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Information and IdeasMediumSelect observation supporting a historical interpretation

Information and Ideas practice question

In the archives of the Ellsworth Street Railway, historian Junia Okonkwo found a printed timetable for the Canal Line, issued in 1897. Okonkwo argues that the line, though it ran through the city's commercial district, was designed first and foremost to carry workers to and from the mills at the eastern end of the route rather than to carry shoppers downtown.

Which observation about the 1897 timetable, if accurate, would most directly support Okonkwo's argument?

  1. A. Cars departed every six minutes between 5:30 and 7:00 a.m. and again between 3:30 and 5:00 p.m., but only once every 40 minutes between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.Correct
  2. B. The line's western terminus stood two blocks from the city's largest department store.
  3. C. A single fare was charged at every hour of the day and on every day of the week.
  4. D. The timetable was printed on inexpensive paper and reissued twice each year.

Answer: A. Cars departed every six minutes between 5:30 and 7:00 a.m. and again between 3:30 and 5:00 p.m., but only once every 40 minutes between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

Okonkwo's claim is about whom the schedule was built to serve. Choice A shows service concentrated precisely at shift-change hours and thinned out during the midday shopping period, which is the pattern one would expect if mill workers were the intended riders. Choice B points to proximity to a department store, which suggests the opposite: that shoppers were a priority. Choice C describes the fare structure, which applies identically to all riders and therefore distinguishes no group of passengers. Choice D concerns the physical production of the document rather than the service it advertised, so it has no bearing on who the line was meant to carry.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. The line's western terminus stood two blocks from the city's largest department store.
Sitting two blocks from the largest department store points toward shoppers as the intended riders, which undercuts Okonkwo's argument instead of supporting it.
C. A single fare was charged at every hour of the day and on every day of the week.
A single flat fare applies to every rider at every hour, so it distinguishes mill workers from shoppers in no way at all.
D. The timetable was printed on inexpensive paper and reissued twice each year.
Cheap paper and twice-yearly reprinting describe how the document was produced, not whom the service was scheduled to carry.

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