The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-12-06

u LIS StAi lSblSAS AAN'
! passed between Mayor Seymour of New
ark and Mr.. B. NJ. Stanley of the Con-
solidated Traction Company
Office of the Mayor, City Hall,
Newark N. j., Dec. 1, 1897.
Dear SireThougn not officially eogni-
ant of the plans of the CONSOLIDATED
Traction Company regarding the matter,
to appeal from the District Court the
suits brought therein by the Law Depart
ment of Newark to enforce the penaity
provided by law for the failure OF the
company TO equip it's cars with vestibules.
These suits have just been decided IN
favor of the city.
Such an appeal, it is almost needless to
| say, will delay a final settlement of the
main question at issue until spring at
least, perhaps later.
l am not a lawyer n l do not intend
to offer my opinion in opposition to that
OF your company'S attorney as to what
will be the outcome of the litigation IN
the courts of last resort. | recognize the
fact that the processes OF the law are
slow, and that if the Consolidated Trac-
ton Company insists. upon its reported de-
termination to secure adjudicatIons IN the
Common Pleas. Supreme Court and the
| Court of Appeals, there is no probability,
unless the Legislature shall interfere, that
the employees of the corporation VIII Sc
cure during the coming winter the benefits
| which the law in dispute was designed to
confer upon them.
Whether the law of 1897 is good or bad,
however, does not seem to be the whole
question between the Consolidated Trac-
ton Company and the City of Newark.
There is no doubt that the law was in
tended tic accomplish q good object. The
nlotormen and conductors on these ears
have a hard life of it in the winter. They
must be Industrious, watchful and polite
in all kinds of weather. Without law 1t
seems to me they are entitled to this
| small measure OF protection and relief.
( EraalinD t1lIS gh011t the m3ffar have
taken the liberty to write to you on their
behalf. You have been for many years
an employer of many men IN this state.
You enjoy as an individual a reputation
| for using men humanely and paying them
the highest rate of wages. If the Shan
| leys were the sole owners of these lines
| do not believe they would refuse to
equip their cars with v~estibules.
You ought then to use your influence
| with the Consolidated Traction Company
to bring about now his improvement,
which, as an individual and humani-
tartan, you must be in favor of. l sug-
| gest you call together the board of
directors and urge upon them immediate
| action.
III the consideration of this question the
company ought to remember that they
are a public corporation; that they Will
always be petitioners for public favors
in addition to those granted to them in
right or wrong they can scarcely afford to
stand in the way of the enforcement OF
the plain intent of the people as express
ed in a legislative act. So far as l know,
no other street ear company in the State
has Ventured to do so.
Hoping that you will take up this mat
ter at once, so that the threatened delay
in the adoption Of vestibules may not be
postponed beyond the winter which is at
hand, and requesting an early reply, /
- JAMES NJ. SEYMOUR, Mayor.
Hon. James Nj. Seymour, Mayor of the
City Of Newark
Ny Dear Sir-In answer to your favor
of December l, 1897, | desire to say that /
| regret very much that | did not reach
home from Carlsbad prior to the time the
! vestibule act went into effect and before
action since taken in regard TO the law.
Had I been here, [ think their coarse
would have been entirely different, as my
W views have always been that our men
| operating the cars in outlying districts
should have some protection from the
| weather.
Like yourself. I am not d lawyer. / do
not question the judgment of our counsel,
who still thinks the law imperative.
But do agree with you that these yes
tibules are a humane provision for the
health and comfort of our employees, and
since your letter to me on the subject I
have taken up the matter with our people
in the same spirit you have expressed in
your communication.
AS a result, a meeting of the Board of
Directors of the Consolidated Traction
Company has been called for Tuesday
meeting L shall personally present your
letter and urge their adoption of your
views.
Since the receipt of your letter I have
conferred with a sufficient number of the
directors to warrant me in anticipating
favorable action on their part, and have
today requested the general manager to
proceed with the work Of v~estibuling the
cars, which he will do at once. With re-
spect, l am, very truly yours,
3. NJ. STANLEY.
AE-& L -, - fr ~. 500 ~n1.-1
ed as expressing the ~ent of the
Traction Company.