The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-04-03

| It is the New Jersey parallel plan, SnoWn
 upon this map of the electric lines be- tween Patterson and Hoboken, New
 Jersey, repeated here by the same men that inaugurated and perfected 1t there. A glance at this map will show you precisely what these gentlemen | expect to accomplish but I fancy they may find it rougher road in Connec- ticut than upon the sandy soil of New
 Jersey. The plain question for you ard
 this general assembly is simply this: Will you consent to permit this scheme
 to parallel existing steam lines, that you have chartered to do the business between towns along it's lines, and
 which are doing it cheaply and reason ably, to be paralleled by these syndi- oates from New Jersey and Pennsylva- mia without any demand from the peo- I.ple of these towns that are amply ac- commodated by the steam roads to-day.
 But, says Brother Gager, We want to build, and ask permission to build, where and only where there are people
 to be served as the steam roads cannot
 by any possibility serve them" Not a
 witness has been before this committee
 in single case, so far as I am aware,
 that has not made claim that the Con-
 solidated road and it's branches were
 not furnishing ample and sufficient
 means of transportation at a reasonable
 price between the stations on it's line
 they propose to parallel by these exten-
 sions. Most all the evidence has come
 from the mouths of the projectors of
 these lines, or their counsel, and not
 from the people resi- ih1g in these towns,
 many of whom have been before this
 committee to object and protest against
 the further extension of these lines in
 these towns where they reside. And
 yet, to hear Brother Gager talk, you
 would suppose the whole state was
 deeply aroused upon this question. In
 the absence of any evidence or proof
 of public necessity and in the absence
 of any demand by the people, and against the protests of the people them
 selves, will this committee force these
 extensions upon the people of towns
 who do not desire them, simply to as- sist these New Jersey schemers to insert few missing links now wanting in the parallel chain?
 And right here let the committee un- derstand we are not here opposing the grant of any extension of an existing electric road, which is demanded by public convenience or necessity. But, with the exception of the oneor two short extensions to the stations of the Con- solidated road, to which we do not ob- ject. no proof has been produced before this committee of any public necessity hot TDr,k T is no necessity of producing any proof of any public necessity before this com mittee; in other words, that all they have to do is to come before this com mittee and show their plan and say,
 We want a charter" and that settles it. No evidence is required here except that they propose to build. They have simply to touch the legislative button, and you do the rest. This is not my understanding of the duties of a legis- lative committee, nor do I believe it will be yours. If this is so, the powers of this committee sink into insignificance and contempt
 "The gentlemen claim the exigency clause of section 8, Acts of 1893 provides for a hearing before the superior court or a judge thereof, upon the question of public necessity for an electric road between towns. You will observe, how ever, that this statute carefully exempts from it's provisions all street railways chartered prior to January 1, 1893, some of which are now before you asking for parallel extensions, and further that the able counsel for the electric roads have boldly claimed before you that this statute does not apply to any street railway unless it is built for it's entire distance in the public highway. This very claim was made and insisted upon by one of the learned gentleman who in behalf of the New Britain | street railway in the superior court for l Hartford county in a petition under this | very section, which is the only case that has yet been brought under it. and which is still undecided If this claim Is sustained, what becomes of MT. Ga | gers plausible and seductive claim that | the existing law is ample and fair on | the question of parallelism? Every | charter or amendment before you seeks | to evade the provision of this exigency | clause by carefully providing that they | may run over the public highway or | 1pon private property.
 "If this claim is right, they have only ,o acquire a small tract of land some where along their route in the highway, md by constructing their line upon it | Or a short distance they escape entirely | rom the provisions of this statute, which, they say, was constructed for he defense of the steam roads. Tn the fight of this attempted evasion, in open ,ourt of section of the general law " the electric roads, will this committee ake much stock in MT, Gager's auda- ious claim that the steam roads seek o evade a judgment of the superior ourt as to the public convenience and necessity of a parallel? The effects pon the business of the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad, of cleo ric parallels, I gave you in percentages wo weeks ago, covering a period of hree months only. The figures were onfined to local business only, for no thers are of importance in this discus ion. We did not select special and ex- optional results of electric competi- lon, but gave the actual results, as hown by our books, fully and frankly. The effects of these figures are start ng.
 "As to the actual effect of these lines
 ffn. l