The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-07-23
THE MAYORS VETO.

n SPECIAL meetlnB Oh OOuncllB was nelu yes
terday afternoon to consider a message from
the Mayor vetoing the resolution of Councils
authorizing the Thirteenth and Fifteenth
Streets Passenger Railway to use Locust
street as a stopping-place. At the last ses-
sion of the Legislature the Thirteenth and
Fifteenth Streets Company was given
authority to lay a connecting track on Locust
street for the convenience of visitors to the
Academy of Music, and although there was
considerable opposition to this arrangement
on the part of property-holders in the vici-
nifty, it was generally conceded to be for
tho public benefit. The Mayor takes
a Just view of the case when he states that
the act authorizing the laying of the connect
ing tracks gives all the requisite permission
to make the necessary stoppages for the re-
ception of passengers, and that the resolution
of Councils being unnecessary is necessarily
unwise. The Mayor intimates that the reso-
luton to make Locust street a place of tenn
porary rest could easily be construed into an
authority to establish a regular standing
place for cars, or to make siding adjacent
to the track, all of which would be obstruc-
tions to a street already not too wide, and
annoyances and impediments to travel. If
such favor as this were to be extended to
the Thirteenth and Fifteenth streets road,
other railway companies could expect to
enjoy the privilege of stopping their cars in
front of the Walnut and Chestnut Street
Theatres and other places of amusement.
The Mayor urges that the passenger railway
companies are already looked upon with
disfavor by many of our citizens because of
the extraordinary bounties they have re-
ceived, and that it is well that they should be
more cautious in asking for public favors, as
they may reach point where public indigna-
ton will be aroused and shown in a marked
manner The position assumed by the
Mayor with regard to this matter will meet
with the cordial approval of all the citizens of
Philadelphia, except those Immediately in
terested in the object of the resolution, and
Councils acted wisely by sustaining the veto.
THE INTEREST ON THE CITY DEBT.
AT THE special meeting of Councils held
yesterday afternoon a communication was re-
ceived from the Pennsylvania Company for
the Insurance on Lives and Granting Annui-
ties, stating that, as fduciaries for number
of estates, they held certificates of city loans
prior to the act of Congress of the 25th of
February 1862, to the amount of $549,OO
and that they had demanded and been refused
payment in coin of the July interest, and
had also been refused payment in legal-tender
notes of the sum of $11,3O1 due as
the July interest on 1876, 700 of the
citys loans, created subsequently to the
said act of Congress, held for the same estates,
1,,,t ~, 10
signed by the City Treasurer for his refusal to
pay the latter amount was his inability to
separate the payments on his books of inte-
rest on the different loans. This communi-
cation was referred by both branches of
Councils to their Committees on Law and
Finance, and the whole subject will therefore
go over until the regular meeting in Septem-
ber, unless the Mayor calls another special
meeting to consider it. The disposition
shown by the members of Councils to tempo
rize with this important matter is not credit
able to their good Judgment and public spirit.
If the creditors of the city choose to go to
law about it, they can undoubtedly compel
the payment in gold of the interest on the
loans created prior to the act of 1862,
and the city will have to foot bill of costs
and other legal expenses in addition. There
can be nothing whatever gained by delay,
even in political capital, and those members
of Councils who hope to win favor with
thoughtless voters in their wards will proba-
bly, find that they have made wrong calcu-
lation if the city becomes involved in series
of expensive lawsuits There is no reason
why the city loans should not command
premium in the market, and it is only the
hesitating, dubious, and insincere system of
managing our finances that Councils have
adopted for so many years past that has
brought our credit to its present low ebb.