Two Red Boxes on Wheels: Olympia's Sorry Excuse for a Streetcar Line
The street railway's president has told the council he can keep the city tied up in court for two years. The Tribune suggests the new council simply take his franchise away.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
If the statement of Councilman John Miller Murphy, made in the city council last evening, was correct, and we see no reason to doubt it, there is an evident intention on the part of George Marvin Savage, president of the Olympia Street Railway company, to wear out the patience of the people of Olympia for a longer period than was expected, with the miserable street car service on Main and Fourth streets. The councilman said Mr. Savage had informed him that he could "keep the matter in the courts for two years." It is quite certain that the two red pneumonia boxes on wheels, number 2 and number 4, will last but a few months longer, and if Mr. Savage is going to keep us in suspense for two years, by the law's delay, it will be necessary to purchase two more bobtail boxes and additional hat-rack horses to pull them. One of the councilmen last night, in the debate on the proposed purchase of the line by Mr. Russell, of Seattle, expressed the opinion that Mr. Savage "had nothing to sell." He is mistaken in that. The two streaks of iron rust, the two red boxes with the windows knocked out and one pair of spavined horses ought to bring one or two hundred dollars. There ought to be a subscription started to raise enough money for that purpose, but then it is expected that Savage would want several thousand dollars for the "plant." Seriously, it looks as if the expiring council will do nothing toward rapid transit in Olympia. The first thing the new city council ought to do is to forfeit Mr. Savage's franchise. The state capital ought not to be disgraced with such an apology for a street railway.
“The first thing the new city council ought to do is to forfeit Mr. Savage's franchise. The state capital ought not to be disgraced with such an apology for a street railway.”
Olympia's transit war of 1891 was fought over franchise terms, service quality and who held the ground under the tracks — the same questions that surface every time a private operator contracts with the city today. The paper's remedy was blunt: revoke the franchise. Then, as now, the argument was less about horsepower than about accountability.
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