The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-11-01
THE STREET RAILWAY SITUATION
VIII Savannah Also Become "a "GuI-
liver Bound3V

VIII savannah Also Become "a "GuI-
liver Bound3D
Editor Morning News: 1t may not be
amiss, just at this time, when the direc-
tors of the street railway corporation In
this city, which by the recent consolida-
ton of competitive lines, has material
lied into a monopoly with franchises COW
ering nearly every important street in the
city, are maneuverlng to obtain concessions
and privileges, and even certain guaran-
tees in connection with the physical
changes contemplated in their system, to
invite the earnest attention of every al
derman of Savannah to an expose of the
inside workings In the management of the
street railway corporations in New York
city, which appeared in a recent Issue of
the Herald, and which Director Hartman
of the Savannah so called consolidated
system has doubtless read with particular
interest, inasmuch as he is New Yorker
who for years has been Identified, more or
less, with street railway corporations. The
expose referred to, goes at length
into details and has ac-
into details, and has. ac-
illustrations, both of which are exceeding
" suggestive-one cartoon entitled
trays the pitiable condition of the great
city under the domination and thraldom
Of street railway corporations, to whom
the city authorities have, from time to
time improvidently given exclusive fran
chises 1t pictures the city as "Old Knick-
erbocker," in a miserable plight, prone in
the dust and plnioned under~an avalanche
of railways; the other a map exhibiting
vast area of the city completely reticulat-
ed with street railway lines. all owned by
one vast, arrogant, defying and domineer-
ing monopoly, who acquired the fran
chises thereto gratuitously-some obtained
openly and fairly, but most of them by
various questionable and surreptitious
methods, in which the venal element in
the council boards dominated, when the
appicau lions for the franchises were acted
upon and the subsidized members, who
composed the committees to whom the APP
plications for the franchises were referred,
in COLLISION with trained and experienced
agents and emissaries of the railway cor
porations, formulated reports Astounding
in nectarean promises OF reciprocal advan-
tages This article In the Herald refers TO
the reports of these favored corpora
tons" as being Of startling character;
ard 1t announces that the paper has be-
gun in that issue, "the work of acquaint-
ing the public with the inner details of
remarkable transactions on the part Of
these monopoles, which are well calcu-
lated to open the eyes of New Workers to
an extraordinary state of affairs"
The aldermen Of Savannah should pom
der these details of the Herald; their eyes
as well as those of New Workers, would.
perhaps, be opened by the revelations
and 1t Is of vital Importance to the people
Of Savannah that they should be. They
would furthermore, learn something as
to the capability of overgrown street rail-
way corporations for working mischief
and operating their lines on a public be
damned" principle, in defiance of munich
pal requirements, restraint and control,
and also have 1t revealed to them that
there is a regular attache to every i'm
portant railway corporation--an individual
of versatile qualifications who offieiates
as the aIl-around diplomat of the system
genial, smiling, clever fellow, engaging
In manners, conVivial, sociable and pat
ronizing and (1guratiyeIy epeaking) cap
able OF catching on to the band wagon Of
every procession, and, withai, endowed
with admirable tact for getting In with
club fellows and popularizing himself
with public men and municipal officials
And he generally gets In his work when
ever municipal officials are to be APP
preached. manipulated and hoodwinked
On such occasions he may be seen moving
around the private Offices of aldermanic
individuals, equipped with diagrams
maps and drawings-a roll In each hand
and one under each arm-or industrious1y
perambulating between the railway coun-
sells office and the municipal committee
rooms Is 1t not time for the authorities
and people of towns and cities outside of
New York to open their eyes to the sig
nificance Of the fact that In nearly every
instance when a street railway outside OF
New York has been put into the hands
of a receiver and wrecked, the winning
cards have turned up in the hands Of New
Workers, who are identified with the
street car systems of that city? Are not
such circumstances conhrmatory of the
rumors that the great street railway mo-
nopolies of New York city have central
ized into a huge octopus, which is reach
ing its tentacles into every town and every
other city In the country 10 grasp every
other street railway corporation? Are the
aldermen Of Savannah alert to the dan
gers which now confront our city? Do
they realize that the methods, instrument
tallties and agencies of the systems TO
whom this New York octopus owes It's
paternity, may be brought into Savannah
to defy. harrass and dominate over our
city authorities?
Are there not lessons to be learned from
the grievous experience of the authorities
of New York city under the domination
OF the street railway monopolies there
which are worth emphasizing just at this
juncture in the relations of our own city
to the overgrown street railway system
whose directors are now knocking at the