[PRCo] Ahh-nothing better than a good conspiracy

[Dwight Long]

Fred

No doubt the authors of this report felt that the travelers could go faster in buses or autos—hence the name.

Dwight

From: Fred Schneider 
Sent: Tuesday, 15 April, 2014 11:46
To: Western PA Trolley discussion 
Subject: Re: [PRCo] Ahh-nothing better than a good conspiracy
Yes.   We need that conspiracy.   It is better to blame it on NCL, GM, Ford, Dodge, Nash, etc., than on ourselves.   Heaven forbid that we should ever blame ourselves for loving automobiles.   

There is also a conspiracy because it cost just as much to put the whole family in the automobile as it did to put one in the car?   But the trolley company charged four fares for the family if they were all over age five.   (In the middle 1950s, the IRS mileage rate was about a nickel a mile.   That would mean it would cost about 20 cents to drive a car from our home into Lancaster or 18 cents if we took the bus.   But if we went together … it was still 20 cents in the car but 72 cents on the bus.   That was not lost on my father.   My grandpa made the kids walk.   

It was also a conspiracy because the family auto left home when we wanted to go, not when the trolley schedule dictated.   And you didn't have to walk two blocks in the rain to the streetcar stop?   

My mother remembered that my father had two desires (other than what all guys want) when they met.   One was a car of his own and the other was a vacuum tube radio (better than putting his ear next to a crystal set).   He built the radio himself.   He bought the Model A Ford as soon as he graduated from college and got a job in 1930.   After that he no longer had to put up with the B&O, the PRR and Pittsburgh Railways.   

Well, until World War II when gas rationing put him back on the train for business trips. 

One of the larger business firms in downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania was Follmer-Clogg.   They owned a five story high building with a foot print covering an entire city block.   They also had a second building across town.   The main building is now an apartment.   What did they make?   Umbrellas.    An acquaintance who worked for them and who later worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad, explained that the factory was driven out of business by the automobile.   Once we could get into our car right outside our own home instead of standing in the rain at the car stop, we no longer needed bumbershoots.   This is not to imply that we don't still use umbrellas, but that the number out there has greatly declined because of automobiles.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Follmer,_Clogg_and_Company_Umbrella_Factory

You might find the same thing to be true of raincoats. 

But if we try to correct Wikipedia, those who want a conspiracy will recorrect it within hours.    

On Apr 15, 2014, at 6:23 AM, DF Cramer wrote:

> The Snell Report has surfaced again as corporate conspiracy. What else is new? This page has links to the report in PD format.
> http://evworld.com/blogs.cfm?blogid=1243
> Even Wikipedia (not one of their biggest fans) offers a more enlightened insight.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy
> 
> Dennis F. Cramer 
> http://home.windstream.net/dfc1/      
> 
> 
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