New-York tribune., 1896-05-05
MORE ELEVATED PLANS.

The Manhattan Elevated Railway Company Is
engaged in one Of its periodic attempts TO I'M
prove its transit facilities and swell its divi-
dends by means Of free public concessions. Yes
terday Messrs Gould and Sage held CONFER
ence with the Mayor, at which they probably
discussed plans for extensions, and concessions
for third tracks, crosstown lines and the use OF
a larger section of Battery Park for terminal
purpeses There Is no record. however. that
they proposed to give anything for these priv
ileges. and from their recent expressions there
is reason to believe that they will demand that
the city, besides giving them streets, shall pro-
tect them against all damage suits by property
owners on the line of their proposed new con-
structions.
Now the city of New-York wants rapid transit
more than it wants anything else and, in spite
of the popular detestaton Of the Manhattan
Company because of its niggar1ly policy and its
refusal for years to give as good service as was
in its power to render there should be no dis
position to prevent the Improvement OF elevated
roads by refusal to make reasonable concessions
But there is difference between giving the
managers a fair chance to carry on their busl-
ness accommodate the public and secure rea-
sonable return for their investment and sur
for paving large dividends on vastly inflated
capital while they consult the public convenience
Just as little as Is possible. For years the Man
haitian Company has been paying dividends on
the actual capital invested which are colossal,
vet it has been deaf to all urging to improve
its service to give even SO small thing as de-
cent light, to concate public favor by paying
| reasonable compensation for franchises 1t need
;tcc off Inc
doggedly pursued It's own course Of evadlng the
law, building tracks without authority. fighting
the payment Of just taxes burning oil below the
legal test limit. and leaving the public to suffer-
confident that it had monopoly and that how
ever much it might misuse It's privileges people
| had no alternative but to use its cars. But the
| cable railroads were built and the Manhattan's
| business has suffered-not enough, apparently,
| to decrease its dividends, but enough to set the
managers thinking for the future. Then they
| see the prospect Of an underground road which
| If completed will hurt their long-haul traffic
more than the cable lines have hurt the short
haul business SO from time to time they make
] offers to solve the rapid-transit problem, but
unfortunately, their offers have generally been
| saddled with such conditions that the city could
not possibly accept them, and been timed SC
|
| they might have on the tunnel enterprise that
their sincerity has been open to serious question
/ Nobody dreams for a moment that the company
would make any extensive improvements moi
| forced upon 1t by fear Of competition. and Its
present manifestation Of interest in extension Is
valuable testimony from shrewd witness tc
| belief in the future success Of the underground
| road If It Is not also another attempt to hinder
| its completion.
1t is useless for the Manhattan people to fight
the tunnel They may delay it, but in the END
some such system must be adopted. The ele
| waited lines, with any extensions that the people
would tolerate for an instant are inadequate tC
| the needs Of the city now, and the trouble mus
be greatly exaggerated with increasing popula
| tion True wisdom would dictate O reversal OF
policy, an attempt to concate the public by
| consulting the general convenience as much In
stead Of as little as possible, a disposition t
meet the city halfway in securing franchises
for needed extensions at reasonable com
pensation. The city has given SO much to TIT
Manhattan and received SO little good treatmen
In return that 1t does not pour new gifts upol
that corporation with enthusiasm At the SAM
time It desires to see traffic on the elevated line
made more comfortable, and will readily assis
in improvements that are undertaken with
liberal spirit