The New York herald., 1879-03-13
The Broadway Railroad.
The HERALD published on Sunday last
the following proposition in regard to the
proposed Broadway Railroad -
necessary,

The HERALD published on Sunday last
the following proposition in regard to the
proposed Broadway Railroad -
NEW yonK. March 8, 1879.
To EDIroR OF THE HERALD:-
thronnh rour coinnns seanst the propcsitions now
before the Board of Aldermen to bestow tho most
valuable franchise OF the Broadway bailroad for u
mere trihlng pecunialy return to the city treasury
In my opinion. and that of many other taxpayers.
this franchise should be publicly sold vt auction to
the highest bidder the city at the same time to pre-
scribe such suitable conditions as will render the
road first class in every respect l. for one, am
agree TO all the conditions proposed by either set OF
applicants and, at the same time. to start the bid
ding at such public auction at 200 cash for tho
franchise to Seventeenth street. and at !aa0oW Tor
the franchise to the Central Park Other bidders may
possibly offer more. only ask you to withhold my
publication for the present, and to retain
this letter meanwhile as a guarantee OF my perfect
sincerity and earnestness il this matter. have the
honor to remain. your obedient servant. ***"".
In the number Of propositions that re-
ceived' the attention OF the Board OF Alder
men on Tuesday was one that somewhat
resembled this, and was put forth in the
name OF Mr.. John B. Haskin. As the
public might possibly confound these two
we deem it proper to say that the offer pub
lished by US and given above is not from
that source It is from citizen whose
offer may be safely contemplated as in
every sense bona Jile; whose own means are
equal to the purchase Of the franchise and
equipment of the road. and who represents
a far larger capital than his own who does
not demand the franchise because he is an
anti-Tammany democrat, nor for any other
silly, claptrap. political reason; does not,
in fact, demand it at all, but makes an offer
for it, names the price he will give and
expects to encounter competition and go
higher if need be. Indeed, this PROPOSE
tion is fl rst bid, and we put it on record
as such-an actual bid for this franchise
and if the Aldermen shall succeed in con-
veying this franchise by jobbcry to some
person who does not pay the city cent for
it the people may see how hagrant}y that
body abuses it's power.
Nobody admits, we suppose, that the
Aldermen have the power to authorize the
construction of railroad in the streets of
this city; but their consent to such con-
struction is one Of the elements ora title.
Without consent Of the local authorities
having control of the street" the right TO
build the road would not be valid but Ut
would not be valid without other authority
than such consent. Consequently it is inn
portant to have the action Of the Aldermen
rightly directed in this case, and we have
proposed the plan of sale by auction to
determine this point-what company or in
dividuals shall have the Aldermanic con-
sent. There is no other thoroughly equi-
table way to determine this point Let all
the corporations or others who want this
franchise bid for it at open sale, and we
believe it would sell for sum that would
mnke substantial reduction of the city
debt.
We are not the advocates Of any plan OF
project OF proposition. We put forward
the one handed to us that it may receive its
share of attention with the others, and we
believe that if the concession is given to the
gentleman who makes this proposition the
public will be better served than it will be
by the authors of any other proposition we
have yet seen.