New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-07-09

The good American on the Fourth of July IS
accustomed TO congratulate himself upon the
plcasantncss Of his lines. II there were another
holiday upon which he was invited to consider
the openings for improvement IN his SITUATION
IL is possible that he would think 10 more purpose
upon the nccdlcssncss of many Of his sniicrlhS5
and that he might derive some means OF hasten
ing the millcnnial period when the words gov
crnment for the people shall represent existing
facts more faithfully than they do at present
Il is oftcn-too oitcn-said that the American
pcoplc are phcnomenally patient Of abuses. The
assertion involves no compliment To tolerate
abuses is TO exhibit fcchlcncsS Of character or
verse Some people try to explain this foible by
saving that since all Americans expect to be rich
some dav none of them care to interfere with the
abuses by which their neighbors have acquired
wealth. This is libel which ought to he re-
scntcd At the same time. it is undeniablc that
the people are far too patient. Look at the streets
of New-Yorls over which anybody and everybody
but the people of Ncw-Y0rlI exercise control We
all know that there is probably no other city OF
equal importance in the world. the inhabitants OF
which are not consulted more respectfully, ana
their interests better protected.
Take again, the question of transportation.
VIII the time ever come when the citizen who
wishes to ride in elevated or surface cars Will be
sure of Obtaining what he PAYS for-namcly,
seat in a comfortable car not overcrOwdcd?
Technically, every corporation is bound TO furnish
such accommodation now Practically, not one
does it or tries to do it, II is the same outside
the city Whoever lives in the suburbs docs so
under penalties which represent no unavoidable
necessities, but simply the greed and dishonesty
Of corporations. The scores Of thousands of peO-
pie who make believe to slcnd summer in the
81 I,c
city know hy sad experience how de,usivc the
practice is; know that it entails torturing pangs
night and morning in hoi, stuffed and stuiIy ears,
during which all the refreshment of the change
of air is worse than Offset. Yet how many Of
these victims ever reflect that they are victims;
that if the companies that transport them were
compelled 20 do their duty TO the public, the latter
would hc carried in comfort and convenience and
the lives Of thousands. now made miserable every
summer would re really worth living? So UNI
accustomed ere we 10 anything like decent treat
mcnt and fair Hay in thc,, matters that we
have come 10 ignore the existence of those uni
ver,al rights which could be enforced at the
common law were it anybody's business to en-
fore, them.
Il is in sober truth only rs Il millennal dream
that we can discuss these subjects. for no matter
how much decp-scatcd dissatisfaction with the eX-
isting state Of things there may be, il does not
cfystallizc into any practical reform movements.
l. might hc thought that 20 apparently simple
need rs tina; of suGicicncy Of ears and trains to
carry the travelling public without the most
abominabc crowdng could be comprised by leg
iSlation. Such an idea. nevertheless. would be
hallucination. Year after year the old evils
ard abuses persist and the people are deliberately
sacrificed to the greed and par,mony of corpora
tion>. and the peoples alleged representatives
do nothing to improve tho situation. With streets
which half the year are impaSSable, with trans
poriation lines upon which more than half the
time is n misery to travel, with every comfort
and convenience of the public suhordinated to the
rqacity Of those who are sometimes probably in
jest said In b. their servants. there really does
seem to hc need for the institution of some sort of
feast of humiliation. AT which the victims of the
rcvtrs q democratic government which at present
obtains could at least nurse their sorrowS, and
like the Jews AZ Jerusalem. beWau the liberties
which they have lost through lncivism and abb
sorption in the quest of the almighty dollar.