St. Paul daily globe., 1888-07-10
Bobtail Cars Have a Tendency
to Make Them
Tired.
A Blood-Sucking Monopoly Is
What Mr.. LoWry's Corpora
ton Is Termed.
Disgruntled Ones Say That
Its Franchise Should Be
Revoked.

NoitHCdSt MiullcdpOllS Ill llOl pltc-
ing larger cars with conduc-
tors on the the Monroe and
Second street car lines, was largely
attended by residents of the East
side, and laboring men from all over
the city. George Case was made chair
man and called the meeting to order,
making short address, in which he set
forth the objects of the meeting. Peter
Paul was the first speaker. The peo-
pie were beginning to see, he said,
that the owners of the street
railway were discriminating against
the people of Northeast Minneapolis.
The city had no right to grant the char
ter to the company, and did it without
vote of the people. But now that this
has been done we, the labOringz men of
the city, are called upon and obliged to
support the company, and even
then they do not get their rights.
and showed how the street railway
company had caused laws to be passed
taking all power out of the hands of the
people. But it seems to me,' con-
tinued the speaker, THAT we should
nave something to say, as we support
the company. Every man knows that
OUR RIGHTS ARE DENIED
to us, and 1t is our place to get up and
have the laws changed so that we can
get our rights.
Thomas Lucas was the next speaker.
1--WE have come here to express our in
dignation,'' he said. ''that the rights of
a corporation should be considered
above those of the people which sup
port it. 1t is time now for us to demand
our rights, as our forefatherS did during
the Revolution. This taking away of
our rights as this street car COM
pany has done is all wrong, and
some decisive action should be- taken at
once. Lawyers tell you that you can
not take the franchise away from a
company. but l say you can. If you
could not it would be placing our lives
in the hands of men to whom the fran
the Minneapolis street railway
company is not conducted in
spirit of fairness or of honesty.
The company has taken in more money
than constitutes legal rate of interest
on its investment, and its last annual
statement shows that the owners value
the franchise at three times as much as
the cars and horses are worth. The
whole thing is most outrageous
robbery, as every man knows.
Last fall Mr.. Lowry was asked by the
SoubIll w l'uU VII UtCduSt
by not having them on he was endan-
gering the lives of our children. He has
detied the city council to compel |
him to put conductors on ali his
lines, and agreed TO compromise
by putting on few conductors.
And after while the conductors were
only allowed to remain on the lines on
which the rich men live" Mr.. Lucas
turned i'll at this point and roasted
City Attorney Smith, whom he charged
with having exceeded his authority
Continuing, Mr.. Lucas said: Has Mr.
Lowry any right to collect any fare on
the lines on which there are no con-
ductorS, when he has violated his fran
chise and the city ordinance? And this
is what we shall plead if we are
arrested for not paying our fares.
You cannot pay a bill when there is no
one to pay the money to. and on that
principle no court in the United States
will compel you to place your fare in a
box in street car. The citizens are
GREATER THAN A CORPORATION,
and the only way to perma-
nently settle this question is to de-
mand that Tom Lowry's franchise be
surrendered to the people SO the cars
can be run for the people. We are send
ing out circulars HOw to citizens asking
them to vote for no man for alderman
who will not vote to take away Tom
Lowry'S franchise. That's the way we
will do it,
After Mr.. Lucas had concluded the
chairman extended an invitation to any
one who desired to take the opposite
side to come forward and take the floor.
but there was no response.
l.. X. Campbell said he had not
come to help the citizens of North
east Minneapolis alone. He wanted
TO see committee appointed to ap-
praise and condemn the street car COM
pany and have it purchased by the city.
The battle that was on was great one, |
as it was the root OF every similar QueS-
ton. Now is the time to put |
the various candidates on record. |
There is chance to make every candi- |
dade show his regard for the working |
man, and it should be improved.
j. p. McGaughey followed with a |
short but telling address in which he |
denied the statement that the working |
men were not interested i'll such ques-
tions. They are Interested" he con-
tlnued, land deeply interested, too. Ii |
the statement that Minneapolis now |
has 100000 population and over is true, |
she has 10000 people who are practi- |
cally disinherited, for they had moth |
ing to do with the giving away of |
the street car franchise, and now |
ernment of the company as they should |
have. l believe in the methods sug-
gested by Mr.. Lucas, in his ad- |
dress, and want to do all that can to
help the matter along. 1t is
THE ONLY LEGITIMATE WAY
IN which we can regain Ourrights which |
were taken away from us so long ago.
After MIR. McGaughey had finished
speaking, committee, consisting OF
Messrs. jacobson, Milan and Parry, was
appointed to collect money to assist |
Lewis johnson, arrested few days
ago for refusing to pay his fare on a
Monroe car, in carrying his case through
the courts. A committee was also ap-
pointed to follow the case until it was
finally decided in the courts. John
McGurk, L. Ii. Lucas, Peter Paul and
j. ?. McGaughey constitute the COM
mittee.
Thomas A. Cauty, the well-known at
torney who has been retained by NJ.
Johnson, was the next speaker. He
said he was sorry to tell the meeting
that he did not think there was
much show of winning the case. "There |
is law on the statute book,'' said Mr.. !
Canty, (which says that you must place
your money in the box. This law was
most likely drawn up by the attorney
of the street car company, and passed by |
a legislature paid by the same company. |
Mr.. Canty read the law on the subject,
and facetiously referred to it as a wood |
chuck or a ''nigger on the fence.'' .sThe
company has a ring in yovr nose" con-
tinued MIR. Canty, and | do not see how
you can get out of it. Don't make a
laughing stock of yourselves by appeal !
ing to the supreme court; the only way to
do is to elect men to the legislature who
will change these things. 1t is humlli-
ating to have to place your fare in the