The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-03-08

created between the upper parts of the island and the
adjacent towns and villages. Traffic Ii chiefly car
ried on in the small triangle at the lower end of the
island. The business being there the object of every
business is to have it rs near to his
| place Of busness-as he can. fyou do not give him
access to the upper portion OF the CITY as easy as IT'S
Island he will go to Of these places preference
Therefore, it is of great Importance to New York to
keep these people on the island. Already Brooklyn
has more than one hundred thousand inhabitants,
! nary OF whom are in a great degree supported by
| the business Of New York. So with Williamsburg,
| and so with jersey City. If we could have kept on
the island all the people whose place Of business is
| here we should have increased our population by
| more than hundred thousand II is, therefore, a
great question for New York so to arrange the ave-
nues and modes OF transport on our own island as to
prevent people from going to the adjacent towns;
railroads along the island. The plan proposed by my
clients is to have trunk line Of railroad along the
great central ridge OF the island and to ntersect it
by means OF transverse lines OF omnibuscs every four
or Eve streets from river to river The consequence
Of this would be that every person the settled parts
OF the island would be within two or three blocks of
public conveyance Therefore, the establishments OF
some such system was Of the greatest Importance to
the growth Of the city, to the increase of taxable
property and consequently to the essenng of taxes
The Broadway railway may be postponed, obstacles
intervene; we may have great deal Of difficulty in
carrying the measure into effect; but think it re-
quires prophet to foresee that, sooner later,
there will be q railroad on Broadway, as on every
other avenue Of our city. Delegations Of gentlemen
may come to Albany this year. and, if they succeed,
may come again next year, and the year after; but,
sooner or later we must have railroad in Broad
way because it is law Of our condition. Every year
you postpone it retards prosperity; but come it
will, and come it must The form Of our island is Pc
culiar--its advantages such as where else can be
found, think on the face Of the globe. No capital
approaches it in the natural superiority Of its situa
ton. The place OF all others most like 1t is Constan
tinople, with the Golden Horn on one side and the
Sea of Marmora on the other; but yet its commercial
advantages Of position not equal to those Of New
York. Here is narrow island, encompassed with
tide water deep enough to bear the largest ships at
any of its banks Nature herself has pointed out
what yon are to do to make the most OF your advan
tages You are to have means OF communication
from river to river and between the upper aad lower
parts Of the island, as ample, as easy, and as rapid
as possible. Having gone through this part of my
argument, and shown, as think, that railroad in
Broadway is wise measure, proceed to the next
question, which is, whether this particular grant or
license was proper one to be made. will not stop
to dwell on the Inconsistencies of the gentlemen who
oppose the railway, and who came here clamorous
for this bill. They tell that railroad in Broad
way is utterly impracticable; that the would
form line Of wall which nobody could get through;
would stop the passage of all carriages-a railway
could not exist; it is an absurdity; you cannot crowd
into that street any more persons any more vehicles.
III the same breath they commence charging upon
the enormous profits Of this road; they tell you "t
is worth ten millions of dollars; there would be thirty
millions of people travelling on it in the year; it
would be an enormous fortune to any persons having
it." Does it not occur to these gentlemen that the
road can be profitable only because of its being a
great convenience? want no better argument in
favor Of the enormous benefit it will be to the peo
pie Of New York. than what these gentlemen say
as to its profits. This is not the only inconsistency.
The positions of the gentlemen the other siGe
these: the Common Council is as bad as can be, be-
they did not give the road to u.s. and the road
is bad as it can be-so bad that no Common Coun-
Gil ought to give it to anybody.
Now, gentlemen, proceed to show that this grant
do TO orrav 10 IN fo md in ho
per exercise Of the discretion OF the Common Coun-
cil-that is to say, that with all the offers before
them, no prudent Common Council, desiring the road
to lie made anxious for it, in earnest about it, would
have given it to the other applicants in preference to
my clients. In the first place, every one of these APP
picatons for the grant was from some opponent Of
the road from the start. 1t is singular fact, that
there is not single application which does not con-
tain upon it the name OF person who appeared be-
fore the Common Council in utter, open, continuous
hostility to any road at all. Therefore it is that
faith. l do not mean by this that the applicants
would not keep their engagements Of course they
would, SO far as they were legally bound to do SO;
but they did not apply for the grant hoping to make
it would be subjected to all sorts of delays and en-
ba,1assments il not defeated and it would certainly
he defeated any legal reason could be found for it,
1t is undeniable, that there was an understanding
among several Of them that the project was to be
killed by injunction, collusively procured. Their
conduct here is proof enough of their intentions, if
lDele were no Otner. ny 90 tQey come mere Is
it to get the road themselves? they want you to
pass law to compel the Common Council to give
tie grant over again? No They want you to pass
law prohibiting any railroad on Broadway, without
the consent of the landlords And these the hands
into which you would have committed the construc-
ton of this great work. If you really wished it made
Now, gentlemen, as to the terms: ! will suppose
now that all these gentlemen were equally DESTROYS
faith applicants for the grant What terms should
tie Common Council have taken? The terms We
offered or the terms they offered! Now, ask your
attention to this for few moments, because it is
point which the opponents Of the road have been
most earnest and most sangune. There were six
offers made the other side. The best Of the offers
one to give the city hundred thousand dollars
year. for ten years. and to take passengers at three
cents fare The other was to have names strick-
out Of the resolution, and theirs inserted, with
three cents fare. These offers will compare with
ours. First, as TO the offer Of hundred thousand
dollars year to the city government and three cents
fare: That offer did not propose to submit to the
terms imposed by our grant. One Of these terms is,
that We clean the street and carry of all the dirt
every morning, before nine o'clock in winter and
eight o'clock in summer; another is, that we have
attendant at oil the crossings in the crowded
parts Of the city, to help passengers in and out
Of the cars According to Gan. an affidavit Of the
with these two conditions will cost my clients
$l4l T0S a year. They are allowed to charge
only five cents fare for taking passengers from one
part Of the city to any other part such combined
system Of railroad and omnibus routes as might be
adopted Now, my clients were required before they
received the grant from the Common Council, to
buy cut six lines Of Omnbuses, at an expense OF four
hundred and fifty thousand dollars, exclusive Of
stables which win cost fifty thousand dollars more.
Counsel read the afdavts of Messrs. Sharp q OSul
lvan as to this point, and continued) Now, let us
see how the matter stands Mr.. Davies we will sup
pose to be the applicant for this grant, at hundred
thousand dollars year to the city, and three cents
fare. II he had obtained the grant he would have
paid hundred thousand year, which, at the end
Of ten years, would, with interest at per cent,
have amounted to 81 3l5 000 And that ia he would
have paid. My clients pay $l4l ,7OS year for
plying with these terms and conditions, which would
make in ten years sum Of 81 1863 400. They pay,
therefore $54s 400 more in ten years than Mr. Davies
would have paid saying nothing about the omni-
buses If you add to this the expense Of the omni-
buses for which they give half million Of dollars,
that would amount In ten years, with interest, to