2.1 DEVELOPMENT OF STREET RAILWAYS 
trains into the cities mornings and out of the cities evenings 
rather than to furnish a uniform service at frequent intervals 
throughout the day. 
Some steam railroads have, however, taken other steps. In 
one or two cases branch railroads have been equipped with 
electricity, and cars have been run frequently, following the 
general plan of street railway operation. Other roads have 
quietly abandoned the contest, especially on branch lines, and 
have contented themselves with running only one or two 
trains a day for passengers, confining the work of these lines 
purely to freight. 
Up to the present time the electric street railways have 
been organized for passenger traffic only, but in a few cases 
the Legislature has granted charters to companies, allowing 
the carriage of express matter and small parcels, and each 
year the electric roads come to the Legislature asking for a 
general privilege allowing them to employ their roads at night 
for the transportation of freight, or allowing them to carry 
merchandise at any time on regular cars. In many sections 
of the state a strong demand for this privilege has arisen, 
owing to the inaccessibility of the present railroad lines which 
fail to touch a large number of the small towns served by one 
or more electric railways, and each year the contest in the 
Legislature becomes more prominent. It is also looked on by 
the people as a means of controlling rates for the transporta- 
tion of merchandise, which will be of advantage to the towns, 
but of course the entire influence of the steam railroads is 
exerted against the proposed legislation. So long as the 
electric roads are confined to the transportation of passengers, 
while they may affect in this respect the receipts of the steam 
railroads, the merchandise traffic, with its natural increase, will 
keep the income of the railroads from showing any marked 
decline. If, however, these electric roads should be given the 
general rights of a steam railroad to carry both passengers and 
freight, their reduced cost of construction, due to the grant of a 
right of way through the public highways, and the flexibility 
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