Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1895-10-09
DESERVES ATTENTION.
A Communication That Brings Out Facts ss They Exist.-Read and
 Ponder.

To the Daily Graphic:
 A government that does not pro- teet her subjects is a fraud. A pri vate enterprise that don't give value
 received, should not be patronized, and if it stands in the way of public interests and public comforts, it should be removed.
 claim that the city is otprotect- ! ing the interests of her citizens in the
 sidewalk question because she is fail- ing to enforce the law which provides that there shall be sidewalks in cer- tain localities, and built by the
 owners of the property which fronts
 on them
 also claim that the street-car sys- tenn, as it is now run, does not give value received. and is really in the
 way of public interests. wish it un-
 derstood that individually, am a friend to all our city officials, and also of the street-c ar owners, and if am wrong I will gladly make it right; but do think thecitizens, who
 are directly effected, are entitled to an explanation on the following facts-facts as I conceive them to be: i The street-car matter has grown from bad to worse for 6 good, long
 time until now you can't go much of
 any place on time, for when they do
 come along, it is only to pass through the business part of the city and the near residence portion -start out Main street. for instance,
 and they take your money, but dump you out on the Lake Bridge, which l is only q start to the hundreds of homes for a mile or more beyond there, and, too, where they have the streets damaged by u street-car track. In good weather they some
 times run out on Main street to
 Jones' Park and down Seventeenth avenue for one, and sometimes two blocks, but on rainy days they stop
 and start from the Lake Bridge. inquired why it was, and the answer
 came, "we have no driver today.' A little later I met Lakeside man and
 inquired of him why it was they
 didn't get driver, and he stopped
 in the rain and mud long enough to
 say: "The driver who drives on this
 end is an expert, and he is sick, and
 there are no brakes of any conse- quence on the car and no ordinary
 person can manage it." We Lake
 siders are naturally sympathetic, and will admit of extraordinary con-
 cern about the man who can drive a
 street-car without a brake. We hope
 for him aspeedy recovery.
 l Several days ago I signaled the
 driver to stop on the crossing, as
 wished to get on. He did not stop,
 and I jumped on anyhow, but
 slipped and came near falling. When l I got in I asked him why he didn't
 stop. He said: Don't jump on me, but jump on the company, for there are no brakes on this car and can't stop it."
 Thisforces fellow who doYpt own 1 a closed carriage or a horse and buggy, to walk through mud or
 dust, one or the other, nearly all the time. The taxpayers, who have
 compiled with thelaw and putdown
 sidewalks, have a right to demand of 1 the city to force their neighbors to
 do so. Whut is the good of walking
 on a good walk in front of one mans property and then take the mud for a whole block, and sometimes more? This state of affairs will certainly 1, depreciate the value of property, and
 be not. only a discomfort to the pub lie, but loss to theprOperty owners. | I have lived about seven years in
 Pine Bluff, and the sidewalk matter has been in constant agitation, but
 never have I heard of the city mak- { ing an example by enforcing the law II can't say that blame many good citizens who have failed to do their duty, because they see that the city is not disposed to make the fel- low do who won't; and walk at their front and at the other distance none, would be of little service.
 Then again, the very muddiest walks that we have to contend with are
 those where the city has condemned
 the property, and is responsible for 1 it's obstrucing the streets, and an eye-sore the individual who walks it. c. N. HART.