New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1867-01-19
TILE EERR[ES.

i
yesterday were further proof-when lu further
proof was nccded-of the indifcrcntc of their
managers to the Interests OF the pulhc OF all
annoyanccs none are greater than those
caused by the sudden removal of convent
ences upon which we habtually depend. and
every day Of the year 100000 Tcrsona cN.
pect conveyance on the ferries TO BROOKLYN,
Jersey City, and Hobohen, without dreaming
of its suspension. NewY ork, with popula.
ton Of 10000, depends for its intercourse ~
Brooklyn and her 100000. Jersey City and her
10000. and HObollen with her 1900 people
entirely upon the ferries. To stop these ia to
stop business, pleasure, society-tO revolution
ize for tho time the travel system of four
cities. This ia what the Ferry Companies did
yesterday.
If the stoppage Of the boats were but m in
cident of unusually severe cold, complaint
would be less, but it is the rule. The expert
ence of yesterday repeats that of every Winter
for years. Again and again have the boats been
frozen up in mid river, prevented from leaving
their slips by the ice, or have made but irregular
trips at intervals of hours. Total suspension of
crossing may have been but Tor day or night,
but long dctentions are common incidents of
all the Winter months. Winter after Winter
has this shameful condition OF the ferries
existed, yet their managers have never taken
single step to remedy or prevent It,
With an indifference which we can only
trace to extreme imbeclity or extraor-
binary avarice, they have submitted to
the usual cold of American Winters without a
struggle With steam, iron, labor, ingenuity,
machinery, at their command, they have per
United steamers to be bound in river little
moro than quarter Of mile wide, by Ice
through which a whaling vessel, trapped in the
Arctic seas, would have cut a path in few
hours They cannot put upon wind and snow the
blame that follows from their own negligence.
| Tho recent storm was not accompanied
| with intense cold; it covered the land
| with deep snow, but did not freeze solid the
surface of the rivers. II ia on the land that
it should have most interrupted travel, but
many of the railway engines have cut their
way through snow drifts for hundreds of miles.
From four TO eight inches of floating ice suf
fered TO accumulate, has baffled the boats, and
the people Of Brooklyn, waiting on the wrong
side of the narrow but impossible river, will not
cOnsentt0 excuse, merely because it Is Winter,
the wretched management of Cyrus p. Smith.
Mr.. Smith is tho President Of tho Brooklyn
Union Ferry Company, Mr.. Edwin A. Stevens, of
the Hoboken, and Mr.. jackson, Of the Jersey City
Ferries These three Presidents Of great
monopoes are TO be held responsible for the
sufferings of every man, woman, and child, who
shivered yesterday in the cold and uncomfortable
ferry-houses vainly demanding conveyance from
the companies which the public money has
enriched If these officials are not respon
siblo, why are they Presidents' Is the
President of corporation, chartered for
the public good, merely like the wooden figure
head on a ships PROV, or barnacle on her
keel Is he of less use than the man who
steers the boat, chains it to tho slip, or sells
the ticketsi The man who at rare intervals
sweeps out the dirty cabins-a work much
needed-does his duty badly enough, yet at
least makes q pretense Of doing it, But the
Presidents of the Ferry Companies are gentle
men whose main occupation in Winter
appears to be the division Of yearly profits,
and nobody has ever accused them Of any zeal
in serving tho public or attending to their
business.
One of the Fulton Ferry boats was three hours
in crossing; between Christopher-st. and Hoboken
two boats were imbedded in the ice the Des-
brosses-st. line was stopped entirely; every
where there was suspension of travel, or trips
that occupied time enough for the journey to
Philadelphia We shall be told the old story
that the ice was too thick for the boats to pen
citrate but this Is neither an explanation that
is needed, nor an excuse we can accept We
have heard it every Winter for years. OF
course, these boats cannot cross, and that is tho
point of complaint. The public has
right to demand that the Ferry Companies
shall provide boats that can cross in Winter,
to insist that they shall not use in January the
same awkward vessels that they use in July.
1t needs but glance to show how unfit these
boats are for Winter use; the unventilated
cabins are either cold or foul; tho wheels are
too weak to battle with ice; the hulls are not
,sass:.saessd .9Qg sAsStasd With EQa. aud ~.