New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-10-11
TIE MAYOR IND TIE WIRES.

Tho nractical result of Mayor Grants Wig
orous campaign against the deadly electric
Egbt wires NAV not be an immediate and COM
plete victory but we have no doubt that 1t
will he important and valuable The Mayor
himself anticipates that the companies will APP
neal to the courts, but he does not appear to be
cast down by the prospect OF technlcal lusa-
ton. In the meantime he deserves inc graf
itude and admiration of the whole community
for his bold and determined effort to bung 10
a close the present era of manslauGhter by
electricity. 1t is refreshing to hear the simple
trutb told without circumlOCutiOn to the cor
porations which are responsible for rapidly
ian,thonin, sories Of horrible deaths. The
people would cherish no vindictiye wrath on
account of defective means for the application
of mysterious force in nature to the uses OF
mankind if they perceived an ardent and per-
sistent desire on the part of the electrical com
panics to avert disasters. 1t is the cruel ana
audaciouS indifference to human life constantly
displayed by them which has aroused antlpathy
and made the Mayors grim rebuke most wei
come
No one doubts that the safe conduct Of the
electric fluid involves many perpleXlng prop
lens. The field of investigation is compar-
atively new-too new to have been thoroughly
explored. But because everybody is constant
" made aware that eternal vigilance is the
price Of safety resentment at the conscious
negligence which encourages continual cataS-
trophies is altogether natural and commend
able; indeed, it ought to be far more general
and determined than it ever has been. FROM
the beginning of their operations in this CITY
the men in control of the various system5 OF
elcctric-light wires with here and there an
execution, have shown a detestable spirit. 1t
is the same spirit which invariably manifeStS
itself when corporations are asked to stop kill
ing human beings and otherwise to do their
duty. A striking eXempLficatiOn OF 1t was re-
Gently seen in the point blank refusal Of rail-
road companies to employ safe substitute Tor
the car stoves with which they had long been
in the habit of roasting people to death They
declared that they couldn't do otherwise and
made innumeIable unsOund and disngenuous
arguments to prove the absuTdity of suppoSing
that they could. But when in some cases the
law and in others the spur of competition com
PEELED change Of apparatus they discovered
without difficulty that cars could be safely heat
ed, and practically confessed that they had
been putting travellers to death without eX-
cuse for many years.
Whatever the immediate outcome Of Mayor
Grants crusade against the elecuic-Eghting
companies may be. he has done great public
service in giving official expression to the hOn-
70? with which their delinqucncicS are and
ought to be regarded. He has done more than
this in stimulating and cIystallizing public
opinion. The demand that overhead wires
shall cease to exist in this city will not be
laughed at much longer, and when they have
been put where they belong the community will
be more deeply indebted to the Mayor for that
consummaton than to any one else.