The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-01-30
NORTH lE,,l'l7l.. ]. |Hll:U!Ds0N'S PLEA

Want Esafes Reduced.
The Hoboken Common Council gave 9
hearing last nightSto those citizens who
object to. the gxantins of a franchise tt
the NorthgHndsoh4CouA ty Railway Com
pany to change Its motive power, from
horses to electricity. THE subject has
awakened a great deal of interest in HQ-
boken, and the assembly room of the
Council was jammed with citizens eager
to express their opinions. The company
presented a petition for the franchise on
October IA last, but owing to It's refusal
to give in return a compensation to; the
city, the Council refused to grant 1t. In
order that the Council might know how
to act in the matter the opinions of the
public were invited.
The company was represented by Presi-
dent Myles Tierney. Adjuster F. J. Mer-
sheimer, General Manager Starr and
George Holmes, and ex-senator William
d. Edwards as counsel. Some of the
most prominent residents in the city
were present, including w. 9. Stuhr, the
Rev. H 7. Beatty, Senator William D.
DAILY, Samuel A. Besson, Frank Cordts.
Freeholder Verdon, Frank Frommel, Al
exander c. Young, Postmaster Currin,
Fire Commissioner Gustav Hauser and
Maurice Stack. Chairman Edward T.
Offerman of the Council presided. Three
letters were read on the subject, one
from the Board of Public Instruction and
two from interested citizens who coul
not be present. The letter from the Board
OF Education protested against trolley
cars being operated on Eleventh street,
near No. 6 School, as they would endan-
ger the lives of the school children.
Before objections. to the franchise were
heard, Chairman Oferman said It would
be best to heal the company's side of the
it. and Counsellor George Holmes took
the floor. He said
.sThe petition we have presented con-
tains all that VI have to say on this
subject. We have asked In the regular
way for the franchise and now it is the
city,s turn to act. If the city cares to
keep up with b times 1t should have
electric cars. The company has lone al
may involve anlarge expense n outlay
TO changesour motive power we deem 1t
Necessary for rapid transit"
4 Chairman .lQferman then
that it was the 4ublic's turn to speak and
BRA. w Herzog asked for the first
privilege. Of all those who addressed the
meeting Dr. Herz0g was the only one
who objected5ta rapid transit. To every
body'sIsurprise h@55lnsisted that trolley
cars were too dangerous to, be allowed
on the public streets and said that ne
thought b slower the cars travelled
the less desire there would be on the
ma pp HoboSen Would be benefted. He said
that If the Counctiy should grant the fran
chise a heavy Compensation should pc
retained by the city,
remark and said that the company could
not afford to 9 n compensation, II
Hoboken wants rapid transit. said he,
will give It. But If Hoboken doesn't
KANT 1t; then ne wiill have to have horse
cars" sysfr
The next speakers4dwas Senator DAILY,
said:-tI don't believe any city IN
the UnitedrStates objects to rapid iran
sit. / am here TO eelncide with me Sorsn
sit, but while I am in favor of At ] am
also in favor Of the company paying FOR
that franchise There Is not a corpora
ton In this State OF in b United states
gave 1T to- them for nothing b that 1s
not what we want, They have a the
use sofAour streets so long and have not
paid enerdoHar more to b city tnan
lH8X IduCo Qa1. p ~ has NV G0AtAy
ton which for years a had additional
favors for nothing 10 wants this fran
chise for nothingseH say to the
pay your just dues 10 b city and We
Max Schalsha,s 8 the Fourth ward, next
spokess15 He said that h city wanted
rapid transit, b should have cheaper
Alexander q. Young made 4 forcible
speech. He advocated; cheaper fares in-
OF a n compensation to the
city. THE question Of paying $zo,Veo into
the city treasury said Mr.. Young, does
not benefit the taxpayers any, The people
will tell you that they would rather have
reduced fares. We want rapid transit,
inc We want the Council to act in the
matter as soon as they can"
Fire Commissions Gustav Hauser de-
cIared that the houses in the city We're
all becoming vacant ON account or rapid
transit. Msa s
Tenants are moving away" he said,
any time in acting on the matter"
Al very enthusiastic speaker was Albert
Boyer, who said:-"Ever since the North
Hudson County Railway came here they
more privileges. I suppose they Will get
this franchise without paying also. i
think we ought to have cheaper fares.
/ can walk to my home from the ferry
quicker than the car can take me. The
car service today is not only a. disgrace
it is an affront to the public. We
ought TO put a dynamlte DOmD unuer the
Who'll system. There never was such a lot
of dirty boxes pulled along in the streets
of the city. I insist that the Council
should not grant the franchise unless the
company agrees to reduce fares to 2 cents
per mile"
Counsellor Holmes again asked permits
sion to further explain the scompany's
situation. He said-"The capital stock
of the today is one million dol
lars. Tha is par. We pay $4,000 to the
city every year for taxes on our property,
which isn't worth a million or anywhere
nea it. That means a tax rate Of 4 per
cent. The company hasn't paid any divi-
dends in four or five years. We can't run
the road if we have to a any more, I
know of any railroad in the United
States that is carrying passengers for
less than five cents. We nave considered
the question of these fares. 1t can't be
done; that's all there is about Il We
transport passengers at less than
5 cents apiece. No question about IT. We
are not here as beggars., The company is
trying it's level best to give to Hoboken
what it can and thatyfs all that can be
done We don't ask the city to suffer
and we don't want to suffer ourselves.
se A-u-A-4-