The New York herald., 1871-02-16
BERGEN TUNNEL.



Commuters Reply TO sIoan's Appeal.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE HBRALD:-
An appeal, signed "Sam Sloan," and addressed
ITO the friends and patrons OF the Morris and Essex
Railroad" and distrbuyed through the cars Of that
road last evening, offers the fitting occasion for
reply from one OF tho class 80 addressed.
The fact that this Is the first instance that the iDdi
vidual calling himself "sam sloann has recognized
any right on the part Of the passengers his road
70 even have an opinion, and the fact that he has
laid aside the garb Of an autocrat and adopted that
Of the suppliant are only evidences Of the whole
some discipline OF which ne hos lately been the sub
ject, under the mastery hand Of Jay Gould.
propose, as briefly as possible, to inform that
gentleman and others who may be interested what
are the real Views OF majority OF the commuters on
the Morris and Essex Railroad regarding the ques-
ton now at ISSUE and to help the settlement OF
which our cooperation Is now Invoked,
am aware how dlnlcult y is for men who are ha-
Ditualy tossed about on rickety feryboats, COM
PEELED to stand and pass in the midst OF cattle and
carts; from thence hustled along In the
rhrong Of Hoboken Dutchmen ana huckster
wagons to place, but not always seat in
the cars; thence to the tunnel to walt supper
less quarter or half an hour for chance to pass
through-now dIfcut II is to Judge dispasslonately
OF the causes Of their discomfort, and how ready
place the first seeming obstruction In their way. AS
we st there, Illuminating on the depravity Of man,
and witness train after train Of the Erie road pass
IN ahead OF us. the happy smiles Of the passengers
as they recede IN the cavern provoke the wish thai
they and all concerned with them might be con.
signed TO even deeper cavern than the Bergen tun-
nell but their good fortune is not, perhaps their
fault, and an unbiased nina win seek for primary
as well as secondary causes.
The case fairly stated this-The Erie tunnel was
under the name OF the Long Dock Company. Prer
to Its complexion OWING to the financial disasters Of
from Mr. Edwin Stevens, who Consented that the the
HoDoken Land and Improvement Company might
might invest an equal amount in the bonds Of the
| Long Dock Company
In lieu Of interest the Stevens party had the right
to run trains through the tunnel to the New jersey
Railroad bridge at the Hackensack, and might also
connect with any other road west OF that The
| latter was deemed unlnportant, as 1t had always
been held that the New Jersey Transportation Com
pany had the sole right to cross the Aackensack.
But by a subsequent decision Stevens gained the
! right to build westward and SO extended his road
to Newark. The intention Of both parties did not
| embrace an arrangement beyond what was local and
| unimportant but such have been the demands Of
commerce that one accession after another has con-
trbured to make the traffic OF the tunnel enormous
in Its proportions, until the original incumbent 40
longer able to transact its legitimate business and
| Like the owl. the rattesnake and the prairie dog
Struggling III the same hole, one Of them must get
i % s 9ss q o ts
question at ISSUE 1t has become settled that one or
b BON the oHS c9mpanes mnsS BE- delayed Shall be
~ The s Erie COMPANY claims the prior right Of way
| reasonably be blamed that in matter OF such
momentoas Importance they accept what Is &C.
men Of more vIr,uous regulations do iessa When
force is met by force must not the strongest win
Is 1t the duty OF Jay Gould to shield Sloan's passen
| gers from the consequences Of Sloan's blundersa
Gould asserts that ne has made no change Whatever
this statement. but in an .irrelevanp' mi manner aS
talks about something else as being sirrelevant,u
that under the present. system Of running the
Erie trans mo man can devise any time table for
ana Essex trains Thsn M win G6yte the Dc.
confession that with The Erie time table arranged
DECEMBER . 1870 with VII are reference only to the ord
rangement fortified at the tunnel against lnfraction
1t \ impossible to avoid Getention.
. That Ar. Sloan mlglt greatly mitigate the evil he
| complains OF by changing mis- own time table, as .
lawapiding citizen would do, is beyond doubt;
alone the burden OF the charge tnat he is response
Die for part, at least Of the detention now sulered
i Whatever may be the sins OF Jay Gould towards
his stockholders he has always been friend to his
passengers, and his road has been managed to pro-
mote tnetr convenience and7to gain tnelr good VIII
How unlike him In tins respect Is the present pre-
menced to contrel the aestines OF unfc rtunate
Jersesmen he started with the idea that they were
his natural enemies and must be whipped into SUBJ
mission. His false conceptions of what they were
to-day fully reflected IN the reality OF what they
| are. lie who has been the tyrant OF others
and in his neipIessness calls for lof and from from
the SUBJECTS OF his oppresSiun. We, tile commuters
on the Morris and Essex road, have no sympathy to
bestow on him. We have suffered much from him,
and are now happy to suffer win HIM, if be that
he suffers, and While thus III common durance with
him we now proceed to arralgn him before the bar
OF public sentiment
| We charge him With
| FU'St-fhe deliberate trick OF entrapping the COM
muters on the Morris ana Essex road Into a slmul-
ancous renewarof their yearly tickets the lst Of
| April 1870.
Second-Purposely Withholding from them the
knowledge that their privileges, enjoyed for years,
were to be suddenly abridged.
| Mtr3-The enforcement OF new, odOus and unne-
| cessary regulations, OF which we had no warning
and to winch we had never given our consent.
FOu7th-Inspiring his employees with the idea that
compulsion and phy sical force were the chief requl
| ordinary civllitles that prevail among gentlemen
| should have no place among their duties.
| FJU-That our reM0nstrance TO the employees
that we had never agreed to the eXtortions de-
and OF being pitched out of cars Oh the Newark
| meadows
Ssrts-That when waited upon by gentlemen OF
known respectability and standing with respectful
renonstrance, he treated his visitors with contempt
These and many other facts Sam Soan have been
burned too deep IN hearts to be forgotten. They
/ will be eifaced only when your associates (high
minded ana honorable men we know most OF them
| tyrannical msrule or else when other rival roads
offer to US the courteous treatment de to gentle
men, but which has been ignored In the admnstra-
| ton of the man who calls himself "Sam Sloann
AN OLD ,, FRIEND El:S,L AND PATRON or THE NOR
| ITS PRESENT MANAGEMENT.
/
Tr, cOyrTsJ rsunsV-A nT-rr, sxx,c