The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-12-17
EJUsTloE OF THE ACT OF 1884
Operation Against Terminal
oities-Rai,roads Have Not
developed the City.


the system of railway taxation is now
y nearly ready for for fling with the State
Commission, of which Attorney General
Stockton is Chairman. A preliminary
memorandum has already been presented
with the tabular exhibits; but the docu-
ment proper Is still in the hands of the
printers and is having the finishing
touches put on it by counsel.
The brief will be a paper of about sew
enty pages The exhibits viii make
nearly two hundred. The sgners of the
brief are William D. Edwards as Special
Counsel, John A. Blair as Corporation
Counsel, Spencer Weart as Corporation
Attorney. and Edlow w. Harrison as
Consulting Engineer.
The opening of the document is de-
voted to explaining the sources of the
tabular statements and of the maps
which are to go with the volume. The
City's counsel made it a point to print
their exhibits as their case developed,
and to Immediately place the same before
Htbeir opponents. They therefore enter
complaint that up to the last day of
he hearing the allied companies had not
: s-ffraeSs OF furnished them with copy of
al single table or. map for examination
mitteds BY the railroads, the fallacies
whereof could have been publicly demon
strated had the city's course in this re-
gard been followed.
After a brief sketch of the history of
the Commission, the brief starts in to
discuss the relations between Jersey City
and the railroads. and especially the ef
feet of the Act of 1884 upon our fortunes
as a. municipality. "The News is for
dunate in being able to present to its
readers, today, the text of this part Of
the brief. 1t is as follows
At the outset of the hearing the several
counsel for the railroad companies admit
ted Inat the act of 1884 did not fairly dis
tribute the tax derived from the compa-
mes. me Attorney General astutely made
tnls inquiry OF each counsel; in every in
stance save one the fact was freely admit
ted. yrhe counsel for one of the Companies
! however. stood mute; but he did not DENY
|nit. pc could not.
AThroughout The whole investigation the
StloH Oh redistribution of the fund
sen conceded; the question of an
ess-e n the rate has been fought.
rsey CITY claims ~ a substantial in
ase IN the rate of taxation upon the
rfio class property used for railroad
poses, ana t2) more equitable distri-
ION ION thereof between the State and the
eral taxing districts
or Is the injustice complained of con-
ed entirely to Jersey City; it is shared.
VIII be seen by Exhibit C, page Al, by
aany other municipalities, notably by
Elizabeth, Camden. Hoboken. Bayonne.
Ifenton, Perth Amboy, South Amboy and
PhiIlipsburg.
Still Of course. from its very location,
Jersey CITY is the main sufferer. Nature
Tade the site of Jersey City for the great
railway terminus of the Western world;
located on deep water. opposite the crowd
| ed metropolis at the only point ON the
W raj xaaf of
! the Paiisade affords yard room. it's terri
tory has beea sought and its water front
paTceiied cut among the great trunk lines.
All but oiie of the great carrier systems
which bring to the worlds market the
agricultural and other products OF the
Great West and South, and In turn bear
their termiAi here. Only. one system
terminates oh Manhattan Island the New
York Central. and even that company
hasSan auxiliary on the Jersey side in the
Shore Railroad Company having
fminus AZ Weehawken.
Of taeSe corporations, except the
Jersey Central. and the New York,
Elenanra and Western, are alien conn
s which have leased our original To-
Dads for the sole purpose of acquir-
Eiese Terminals; they could easily have
leaed the roads across The State, but
could not parallel the shore front on
Hudson River. No Vanderbilt or
i, or Scott or Packer or Garrett
oan, could add cubit to that front
llDft n Oh iuSE % Will Sl0W Inc TaD-
with which this short front has been
p up since 1860. In that year less than
per cent. of this frontage was used
railroad termini, a little over four
Eent. for ferry and steamship wharves
ewelve per cent. for canal and
ufactuIing purposes, while eighty-two
ent. wag unused; in 1896 the railrrsd
mi have increased cne hundred fold
now occupy g per cent. of the area !;
ferry and steamship slips Have more
doubled and there Is now unused
4 $50 per cent. We ask a careful
sal Of the second table OF this exhibit.
growth of the railroad termiM since
s phenomenal. In 1880 they occupied
cent Of the water front; in 1896, 68
ent.
Commissioners will recall the in
On made of this unique property,
The massive piers and freight sheds.
uzs grain elevators and coal tres
she wide canals extending from the
for thousands of feet mp into the
faobstTucted by streets or bridges,
saef. cut off from our own city and
seefing only with the ocean and the
They viii recall from their in
San that out OF this domain Jersey
ASs only one public dock, only one
q loading to the river; they will also
j that only two manufacturing COM
Is are powerful enough to maintain
hstYf establishments on the water
{. Ihe Sugar Trust on the Gap in
ey City and tse Standard Oh Trust
constable Hook.
4 say the railroad counsel triumphant
<ea1tsausa q second page,