Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1896-04-18

rs TRACK ELEVATION DEAD?

We ara Informed through the daily
press and otherwise that there In Il
proposition TO be- submitted to the now
City Council to the effect that the
title of the committee ON railroads be-
changed to the following: committee
on railroads ana track elevation"
or all tie humbugs that have ever
been foisted upon the public of Chi
cago this silly gun about track clcva-
ton H. about the worst. 1t has been
the stock In trade of fOsr successive
city administration. each one of which
has cndeavOred to build up u public
popularity upon the con game Of track
elevation talk and promises. Begin
ming with old man Crcgler, who talk.
cd Of II In about the same way that
Jules Verne wrote Of his submn rinc
boats. air ships AMI other wonders of
undiscovered sciences. II was carried
on through the Washburne adnlnIstra.
ton. when not vladuct would be nj.
lowed to be erected no matter how
badly needed. because It might inter.
rere with track elevation. on through
the Hopkins administration. when
Mere was more actual blOviatiOn ana
less real performance In this cOnnec.
ton than could be believed possible
on the part OF u public official. Righ,
up into the middle of Mayor Swift's
administration this humbuggery has
been carried along.
Mayor Harrison. the only chief exc.
cutive who ever had the nerve to state
publicly that It was imprnctlcable n,
II general scheme for the railroad sys-
TEN OF this city. was determined to do
something tangible and practicable IN
the line of the abolition of grade cross.
tags. but he was killed by u maniac
whose dIsOrdered brain was In part the
product OF the condition of public
frenzy on the subject caused by tho
ciamor Of the press ana the vapOrlngs
of damagOgues on the self.sa me sub
ject. We remember case In which
n certain chief executive had his name
cmblazOned upon tablet In an nbut'
ment supposed to be the commence.
ment Of u general scheme of track
elevation. which was to be rushed
through after that day In no time,
Heaven knows what that abutment Is
being used for now, or to what lofty
or other purposes the tablet Is being
put. but one thing II certain--the rail-
roads are going on steadily killing the
public ut the grade crossings ana thu
list Of slaughters II increasing month
after month. Mayor Swift sought ia
grapple with the subject, but, like
Mayor Harrison, when he came ia
deal with II In a hard realistic way,
apart entirely from the region of the
DRY and poetry, he found that rs n
general proposition. 1t didn't go. lie
tried to effect some sort Of settle
ment of the veXed problem Of the
Sixteenth street crossing, and had sue
ceetlcd, but his good work was spOlle,
by scheming demagOgues AMI self
seekers. He sickened of II, and II
was the worry In connection with thl'
pestiferOus question that was the main
cause of the serious illness thai
South. Now there Ia "A proposition
TO tack on to the title of Council com
mites. ON railroads the addenda
"and track elevation There
have been committees on top OF
committees on track elevation. There
have been special committees, am
there have been costly commissions
created by special net of the Council
They only resulted In junketing rip
for the members. After n few busi
ness-likc meetings the majority o
those persons composing them some
how or other lost interest In the whoi'
business. Just why 1t matters not nov
90 tell; but the committees invariably
died of inantiOn.
Now the committee on railroads Is
time-liOnOrcd branch OF the Council