3. The 447 miles of street railway of the Union Traction Company in Philadelphia were reported by the management in sworn returns to public officials as having cost, aside from paving, only $25,151,000, or approximately $56,300 a mile. While the proportion of costly cable track is less in Philadelphia than in Chicago, the cost of construction of all parts of a street railway save land is much less now than during the period of construction of the Philadelphia roads. It is therefore safe to assume that the Chicago roads can be duplicated to-day, aside from paving, for much less than the $56,300 a mile just mentioned. The 390 miles of horse car and electric roads belonging to the three main systems of Chicago are almost entirely paved with wooden blocks, cobble stone or macadam, at an expense, on the average, of less than 75 cents a yard, or $3,500 a mile. Respecting the granite block paving of the 82 miles of cable track, Superintendent Bowen of the Chicago City Railway stated at the last convention of street railway engineers in St. Louis that the