New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-05-24
FIFE YEARS or THE BRIDGE.

No great PUBIC NOTh 0'Oi 'Pi""7 A'O
popular favor more quickly, or more quickly
demonstrated that it was indispensable when
once it had been put to use, than the brooklyn
Bridge. which five years ago to-day was opened
with elaborate and fitting ceremonies. Inc
people Of our sister city who haDitualiy make
use of this splendid structure, look back 10
the years when ferrybOats were the only means
of crossing the East River in much the same
way as the traveller upon one OF our iast eA-
press trains thinks Of the rumbling stage coach
of the bygone age, except that in the former
case the recollection of that which has passed
away is much more vivid and personal. No
expression is more common among the regular
passengers on the Bridge railway than the
exclamation, Glow did we ever get along
without it ?n To return to the old order OF
things would be like going back to dungeon
from which one had slowly and painfully made
his escape.
Yet the most ardent admirer of this mag
nifcent highway swung in air must admit
that the Bridge has continually thus far fallen
short of accomplishing what it should have
accomplished in transporting great mutitudeS
Of people between the two cities which 1t
binds together. 1t is easy to see how the
expectations of the projectors of the work have
been exceeded and how the number of persons
seeking to be carried has outgrown the facill-
ties first provided. Crowding and moon
venience could have been endured in patience
for two or three years if there were promise
Of better things in the future; if there were
evidence that the authorities were doing their
best. and indications that the problem was
fully understood and would be solved salts
factorily if in the power of men to do it..
Unfortunately, this has not been the case.
The Bridge has been handicapped almost from
the day Of the opening by big Board Of
Trustees that has been an incubus from which
it could not deliver itself OF regard for the
public comfort there has been little, and at
times it has seemed as if safety was a secondary
consideration. II should be said, however,
| that the number of accidents on the Bridge
RAILROAD has been extremely small when the
number Of passengers carried is considered.
Upon its sixth year the Bridge enters to-day
under favorable auspices. A bill has been
passed by the Legislature putting the control
Of the structure into the hands Of a compact
| Commission, to be named by the Mayors OF
New York and Brooklyn. From the present
| Mayors there is every reason to expect APP
pontments that will give general satisfaction,
and the outlook is therefore particularly bright
The only doubtful thing is whether the Gov
ernor will sign the BILL On this subject he
is to give hearing tomorrow and we trust
that the matter will be so presented to him
that he cannot refuse his assent. Consistency
alone should lead him to sign the bill, since
the similar bill passed in 1885 was thrown
aside by him simply because the amendments
at the last moment were so blunderingly made
that the measure was Self-contradictory. The
necessity Of change in the Bridge manage
ment the Governor then virtually admitted.
The present bill was drawn by Mayor Chaplin /;
it has the hearty approval Of Mayor Hewitt
and the members Of his "Cabinetn The ap-
pointments are to be made by Democratic
officials. If there is any politics in the bill,
it surely is not Republican politics. Public
sentiment is emphatically in favor of a change.
There is practically no .opposition-none that
is worth serious consideration. Why. then,
should Governor Hill hesitate to do his part
in enacting a law that is certain to be produc-
| tive of great good?