One of the most colorful yet neglected eras in American transportation history is re-created in this definitive history of the electric interurbans. Built with the idea of attracting short-distance passenger traffic and light freight, the interurbans were largely constructed in the early 1900s. The rise of the automobile and motor transport caused the industry to decline after World War I, and the depression virtually annihilated the industry by the middle 1930s.
Part I describes interurban construction, technology, passenger and freight traffic, financial history, and final decline and abandonment. Part II presents individual histories (with route maps) of the more than 300 companies of the interurban industry.
"Reviews"
"A first-rate work of such detail and discernment that it might well serve as a model for all corporate biographies. . . . A wonderfully capable job of distillation."
--"Trains"
"Few economic, social, and business historians can afford to miss this definitive study."
--"Mississippi Valley Historical Review"
"All seekers after nostalgia will be interested in this encyclopedic volume on the days when the clang, clang of the trolley was the most exciting travel sound the suburbs knew."
--"Harper's Magazine"
"A fascinating and instructive chapter in the history of American transportation."
--"Journal of Economic History"
"The hint that behind the grand facade of scholarship lies an expanse of boyish enthusiasm is strengthened by a lovingly amassed and beautifully reproduced collection of 37 photographs."
--"The Nation"

This conference volume deals with the question of what the economic impact of a shift in federal taxation toward greater use of indirect taxes would be with respect to the rate of saving and investment, personal effort, the balance of payments, and the efficiency of resource use. A major focus therefore is on the economic growth and balance-of-payments aspects which have been most emphasized in recent proposals for substitution of a sales tax or a value-added tax for part of the existing income tax. Originally published in 1964. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

This conference volume deals with the question of what the economic impact of a shift in federal taxation toward greater use of indirect taxes would be with respect to the rate of saving and investment, personal effort, the balance of payments, and the efficiency of resource use. A major focus therefore is on the economic growth and balance-of-payments aspects which have been most emphasized in recent proposals for substitution of a sales tax or a value-added tax for part of the existing income tax. Originally published in 1964. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.