The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-06-20

| vision, and now IT seems Inclined 10 stanu Oh
the earth as tangible reality. II has rung
in our ears the musical promise that at some
future day the people might live far enough
up town to get cheap rents and yet be within
easy reach Of Wall street. Now there is like
hhood that the promise may come to perform
Rnce.
AT all events if we do not now make real
progress in this matter OF so much conse-
| quence to the city we can definitely locate the
responsibility for the mishap. Governor
Tilden has approved the Hustled bill, and the
Mayor under that measure and in accordance
with It's provisions will be called upon to
appoint Commissioners to take further
Commission, acting as body with
public authority, to determine the character
OF the road to be built and its route. and
indeed, the whole plan; and with this COM
mittee once appointed the destiny Of rapid
transit falls into their hands. They VIII con-
stitute, therefore, very important body-a
body of more consequence to the people Of
this city than twenty boards OF aldermen or
several legislatures. Indeed they Will step
into the same position in regard to this I'M
portant subject that has been occupied for
many years by the Legislature; and there
will hustle about them the same scramble Of
projectors and jobbers, inventors and con-
tractors that have SO long sufficed in the
Albany lobby to defeat every good scheme
for the amelioration OF city travel Every IN
genious man with scheme every impudent
rogue determined to make million dollars
out of some other mans scheme in short,
the whole army Of wretches whose cupidity
and shamelessness make our legislation
reproach will pull and haul and bully
and endeavor to bride a committee that can
determine point on which will turn great
many fortunes.
1t will be possible for this Board of Com
missioners to add many millions in value to
real estate in certain parts Of the city, and to
put in the near prospective tenancy that
will justify the erection within five years Of
one hundred thousand new houses on lots
now vacant in the upper wards. They can
open Golconda to the happy inventor whose
scheme they approve and the not less happy
capitalists who are interested in that scheme,
and they can send out to disappointment and
ruin others who have invested money and
years Of thought in schemes perhaps scarcely
less ingenious, perhaps superior to the one
they shall favor 1t is but natural there
fore, that this body should become the centre
of great struggle; and, inasmuch as it is
practically the Legislature and has legislative
authority over the subject submitted to its
discretion no one must be surprised to see 1t
approached IN that same winning method
that has successfully appealed to the Legisla-
ture itself on so many occasions.
1t is apparently the intention of the law,
taken plainly, that this Board shall determine
upon plans submitted to it which one is most
likely to be practically effective and to answer
the great demand made for easy and rapid
transportation between the extremities Of the
city, up aud down, and also for side routes to
the ferries or other important points.
Already there are, we believe, nearly thirty
plans proposed. Twenty-six have been
described in these columns; and if the Board
examines these intelligently and reports upon
them honestly, without favor, without col
luaon, without jobbery, there can be no
doubt that We shall secure the great improve
ment so long demanded. But if this COM
mittee shall be in any sense failure, if it is
appointed from view OF any other
interest than the interest OF the people
in rapid transit it will be only
one more treason; and it will either defeat all
projects or il will give US a road 50 made
quate to the needs and 50 extravagant in con-
struction that the element of cheapness-
quite as important as rapidity-will pass out
Of sight, aud we shall be further than ever
from rapid transit through the discourage
ment of capital and the indifference Of the
people.
All the future Of rapid transit, therefore, is
now IN the Mayors Office, and, indeed, under
the Mayors lat He is responsible, and his
reputation will stand OF foll By the result
We have just as much confidence IN Mr..
WIckham as we have in any one else. lie Is
appointed to a place Of trust in metropolis
where honest men are rarely found in Office,
and he has q share of human failibility; but
he has an opportunity before him that rarely
falls to the lot ola municipal iunctonary. He
may in tho appointment Of this Commission
render the city a service the equal Of which
no Mayor ever had the chance to render be-
fore him, aud lac may by q little error run
rapid transit into the groove II has hitherto
occupied in Albany. Nobody can say what
a commission will do after il is appointed
sometimes not even the man who appoints it.
But the Mayor has before him course that
will guarantee him against consequences that
he cannot control He will err II he appoints
men for whom the public will continue to
hold him responsible He will perform his
duty properly i he appoints men Of the kind
that are accepted by the people as responsible
for themselves men whose ready acceptance
by common opinion discharges the respon-