New York possessed thirty different companies, each operating an independent system.

In Philadelphia, Chicago, St.Louis, and San Francisco the growth of urban transportation had been equally haphazard.

The idea of combining the several street railways into one comprehensive corporation had apparently occurred to no one.

The passengers, in their peregrinations through the city, had frequently to pay three or four fares; competition was thus the universal rule.

The mechanical equipment similarly represented a primitive state of organization.