Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1888-01-29
A WARM CRITICISM


A WARM CRITICISM
OF the Minority Resolution Presented tothe
second Branch by the Committee on Rail
roads. FA
To the Editor Of the RsgiSa:
SIR:-At Tuesdays meeting Of Council
u of the most remarkable performances
of that BODY was the adoption by the
Second Branch off resolution presented
by a minority of the Committee on Rail-
roads.
The resolution declares it to be the
sense of Council, that a due consideration
for the interests of the city requires that
T~eprssentauves of railroad companies shall
be accorded the fullest opportunities to ex-
press their views and that their PROPOSE
tions shall receive deliberate, fair and re-
spected consideration, &c, aud the Com
mittee on Railroads is ordered to use It's
utmost exertions to have the B. & o. Com
pany remove its tracks from Sixteenth
and Seventeenth streets, and donate to the
city, the square of ground south of the
City Building, t the end of making a
Park for the ornament of the city and enjoy
ment Of the citizens" That's richness. A
Park.
A statement Of what took place at the
meeting of the Committee on Railroads
will show how much necessity there Was
for the Offering of the above resolution,
and how unfair the Second Branch acted
towards the majority of the Committee on
Railroads in its adoption.
The committee was called to confer. With
Mr.. Clements, General Manager OF the b.
80. Company, in reference to a resolution
offered by Mr.. Cruise, requesting tue re-
moval Of the track from Sixteenth aud
placing it on Seventeenth street. MIR. e..
positively said that his company would
not put the track on Seventeeth street, as
requested in the resolution. That finished
all the business which was legitimately
before the committee. No other business
had been referred by Council to the COM
mittee, and il had no authority to make
business.
Mr.. c. went on TO say 10 the committee,
that al tie proper time, the B.. q D. Com
pany proposed to ask Council to give it
Wetzel street, s outh of Fortieth street; TO
reordain the ordinance of 1884, granting
the right to lay o double track road across
Twentieth, Main and Market streets al
grade, and wished 20 have the section re.
quiring the Company to raise Market
street bridge and put a bridge from
its south end over the tracks out
to Twentieth street, stricken out; that
the Company would not remove its pres
eRt track from Seventeenth street nor gtre
the city the square for a Park; ~ that If
Wetzel street was donated to the Company
possibly shops would be built on the ground
below FOItieth street, which was recently
purchased by the Company, or side tracks
would be placed on the ground and shops
be builtin BenwOod next to the south ilue
of the city.
He very candidly said that the B. 20.
Company was not, prepared to make any
proposals to or ask any grants from the
city at this time and would not be until
a subordinate Company had been organ
lied under a West Virginia charter; that
such a Company had been once before
formed but had unfortunately ~ forfeited
its charter and that the new Company
could not be organized until February 6,
1888. Promptly after the 9th of Fehru-
airy, he proposed TO ask the above privi-
leges from the city and not until then.
The removal of the present track from
Seventeenth street and the procuring OF
the site for the park ~ were presented by
the author of the minority report, and the
refusal of Mr.. G. was direct and firm.
After Mr.. c. had made his statement
there was nothing for the committee to do
but adjourn. The statement of Mr.. C..
had been listened to politely ard patiently
ny the committee. No insult or slight had
been offered to Mr.. c. or any of his friends.
No one could have possibly construed any
act OF the committee as intended to give
otfense to any n present. The only I'M
~pleasautness which occurred was caused
by the minority of the committee which
reported the resolution. This minority
seemed possessed with the notion that over.
zeal on their part might be rewarded with
an approving smile from the great men
present, and the way to win II WAS TO say
TO them, Here We are at your service.
Now or at any future time you may call
on u.s." The committee, firing OF the
minority's nonsense. adjourned. Before
doing so Mr.. c. said to the committee that
be and his friends had been courteously
and fairly treated by the committee; that
he bad been somewhat disappointed at
finding the West Virginia charter had been
allowed to lapse, and that until o new
company was formed his company could
do nothing. He therefore had nothing
more to say to the committee. After the
adjournment of the committee, the Father
of the Park ~, enraged at seeing his
brat ''die a'bornin'" and his colleague, in
the minority, were violent in their denun.
Citations of the committee for lis wEut Ct
courtesy to Mr.. c. and threatened to carry
the matter to Council. They found insults
to strangers and wrongs done the city
where strangers could not and the major
ity of the committee would not. If Mr..
c. and his friends were inSulted they were
the calmest men under a wrong ever seen
in our city. What motives really actuated
the minority in offering their resolution
is best known to themselves. What
many citizens think of th.ir course and
their motives, il is well for their piece Of
mind they do not know. Their anxiety to
force proposals on Mr.. C., when he was in
sisting that he was not prepared 10 enter
tain them, was not securing for the city's
interests that deliberate, fair and respect
full consideration" which they demand in
their resolution the B. 90. Co.'S proposals
shall receive from Council.
The reception ola report from a minority
Of a standing committee, and the adoption
of the resolution appended, before a report
was presented by the majority Of the com
mittee, was a parliamentary proceeding
which only the Second Branch could ac-
complish. The so-called report was
backed by a petition which referred to a
matter which had not been sent to the