New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-06-21
THE MAYORS OPPORTUNITY.


bill imposes upon Mayor Wickham serious
responsibility and opens for him at the same
time one of the most tempting opportunities that
good fortune has thus far thrown in his way.
1t becomes his duty to appoint Board OF Com
missioners, to whom the new law lntrusts
powers of the most extraordinary kind. The
five gentlemen of his selection are to deter
mine upon the route for rapid transit road ;
decide how the road shall be built and ope-
rated, whether it shall be an underground, ell
evated, or surface road fix upon the proper
amount of capital /; limit the time for construc-
ton establish the speed and the rates OF fare ;
in brief, take the whole Of this great and dif-
ficult problem into consideration, after it has
baffled us all for so many years, and solve 1t
in ninety days. No such task has ever been
imposed upon five private citizens of New York
before. and it is evident that they ought to be
men of remarkable ability and devotion TO the
public interests.
No sensible person will jump at the conclu-
sion that the organization of any commission
will necessarily settle the vexcd question OF
rapid transit. A great many companies have
been formed at various times with the most libe-
raj powers, and yet have accomplished nothing,
valid charters are not in existence under which
the work could be done quite as well as under
any new plan to DO devised by the Mayors
Commission. One scheme has been defeated
by the discovery of engineering difficulties.
Some on careful survey, have proved too
costly, and others wero fraudulent from the
start, having 10 object except to defeat action.
The great trouble, however, has always been
that capitalists saw more promising usc for
their money in other enterprises, and this
is the chief difficulty which the COM
missioners have to overcome There Is
10 question that we might have the road In
two or three years if the inducements to in
vest in its stock were made reasonably strong
so that the only serious problem after all Is to
reconcile the just demands of capital with the
wants of the working classes for whose bene-
fit the road is principally designed. Perhaps
Just now, while so much money is lying idle
and so many of the ordinary avenues of in
vestmcnt are in disfavor, the stock of Il rapid
transit company would have a quicker sale
than we have ever seen much chance OF ITS
getting heretofore. That a properly con-
sructed road could run cheap trains and quick
trains, and yet make great deal OF money,
we nave not IL SiauOW vi uuiDtJ anu IL ID wv
dent that it's profits must rapidly increase
with the sudden and steady increase of
traffic which will follow its completion.
In ordinary railroad building there is always
a risk that the anticipated growth of business
along the new route may come but slowly or
never come at all. Various causes may turn
the course of settlement or trade i'll unexpected
directions. But there is no such danger here.
Providence has confined the growth of New
York between barriers opening only in one
quarter, aud nothing can prevent the move
ment OF our population northward except the
lack of transportation. There is no city in the
world whose natural cOntsuration offers such
a tempting assurance of perpetual increase of
custom TO a rapid transit road as NewYOrk.
The names of Mayor Wickham's Commits
soners will now be watched for with the
greatest eagcrness. No doubt hc has already
knows what it is that the people expect of
him. They will look not merely for good men,
but for men in whose Judgment the whole
city has confidence; men who are not con-
ncctrd with any sort of transit scheme or any
existing railroad, who are not spectators in
real estate, who arc not interested III either
East side or West side improvements, and
who have the highest reputation for integrity,
practical knowledge of affairs, and thorough
acquaintance with the wants of the metropolis.
This is Mayor Wickham's chance to win the
gratitude of the entire population.
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