Evening journal., 1893-04-20
PRES. MORSE E'SLETTER.
The Edge Moor Bridge Works
Man Heard From.
GIVE THE CITY RAILWAY AoHANCB

one just Starting.
staff Correspondence Evening Journal
DOVER, April 2O.-President II. G
Morse, of the Edge Moor Bridge Com
pany, has written the following letter to
Chairman Watson, Of the Senate Com
mittee on Private Corporations:
april 10th, 1893 n
'To the Chairman Of the Committee on
Corporations. General Assembly,
Dover, Del
81 am deeply interested in the results
of the various efforts now being made TO
obtain charters for electric street car
lines to operate in and about Whining
ton Not because / am financially inter-
ested, for have not now and do not ex-
pect in the future TO own stock In any Of
these lines ! AN interested however in
the rapid transportation of our employees
between their homes ia Wilmington and
our shops in Edge Moor.
"Our workmen do not live In Brandy
wine Springs, Claymont, Chadds Ford or
Newport, but In the eastern part of the
city, between the Brandywine and Chris
tiana rivers, from which section Of the
city none Of the proposed CHARTERS ask
for direct lines TO Edge Moor Perhaps
the parties asking for charters only in.
tend to build lines through the streets
of Wilmington, and in after years, IL
these lines pay, they may consider the
question as to whether it would be wise
for them to build to suburban towns
In case we depended on any of these
lines for which you are asked TO grant
charters, IL would be years before they
could build them in Wilmington to reach
the homes of our wOrkmen, and after
doing this should they contemplate
building line to Edge Moor, they would
find that by their proposed routes they
would have TO carry our workmen over
double the distance required by a direct
line over the Eleventh street bridge
mot one Of the parties asking for
charters have ever evinced enough
interest in Edge Moor to ask us how
many passengers we would furnish, or
by what route they could best serve our
people, or even In what portion Of the
city our workmen lived, from which
neglect / am persuaded that they either
have not exercised ordinary business
instincts or that they oaly named Edge
Moor as one Of the termini of these lines,
for a cloak to shield their purpose Of
building lines in the city only The
citizens of Wilmington have not asked
for better street car service than they
now have, on the contrary l have heard
from all sides, continual praise for the
very efficient service which we now enjoy
and for the efforts they are now making
to reach the extreme limits Of the city.
should another company build lines
through the city TIA combined earnings
would not be materially increased,
while the investments and operating ex
penses would be doubled, and the prof
its for both companies would either be
reduced TO nothing or TO such a low ebb,
that neither line would be able or will.
! ing to build suburban lines.
81 make the following suggestions for
your consideration:
First-Do the parties asking for
charters intend TO build to the
suburban towns mentioned in their bills.
If they state that they do so intend,
what proof do they offer and what capi
talists have evinced their good faith by
appearing before you and oblgating
themselves to carry out the promises
made by their representatives.
''Second-Have the people of Will
mington asked for better street railway
facilities than they now possess?
"Third-Will the interests of this city
and state be better conserved by one
line owned by citizens who will retain
all their profits here or will you best
serve your constituents by bringing
capital from without the state to be in
vested not in products of this state, but
in cars, rails, motors aud machinery
bought outside of the state, and permit
them to carry away from us the profits,
II any, which they may earn by reducing
or exterminating the profits which your
own neighbors should make by theiI
present investments.
"Fourth-Wil not another system OF
rapid transit through our streets so en-.
danger public travel that It will be un.
safe to travel through the city2 The
present system has almost entirely
driven all other vehicles of the street.
occupied by their tracks. The people
who bring produce and supplies into our
city and those who come here TO trade
have some rights to our public thorough
fares, which should be recognized in
considering the question of giving ur
more streets to rapid transit.
Il do not wish to urge upon those
interested in obtaining electric lines for
N.NAA hNAAA AeA NAAAukHrt Anhl lhtN may
be standing IN their own light by asking
you 20 grant charters to parties whose
intentions may not be clear to all of us.
but who may succeed (without intending
to do SOY In breaking down our present
admirable system, or so depreciate its
earning capacity as to force its sale 10
such notorious syndicates as now hold
the cities of Philadelphia, Chicago and
Boston In their grasp. Bat / do ask that
the Wilmington City Railway Company
be given a chance 70 reach out to our
suburban towns, before embarrassing
them with parallel lines in the city.
which might prevent their future growth
and undo us as well as them.
IF, after a reasonable opportunity "a
grow, they shall fail to meet proper
public demands, l shall be among the
first to ask you for relief, and doubt not
that you viii then feel justified in grant
ing IL"
Registered at New York Hotels.
Special Correspondence Evening Journal
New YORK, April 90 Registered at