The daily gazette. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1874-1883, 1881-04-29
From the N. Y. World.
The Failure of the EIevat,

The Failure OF the Elevated Roads.
The exhibit which the World this
morning publishes of the condition of
the four Elevated roads now operated
in this city by the Manhattan Compa.
ny seems to be conclusive as to the
total and disastrous failure of the ex-
pertinent of rapid trarsit in New York
under its past and present MANAGE
ment. The President of the Manhattan
Company, Mr.. Galloway, in an appeal
made to the city authorities ON Tues
day last, admitted this fact in general
terms when he stated that to "insist
ION the payment by the company of
'fts arrears of taxes would be to SIM
"ply force the company into bank
"ruptcy." What Mr.. Galloway thus
admitted In general terms the exhibit
this morning published by the World
establishes in detail. AS it is abso~
lutely certain that neither the authori-
ties Of the city of New York nor the
Legislature Of the State have any
power whatever to remit to the COM
pany the payment of its "arrears of
taxes" the only alternative open to
the authorities of the city is not ex-
actly perhaps to "force the company
into bankruptcy" for that seems to
have been effectually done by the
managers of the company, but to let
the law of the land take its course.
Neither the honest bondholders and
stockholders Of the road nor the pub
lie have any reason to object to this.
1t is quite clear that rapid transit has
become necessary to the welfare and
prosperity of of New York city, and 1t
is quite clear also that rapid transit
cannot be secured TO the people of New
York by managers who, after three
years only of administration, come be-
fore the community with a confession
that they can only hope to pay the in-
terest on the bonded debLs they have
created if the public will make them
present of the money with which to
pay it. 1t remains to be seen, how
ever, whether rapid transit cannot be
secured to the people Of New York by
the appointment of receiver for the
elevated roads, such as Mr.. Jewett has
proved to be to the Erie Railway, or
Mr.. Lathrop to the New Jersey Gen.
trail. Such a receiver managing the
elevated railroads with an eye not to
stock operations but alike to the con-
venience of the public and the interests
of the honest bondholders and stock
holders, under a table of graduated
tarGs would soon make the travelling
public forget the scandalous Credit
Mobilier by which at least one of these
elevated railways was constructed,
and the almost criminal conspiracy
through which many leading directors
in all the Elevated railways called In
to existence sham company without
capital of its own as q method for
working off worthless and watered
stock upon confiding investors and for
manipulating bonded debt in so sus-
picious a manner that for the past year
that debt has been regularly sold at q
market valuation below the average
qotations or the common stock. Pos
sibly when the Manhattan Railway
Company gets to Albany with its PEI
titi0n Attorney General Ward may
have something TO say as to q receiver
ship in connection with the Corporation
Counsel of New York. He certainly
can have nothing to say In the light
either of the law or of the equities of
OF the case to the audacious request of
the Manhattan Company to be ire
lieved" of paying its just debts to the
community on rate of taxation
avowedly much lighter than that inn
posed upon individual property hold
ers. If President Galloway is right in
his statement that the Elevated roads
can only be run at the expense of the
taxpayers of New York, The taxpayers
of New York had better take them
over at once and put the management
of them into the hands of persons di-
rectly amenable to the public will.