The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-10-05
A WORD wrrm rnE ALDERMEN.

A WORD WITH THE ALDERMEN.
II is understood that the Board of
Aldermen will consider the ordinances
granting the Union Railway Company
permission to equip its Elmwood and
Pawtucket routes with the trolley at its
meeting"to-
This brings to the front certain con-
siderations. The aldermen have shown
a disposition to hesitate about granting
this privilege, though it did permit the
equipment of the Pawtuxet line. The
objection to the. trolley that has had
weight with certain of the aldermen is
the claim that it is dangerous to life
and property, we believe. No other ar
gument has been advanced against it
that is worthy of consideration. or that
has received much consideration.
This claim that the trolley is danger
Gus has never been substantiated by the
parties that have made it. 1t was in
cumbent on them to make the charge
good, but they have been unable to DO
so. They have produced no proof.
Electricians of national reputation--not
one but many-have declared that the
trolley is not dangerous to human life,
and that it need not endanger property
in the least if 1t is properly erected and
cared for. Statisticians have shown
that the trolley is less productive of ac-
cidents, and less destructive Of life,
| than horse cars.
1t is also urged against the trolley that
it is not the best possible mode of ap-
plying electricity to the propulsion of
street cars. During the three or four
years just past there has scarcely been
a week that has not brought the news
of some new method. These electric
patented meteors fare up in the news
papers for day or week and then are
never heard of again.
Sanguine people still believe that per-
petual motion will some day be attained
by the product of the brain of some in
Yentive prodigy. A great many people
believe better system than the trolley
will be available sometime. 1t is very
plainly evident that it is not now avail
able, and there is excellent reason to
believe that none of the electrical
inventors are yet upon the right track
to discover it.
Must PROVIDENCE wait for the electri-
cal millennium for. rapid transit and the
abolition of the slow and filth producing
horse cars? Must she wait for those
who falsely claim that the trolley is
dangerous to collect little evidence
in support of that claim?
The aldermen are to answer, and as
they answer so PROVIDENCE will forge
ahead and take her place among the
progressive cities Of the country or lag
at the rear of the splendid procession.
SHAKING HANDS WITH DOUGLASS.
One of the funniest of the fifty-nine
letters recently written by Grover
Cleveland and published by his admir-
ers is that one in which he apologies to
Clark Howell, Jr., of the Atlanta Con-
stitution for having "shaken hands
with Niger" said negro being the
snowy-haired Fred Douglass, and the
time Of the offense when that gentle
man was registrar of deeds in the Dis
trict of Columbia and Mr.. Cleveland the
President Of the United States.
Mr.. Cleveland hastens to ''nail' this
lie in true metaphysicl@4's fashion. Let
him explain in his own words:
When Frederick Douglass was In public
| Office in Washington |, as President OF the
United States, extended 10 him the same
courtcsics, so far as public receptions and mat
ters OF that kind are concerned, which were
| extended to other officials OF the same grade.
Thus, the gentle reader will observe,
while the President of the United
States, as a disembodied abstraction.
did shake hands with an equally incor-
| poreal Recorder Of Deeds, Grover Cleve-
land. the -who-sent-a-substit
did not personally shake hands with the
| grand old lion of the colored race. 1t
was mere official form not social or
personal recognition of the "nigger."
The distinction is well taken. But
why doesn't Clark Howell, Jr., rejoin
that Mr.. Cleveland had no business 70
put Mr.. Douglass into an official posi-
tion which was likely TO involve even a
formal handshaking?