Detroit To Chicago

DETROIT TO CHICAGO

AN ELECTRIC LINE WITHIN THREE YEARS

Such is the Prediction of An Observant Citizen of Detroit. - Ann Arbor to be on the Line

D. W. Beamer, of Detroit, predicts that within three years there will be an electric line running between Detroit and Chicago. In speaking in favor of 10 tickets for 25 cents on the Detroit street car lines, he said:

That is what it is coming to, and that's more than the suburban lines are charging now, and they are making money.

"The rate of fare on the Wyandotte road is one cent a mile, aud that road has made money from the start. It is such a money-maker that Mr. Hutchins had arranged to buy it from the Hendries before he submitted his proposition to the city offering six tickets for a quarter for a 30-year franchise. The test paying suburban line running into Detroit is that operated by the Hendries from Detroit to Pontiac. They carry passengers 27 miles for 25 cents, and they've forced the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee to take off its suburban trains. The rapid railway to Mt. Clemens forced the Grand Trunk down to a 25 cent fare and then to a 15 cent fare, and even then the people preferred the electric line to the steam cars.

"The Michigan Central refused to profit by the experience of these roads, and, as a result, its line was paralleled by an electric road to Ypsilanti & Ann Arbor. The electric line is running crowded cars into Detroit from these cities, and the number passengers arrived by the Michigan Central is too small to take any account of. These lines are springing up all over the country, and franchises providing for he same rates of fare are grabbed up wherever they can be secured. I predict that within three years there will be an electric line from Detroit to Chicago, and that the rate of fare will not exceed one cent a mile. A franchise has already been granted for a line from Chicago to Niles and a line from  Ann Arbor to Niles will not be long in building."