The New Electric Line Should Be Welcomed

THE NEW ELECTRIC LINE SHOULD BE WELCOMED

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Will Tap Valuable Territory That Should Bring Trade to Ann Arbor

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The Road Should Be Treated Fairly and Given Facilities for Reaching Business Portion of the City --- May have a Loop

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Ann Arbor has an opportunity now to secure a north and south electric line. To the business men this enterprise must appeal very strongly. It means everything to the retail merchants of Ann Arbor, for the reason that it will for fifteen or twenty miles north and south, bring to their counters a large patronage which does not now come to Ann Arbor at all, or if at all only spasmodically. To bring the people of this wide extent of territory into communication with the excellent stores of Ann Arbor by means of an up-to-date electric line means that Ann Arbor merchants shall control those sections of territory not only for occasional or incidental shopping, but for the larger portion of the trade throughout each season.

The wide-awake business men of Ann Arbor should foresee what it means to have the Ypsilanti and Saline branch cut by the Ohio & Michigan line and all the southern portion of Washtenaw county connected with the county seat by electric line facilities. This means that at this intersection an interchange of tickets will be arranged so that without inconvenience except that of stepping from one car to the other, all the south-western as well as the southern part of the county is given convenient hourly service to the county seat and this coupled with the fact that county seat business brings all the people more or less often to the county capital, offers new and attractive prospects to Ann Arbor retail merchants if the Ohio & Michigan line is sufficiently encouraged by giving this line an independent franchise into the city. This is a necessary step, indeed an essential provision in order to put the new line on an equal footing with the roads with which it must deal in an interchange of conveniences so essential to good public service.

If, as Mr. Austin suggested in his talk to the city council last night, Ann Arbor business men wish to take care of the present and provide for the future they must not lose sight of the necessity of centralizing electric line communication with all sections tributary to the county capital and this can only be done by giving these lines something near equal rights and privileges in the city.

Furthermore, to handle the crowds which will continue to grow in size and frequency to witness the University field day sports and the many other large assemblies of people which shall come to Ann Arbor it must be clear to every citizen that a loop or belt line in the business center of the city must come sooner or later, and the sooner the better. Other cities have provided and are providing this easy and convenient means of accommodating congested passenger traffic and Ann Arbor will be not only behind but will suffer materially if the city council and the business men do not take this matter in hand.