IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. X 
be spent on the journey from house to work ; that is, the limit of 
the availability of the suburban district as a place of residence. 
A street car drawn by horses moving at the rate of eight miles 
per hour could thus serve an area of two hundred square 
miles, within which people might live and yet reach the centre 
of the district by one hour’s travel. With the introduction of 
electric power and an increase in the speed of the cars to an 
average rate of fifteen miles an hour, the area which can be 
served within an hour’s journey from the central point reaches 
seven hundred square miles, or three and one-half times as 
great as was the case when horses were employed. 
This increased speed of transit has resulted in many benefits. 
Instead of being obliged to reside within limited areas, where 
land is expensive and rents are consequently high, the popu- 
lation may now spread out into large districts where land is of 
less value, and where each house may stand detached from its 
neighbors. The distribution of the population over a larger 
area is also of great advantage to the street railways ; for when 
people lived almost wholly within limited urban areas the 
majority of them were able to walk to and from their work, but 
when this same population is spread out over large areas the 
railways obtain a steady patronage from those who desire to 
live outside of the heart of the cities beyond the ordinary 
walking distance, and are consequently obliged to use the 
cars at least twice in each day. 
Rapid means of transit has affected the tenement-house 
districts, where masses of people are crowded together in 
the large cities, within limited areas, and has on that account 
exerted a great influence upon the general social conditions 
within the cities. Extended areas in the country have been built 
up with houses of medium cost, the rents of which fall within 
the means of the day laborer, and these lower rents and 
improved conditions have led to the removal of many families 
away from the crowded portion of the cities, out into these 
newly established suburbs. This transference of population 
has had an effect on rents in both city and suburbs, and as the 
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