New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1867-02-04
THE TNLON FERRY RRIDGE.

| What proportion of the profits of last years
business the Union Ferry Company propose to
| cxpend at Albany in procuring the passage of
| their Bridge project. we have, rs yet no def
mite knowledge. The Ncw-YOrk Bridge bill
| has been reported upon by the Committee to
which il was referred, and now comes the task
| of seeingr a sufficient number of members to
secure It's passage. Undoubtedly, this work has
already begun. The "gentlemcn from New
york. and the gentlemen from Kings will
be provided with season passes by the bushel
for themselves and friends over the pro-
jected Bridge, and promises of eligible
contracts after the manner Of tho Court
House job; while the honorable gentlemen
from the rural districts will have deliberately
engraved and framed drawings of the proposed
structure in which they have been requested
TO hold a share, forced upon them to hang in
their parlors beside the Washington Monument
and to DO finished few years after that
dilatory obelsk.
Seriously, the Bridge project, IA introduced
by Senator Murphy the legislative advocate
of the Union Ferry Ring, is Il fraud. 1t has not
one feature to commend it to the public, while
it has half-dozcn or more provisions which
should condemn it beyond all hope of resurrec
ton. 1t is in the interests of the Ferry Company
and controlled by the same Company's mana
gers il gives one ycar-five in the original bill
in which to make the first show of work, and
all time or eternity for its completion; il allows
its incorpOrators to charge what tolls they
please in case the structure is, by some mis-
chance, ever finished; and it provides a loop
hole by which every cent of its profits may 20
into the hands of the stockholders, who are re-
lieved from all taxation upon the property until
it pays certain per centage profit, which, 10y
the simplest management known to financial
spectators, it would never appear to do There
is no direction in the entire bill as to how the
Bridge shall be built, or Of what material; the
only clauses which in any way or shape define
the character of the work being that in the first
section, which says it shall be a permanent
"brdge,r and those in the tenth, which provide
that it shall be 1870 feet above high water,
that there shall DO no pier in the
channel, and that it shall have a Substantial
railing Such close attention to important
details could only have emanated from the
architectural interests which have never been
able to devise decent mode of getting people
on and off crowded ferTy-bOat. There is yet
one more specification TO construction which
must not be overlooked. Section sixth provides
that "toll gates shall be kept at each end OF
"the bridge, and the toll demanded and paid
"upon entering on the bridge" Trust the
Ferry Company for that!
Under this bill the ncorporators may (there is
no compulsion, but they may do it if they choose)
build bridge three feet wide or three hundred;
may build it of wood, or iron, or rope, so long as
they make it permanent" and put at the sides
n "substantal railing" and no man can com
plain of them for having violated their charter.
II need not even be inspected and approved by
anybody save the all-powerful Ring. which gets
the building into its own hands solely to force
people to take passage upon its boats. The
more we examine the bill the more ridiculous
and outrageous 1t appears. 1t preserves Its