The sun., 1895-04-01

wholly ceased and terminated at the close OF
the present official year; but now their Of
fees have been caught up by the constitu-
tional provision under consideration. and
practically made perpetual.
| Wehave high respect for the leading men,
bers of the late Constitutional Convention,
and we feel assured that men like Messrs.
| CHoATE and RooT have had no hand or part
In the insertion in the new Constitution Of
this section vesting these Commissioners
with the supreme authority to waive most
essential provisions of the Constitution Mt
their irresponsible will. There was consid-
erable excitement and much haste and con-
fusion Mt the close Of the Convention, and
we are satisfied that section 23 became en-
grated In the new Constitution by mis-
| take through the inconsideratc copying OF
former provisions intended to he continued
as part OF the fundamental law: or that it
was secretly and cunningly smuggled into
| that paramount instrument by the hidden
hand Of some crafty and unnoticed member
| OF the Convention, who Is now doubtless
seeking to avail himself Of its valuable
advantages for some piratical client. We
are borne out in this conclusion by the
address issued to the people Of the State on
the 2sth of September, 1894, by the special
committee of the Convention, calling atten-
tion to the work performed. In this ad-
dress the committee take credit to the Con-
vention that they have provided further
safeguards against abuses in legislatures"
| giving details in this respect even to the
point of specifying, in this category, the
prohibition against the issue of passes by
railroad, telegraph, and telephone compa-
nies" But there is no allusion whatever
to the momentous departure from constitu-
tional attributes and principles II they
| had, Intentionally, established such a per-
manent Commission with continuing au-
| thority to take down the constitutional bar
rers at will. we are sure these gentlemen
would have declared the fact and given the
reasons for it, II any there were
We must believe, in view of all the cir
cumstances, that the twenty-third section
of the new Constitution, in the immutable
place it occupies, is of illegitimate and bas-
| tard origin. But nevertheless it is there,
and there to stay; and it presents a very
grave and alarming issue for the considera-
| tion Of the chief officers Of the State. We
were led to take up the matter for consider
upiou, ~ uuiS Oh ltdTHluS tudU cAbeu-
sive preparations were OH foot for general
| onslaught on the Commissioners of Revision
and the Legislature, for the purpose of OBJ
tanning from them series of approval acts
curing large legal hospital load Of lame
| legislation of the past. Among others the
Rapid Transit Commissioners expect to
profit by the reenactment of their law under
the auspices Of the Commissioners by which
the fatal constitutional defects of their
creation are to be overcome. Then there
are bridge privileges with the adjuncts
| Of elevated railroads across town, and
for general extensions throughout the
| city, that are to be treated for their consti-
tutional deformities and made whole. Then,
| too, there are railroad franchises in Brook
| lyn and elsewhere, that have been obtained
by most audacious violations of consti-
tutional restriction. that are to he rebaptized
and brought within the pale Of the Commits
| sioners' sanctuary. There is even n scheme
to introduce railroad ON the Fifth avenue
i'll this city. There are millions in it. The
surface railroad franchises Of Brooklyn and
| elsewhere have been granted wholly in the
interests of the grabbers, and now that pro-
ceedings are on foot to expose the means by
which these railroad privileges were OBJ
tained, and to reclaim them for the benefit
Of the outraged taxpayers, it will be a great
wrong if this provision Of the Constitution
can be invoked to cheat the people.
The question as to the considerations
| which have controlled in the grab of these
| franchises and the true rule which should
prevail, may be illustrated by reference to
our own city. A surface railroad derives it's
value from what may be called the good will
| OF the city in which it is operated, the ex-
| elusive right to use it's avenues and high
| ways and the compulsory requirement on
| its inhabitants to employ for city transit
only the carriages for hire of the parties in
possession. The value of these franchises
| depends on the size Of the city and the ex-
tent of the patronage provided. In this city
these franchises, ON the principal routes,
are of incalculable worth. The tax
payers provide and maintain the city,
and the railroad exploiters by circui-
tous methods that are as despoiling as open
fraud, manage to possess themselves of
the right to Use it for their own benefit.
The riches which they are thus able to ac-
quire may be reckoned by the million. This
city is upheld to continue our example, in
its police, its lighting in its paved ways, and
its various departments Of municipal re-
| quirement, at an annual expense of
from thirty to fifty millions part in taxa
tion and part in debt, to be paid from the
city revenues eked out by taxation. 1t
should be required, obviously, that the
right to control the use of the streets, and
confer the monopoly Of their employment
| for public travel should be made to Weld
the largest sum for the benefit of the tax
payers, in reduction of the onerous taxation
to which we have referred, in maintaining
the conditions which provide the enormous
patronage, and give SO much value to the
franchises. But it is claimed that in the
city OF Brooklyn, and perhaps elsewhere,
the taxpayers have been defrauded by a
combined system of legislative and munich
pal trickery; and certain individuals who
pretend to much respectability have been
made enormously wealthy by these fran
chises, and are every day and every year
L lt