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NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
Published every Saturday Afternoon, 
J. ALEX. LODGE and A. E. McCLEARY, 
Editors and Publishers. 
5 Washington Street, Beverly, Mass. 
Branch Office: Pulsifer’s Block, Manchester, Mass. 
W. L. MALOON & CO., PRINTERS. 
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Address all communications and make checks paya- 
ble to NORTH SHORE BREEZE, Beverly, Mass. 
The BREEZE is for sale at all news stands on the 
North Shore. 
The Boston & Northern. 
Memorial day, as has been the cus- 
tom for years, marked the opening of 
the season at numerous parks and re- 
sorts throughout the State. This 
was the case at Salem Willows. 
While the weather is not. such as to 
cause a heavy traffic between here 
and the Willows as yet, still it seems 
that this is the time to speak of cer- 
tain things in this connection. 
Some time ago, a time not very far 
in the past, the city government was 
petitioned by two companies for a lo- 
cation in Beverly for a new street 
line. One of these companies was 
the Boston & Northern, and the other 
was a new company in which many 
local business men had an interest. 
The right to construct the line was 
granted by the city government to 
the Boston & Northern, four of the 
aldermen being in favor. 
While there was considerable in- 
dignation among a number of the cit- 
izens over the granting of the right 
to the said company, a feeling which 
has not yet entirely subsided, we do 
not propose to discuss the merits of 
the case now, but we would like to 
say a word about the service given in 
Beverly and vicinity at the present 
time and compare it to some extent 
with what ought to be given. 
We have heard a great deal of talk 
about the service on the electrics, 
and, what is more to the point, we 
have had some little experience our- 
selves in this line. Among other 
things we have noted that the road 
bed is almost without exception the 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
roughest that we have ever ridden 
over. For the entire distance be- 
tween Salem and Gloucester it is a 
bump, bump, bump all the way there 
and back. The turn-outs—well, the 
less said about them the better. 
Many of the cars are relics of a by- 
gone age and should have been rele- 
gated to the junk heap long ago. 
The running schedule is followed 
well, it is followed, but they sel- 
dom catch up to it. Sometimes it is 
followed quite closely, and again it is 
followed rather more distantly. These 
are afew of the things that we have 
noted during the past few weeks. 
Possibly other people have some other 
things in mind that we have not men- 
tioned. 
Now we come to a few things we 
ought to have. We ought to havea 
regular service, or a service so near 
regular that one could gage some- 
where near accurately the time it 
would be necessary to leave home in 
order to catch a car for a given place. 
We ought to have a road bed that 
would be equal to those in other 
places of this size. We ought to 
have cars that would be worthy of 
the name. 
To return to our starting point. 
The right was granted to the Boston 
& Northern for this new location. 
We submit to the judgment of the 
majority of the board of aldermen 
that this was the wise thing to do. 
But we contend that a glorious oppor- 
tunity was then lost when they did 
not demand and receive guarantees of 
sweeping reforms in the service given. 
At that time a letter was sent to the 
committee of the aldermen from Pres- 
ident Sullivan of the Boston & 
Northern, in which he suggested in a 
general way that certain improve- 
ments were to be made. Among 
them he spoke of improvements in 
tracks at various places, the addition 
of some new rolling stock, and a 
through car to the Willows; but this 
last only as an experiment. 
How much of this has been done? 
A little. The road has been im- 
proved here and there, but so slightly 
that you really would not notice it. 
Four new cars have been put on. 
That is a good thing, but in our own 
travel we have never happened to 
strike one of these cars.. While we 
do not doubt but that they are run > 
regularly, we maintain that there 
should be more of them to make it a 
real benefit. The through car to the 
Willows as an experiment means that 
it can be withdrawn whenever the 
road thinks it does not bring in dol- 
lars enough. It may be run once a 
day, or twice a day, and at any time 
of the day whether convenient or not. 
Beverly is not a rural community. 
The traffic here is as heavy as on 
other roads where the best of service 
is demanded and required. When 
any improvement is asked for here, 
the management makes a reply to the 
effect that the road is making every 
effort to keep things in shape and bet- 
ter the prevailing conditions, etc., 
etc.; expenses are heavy and the diffi- 
culties to contend with are great. 
They give out a lot of generalaties 
about what they are going to do; but 
that is all. They tell you that the 
traffic does not warrant great changes; 
but their traffic is heavy here at least, 
and all down through to Gloucester 
it could be made far heavier, if proper 
accommodation were given. The 
ride down through from Salem to 
Gloucester is through a region noted 
for its historical interest and for its 
beautiful scenery. There are im- 
mense numbers of tourists who 
would come over this route every 
year if the name of the Boston & 
Northern in this locality was not a 
by-word for poor service. 
As we said above, we do not dis- 
pute the wisdom of granting the new 
location to the Boston & Northern; 
but we do contend that it was, to say ~ 
the least; unwise to grant this loca- 
tion without getting in return some- 
thing more than glittering general- 
ities which past experience should 
_ teach will amount to little. 
North Shore Breeze: 
Please send the 
Lreese to the address given below 
Gentlemen: 
months. 
