New-York tribune., 1884-03-25
THE STREET RAILRO4D BILL.

1t is the duty of the present Legislature to
pass q general surface street railroad bill. There
is now no act upon the statute books for the in
corporation and regulation of such roads The
abuses that grew up under the old system of
authorizing the construction of street railroads,
bv special legislative acts, led to the adoption in
1874 of a constitutional amendment forbidding
the Legislature from granting to any corpora
ton, association or individual the right to lay
. down railroad tracks" The Constitution
wisely provides that railroads must be built
under the provisions of general act. As no
general law has been enacted which will admit
of the construction of street railroads, none
have been built in this city since the constitu-
tional amendment went into effect. This condl
ton of affairs suits the owners of existing lines,
but does not meet the growing needs OF city
whose passenger traffic on horse railways has in-
creased . from 166, ,166,343 in 1875 to
175,994,523 in 1888, exclusive OF the
92,124,443 passengers carried on the elevated
roads last year.
Efforts have been made at every session of the
Legislature for nine years to pass an act on this
subject that would meet the requirements of the
Constitution. But the influences at work to de-
feat that purpose have in some way always trl-
umphed. Il-concealed jobs have generally
been smuggled into the bills while on their pas
sage through the Legislature. The bills passed
in 1880, 1881 and 1882 respectively met with
executive vetOes because of the manifest de-
fects. To draft such a statute as shall meet
all requirements is work of considerable diff
culty. The Railroad Commission presented a
fairly good bill for this purpose to the present
Legislature. But the desire to secure special
advantages has brought to Albany powerful in
fluences which are seeking to engraft all kinds
of amendments on the bill, and thus again de-
feat it. The subject will come up i'll the Senate
to day. and the result will be watched with in
terest.
Some of the amendments already adopted by
the Senate Committee are in the right direc-
ton. There is no reason why, if the local au-
thorities and majority of the property Owners
consent, a street railroad should not be operated
by a cable. The substitution of some other
power for horses which now struggle and die in
the imperfect service is crying need of the
times. There are 11,SG6 horses now used to
operate the street railroads of this city. From
a sanitary point of view alone it would be
great gain to remove them from the streets.
Gable roads have been successfully operated i'll
other cities They are clean, noiseless, and
furnish unlimited capacity-three things especi
ally needed in New York. Whether or not they
are well adapted for New York remains to be
seen. But the use Of cable power on tho street
railroads of the State should not be prohibited.
In another amendment, made to the original
bill, the Senate Committee has not acted with
equal wisdom. 1t has reduced the amount Of
compensation to be paid into the City Treasury
from to per cent of the gross receipts
Franchises of tn is kind have proved immensely
valuable, and per cent is small enough
compensation to be paid to the city. Then, if
existing lines are extended under the act, per-
mission should not be given to charge addi-
tional fare. And it would be well to compel
transfer tickets TO be given where one company
operates more than one line of road. 1t has been
said that In calculating the value of property
fronting on q street in which a railroad is to be
built, corporation property can be counted the
same as private property. The wording OF the
bill shou;d not admit OF such construction.