St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-07-21
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LAID DOWN BY LOWRY
The Magnate Faces the Coun-
< Gil Railroad Com
mittee.
;.
Some Plain Facts Bluntly and
Candidly Set
Forth.
His Big Plan for Making a
!. Harriet Out Of
Como.
The Magnate Means Bust
q, ness and Bluffs
Don't Go.

The JOINT special committee from the
board OF aldermen and assembly to
which has been referred all matters re
lating to street railway affairs held a;
session yesterday afternoon. The com
mittee consisted of Assemblymen VOL
terstorff, DAILY and Van Slyke and Aid.
Franklin. Warren and Zimmerman. Ali
but Aid. Zimmerman were present. Col.
Thomas Lowry had been invited to at
tend the conference, and he was
promptly on hand. attended by his able
legal lieutenantS, Fl. j. Horn and NJ. ID.
Mum. The legal summaries, however,
did none of the talking, Mr.. Lowry
Being fully equal to the occasion, and
with fund of funny stories, used to
APPLY illustrate his points, he quite cap
tivated the meeting.
At preliminary meeting of the COM
nlittee series of points Or questions
had been prepared on which it was
thought best to have Mr.. Lowry express
a Afinite opinion. These were grouped
together Oh sheet of paper anu were
scheduled as follows:
Extension of line to Como Dark,
Better service on The Jackson street line.
A better and less complicated transfer
system.
More frequent car service on the Fort
Smelling lire.
Extension of Maria avenue line.
Extension OF the Stryker avenue line.
Children under seven years of age to ride
free. same as III Minneapolis.
Establishment OF waiting room on State
street line.
Open cars on Mississippi street line.
Mr.. Lowry wasn't prepared to say
Just what he would or would not do, and
animated that he didn't care to be
placed on record as saying | will or
won't to any particular proposition.
Aid. Warren wanted all the resolutions
heretofore referred to the committee
read. so as to give Mr.. Lowry an idea
of the complaints made by citizens to
the council. Mr.. Van Slyke said he
couldn't see how the resolutions could
have any particular bearing on the con-
ference; as he understood it, Mr.. Eowry
had been invited to confer with the
committee and tell them
What 9de intended
to do for the city in the way of better
service and extensions of needed lines
in various parts Of the city.
The first thing Mr.. Lowry wanted to
know was who had authority to MAZE
arrangements or pledges regarding
Como park. Mr.. Van ::Slvke and CITY
Attorney Lawler said the park board
Dad charge Of the parks, and any priyi-
iegeS pledged or granted would have to
GONE through the park board. Mr.. Low
~ said he was willing to have one
cheek smitten and then turn the other
cheek for blow, but he was not pre-
pared to have money taken from his
pockets after the shifting had been
uone. He was not prepared to answer
all resolutions which had been present
ed to the council with yes or no. and
did not think it fair treatment Oh the
part of the council to oblige him TO.
MIR. DAILY said lie understood that
children i'll Minneapolis under seven
years of age rode free, and in st. Paul
the limit was placed at five years. 70
this Mr.. Lowry said if it was as claimed
there was probably something in the
ordinance to that effect.
After CHANGING over the questions the
committee had proposed Mr.. Lowry as
Sumed graceful. attitude and made
few brief and pointed remarks. He was
not here to make any promises He had,
Ire considered, been unjuStly attacked
10y the council and certain papers in 81.
Paul. He had made.a contract with the
city government, which contract was
considered by a committee of thirty
prominent citizens. including members
of the city council and chamber of COM
merce. At the time the committee
and he himself were very enthu-
Siastic about the growth of the city and
at every meeting of the committee some
additional burden had been imposed on
the company. Nearly all the extensions
made at the time were simply for the
benefit of real estate owners. His real
iZationS had not been met in the growth
of the city. At the time he stated the
burdens being imposed were more than
could be carried out and was informed
sufficient time would be giuen the com
panY in case it was necessary. 1t was a
matter of impossiblllty to run cars every
five, ten or fifteen inmates and wait for
the sale Of real estate to make the line
pay. The Selby avenue line was a fair
example. for fourteen Or fifteen months
cars had been run every five minutes,
but no houses were built and the result
was that the line had to be discontin-
ued. One of the last provisions which
he was forced to accept at that time was
the construction of the Hamline
line. He
Absolutely Refused
to have anything to do with this line,
believing the same would not pay.
Messrs. Noyes, Pratt and Driscoll, how
ever, persuaded him that they would
see he was not oppressed if the line was
constructed. Not an extension had been
made Which had not been burden On
the company. With all the financial
strings he was able to pull he was
obliged to put the railway system of the
two cities under the control of one con-
pany in order to make necessary
loan. The net earnings here
did not show up sufficiently
well to guarantee rapid sale of the
bonds, but they were just beginning to
go now, and this was because the Min
neapolis end of the system made
enough to show up the right figures.
There was no city in the country that
could compare with st. Paul IN superior
ity of service except Minneapolis. He
was willing to dowhat was right and fol
the best interests of the city. 1t was
probable that some changes were
needed in the transfer system, and thai
the line to Como should be extended
and other changes made. He wanted t
be met half way, and was DESTROYS t
fix matters up. Ii it was question oil
pulling gun and telling the compani
to hold up their hands, they would
be forced to go to the courts
He admitted Como park was
beautiful place, but something must bt
put there to make it attractive aside
from its natural beauties. The extern
sion without any attraction would max,
the line good for three months to Conn
and nine months for Warrendale. whiei
would not pay 80 per cent of the cost o.
running expenses to run TO the latte
point