The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-04-30

the reverse proposition, in the thought
less supporters of the proposed pas
senger station have, then we may pre-
pare ourselves for another proposition,
made pointedly by a witty member of
the municipal government, that the
city shall provide umbrellas and mack
for those who have to await at
any point the arrival of an approaching
car upon a rainy day, We can not too
steadily and persistently keep in mind
that the municipal government stands
for the people, and the semi-publlc cor
porations stand for the private capital
invested in them,
Now what should we do with these
local street terminal companies? OBJ
Viously we, as stockholders in the
government, should give
them every public encouragement and
not relatively more than we
give any thrifty and industrious citizen
or business enterprise that is located
among us, but just as much, 1t mat
ters not whether the capital invested
is so-called foreign capital or strictly
local capital, the question of service
given and faith kept is what should
count. We cannot lose sight of the
fact that with the exception of the
Fair Haven and WestVille railroad,
which, let me say in passing, is the best
business proposition l know of in mod
ern trolley road venture, we owe all we
have, practically, to outside capital and
outside enterprise. 1t is quite possible
if not decidedly probable, that without
his CHI M OH
pendent upon the horse car of past
generation for transportation. We
should protect these corporations IN
every business way, but we should COM
pei them to pay into the local treasury,
in the way of taxation and in addition
to the cost now imposed upon them in
the care of the streets, a fair percen-
tage of their gross receipts as COM
pensation for the superior rights grant
ed them. 1t matters not that the trans
fer of the taxing power from the state
to the municipality or the town might
revive the old town tax, there is more
to be welcomed in that direction than
feared. AS have already said, wher-
ever the narroWness or Importance of
the street under consideration, or the
general convenience of the public de-
mands, the municipality should compel
surface railroad lines to receive one an
others cars for limited distances.
There are yet rights belonging to horse
owners, and wheelmen, and pedestri-
ans, which the municipality ought to
see are respected by these corporations.
There should exist, too, the authority
to regulate force, on the one hand,
while, on the other, it should not be
left entirely to the opinion of abutting
property owners to say whether right
of way should or should not be granted
through a given street. Orange street,
for example, should not be yielded up
to trolley or cable car uses, if every
property owner on the street petitioned
for it. 1t is the single open roadway to
East Rock park.
If, as has been claimed, this general
policy of the relationship of municipal
government to local surface transit COR
porations, reduced to the necessary de-
tails, should lead to the requirement,
first, of the rails in the streets by the
municipality, and then of the rolling
stock, and finally, of all the property
belonging to them, there would be this
consolation in the new order of things
that the change had been brought about
logically and in a search for justice.
There are serious objections to be
raised to the municipal ownership of
such public properties, but there are
more serious objections still to the vast
accumulation of capital into the hands
of few, and the consequent evil re
suits to the greater number from the
immense political and commercial pow
er of monopoly.
AS for the other semi-public corpora
tons, the same Identical prin-
ciple should govern the relationship of
the municipal government to them.
The water and gas companies should
not be permitted to excavate our
streets. This should be done under the
authority of the board of public works
in order that no injury should be done
them. SO, on the other hand, they
should not be asked to bear burdens of
taxation not borne in equal proper
tons by other local semi-public cor
porations. There must be a uniform
rule for all, fixed recognition of the
the local treasury should be paid for
all the privileges afforded by the mu-
nicipality. The manufacturer and the
merchant and the professional man
have to pay for the privilege afforded
him; why not the semi-public corpora
ton in similar ratio? | do not be-
lieve a trolley car or a gas yet is more
necessary to a community than a skill
ed physician or an honest merchant,
or an enterprising manufacturer or an
honest newspaper. Tt is a privilege to
poles, greater privilege than to bury
them beneath the gravel, where the
safety of our lives and property de-
mand they ought to be. That privilege
should be taxed accordingly. The tele-
phone company has earned our graft
tude by burying it's wires in most in
stances, and is correspondence more
entitled to the consideration of the
municipality than the Western Union
Telegraph company, whose poles Sc
riously deface the natural beauty of
New Haven.
But as ] remarked at the outset, this
paper is more suggestive than anything
else. need not, therefore, discuss fur
their the various phases of the aues-
ton. If ! have brought out clearly the
idea that J had in mind, when your
president, General Ford, asked me to
address you, I am satisfied That idea
was to lay stress on the fact that the
relationship of the municipality to-