The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-02-09
LIVES VS.. DOLLARS.
Senate Committee Hears
Arguments for Rail
roads Against a Com
mission.
STATESMEN ON A MILD JUNKET
The New Ones Visit the Normal
School-The Assembly Settles
Down 10 Business
Especial to erhe Jersey city News."l

TRENTON, Feb. 8, 1S9S.-There was a
hearing yesterday afternoon in the Senate
Chamber on. Senator Johnson's Railroad
Commission bill. The Committee on
Railroads and Canals acted as judges and
the paid attorneys of several railroad
companies did the talking.
Senator Johnson, the father of the
measure, opened the proceedings by de-
scribing the bill in detail and insisting
that it was a measure for the protection
of human life. In no other country, he
said, is there such Indifference to the
dangers of grade crossings as there is in
this. He quoted from the messages of
Former Governors Werts and Griggs, en-
phasizing the necessity of legislation on
that point.
The Senator was followed by James B.
Vredenburgh of Jersey City, counsel for
the Pennsylvania Railroad. He started
his opposition TO the reasons by finding
fault with the powers it confers upon the
commissioners and denounced as unfair
the provision which placed so large a
proportion of the cost of maintaining the
commission upon the railroads. The dl-
vision of the Expense he said. was UNJUST
to the company which he represented, be-
cause its gross earnings are more thah
one-half of the gross earnings reported
from all the railroads of the State. He
criticised the section of the act fixing the
salary of each commissioner at $1,000 a
year, and ridiculed the proposition to
place unskilled laymen over the compe-
tent. trained officials of the companies at
much larger salaries.
"Why should the State say that any
part of a railroad that needed repairs
should be fixed up at the order of the
\ commission? ' he asked. "'The companies
have a material interest in the perfect
condition of their roads. and pay expert
enced men to look after them. The idea
of placing inexperienced men in full con-
troll of the matter is TO make the tail wag
the dog. The placing of the railroad in
ferest in the hands of these men is giving
them up to absolute, outside control. 1t
is placing in the hands of three men an
enormous power; it would be dangerous
to the railroad companies, dangerous to the
municipalities and dangerous to the pub
lie" In conclusion Mr.. Y~redenburgh
asked the committee to report the bill I'M
favorably.
The Erie Railroad Company was next
heard from through William II. Corpin.
He admitted that steps should be taken
for the adjustment of grade crossings,
ard said that no railroad man or citizen
would deny that assertion. But, he add
ed. it was not fair or just to cave in the
hands of a township or borough commit
lee the power of decreeing that the rail-
roads should undertake any amount of
work which such a commission might de-
sire accomplished.
In reply to a question by Senator John
son, Mr.. Corbin admitted that Essex was
a grade ridden county, but said that the
matter of the adjustment of these cross
ings was being agitated there, and that
conferences We're being held daily with a
view of bringing about such legislation.
He was not only not the opponent of the
adjustment of grade crossings, Mr.. Cor
bin declared, but he was an advocate OF
the gradual abolition of such crossings.
Flavel MCGEE, for the Delaware, Lacka-
wanna and Western Railroad Company,
attacked the act on the line that 1T prac-
tically constituted an invasion of the prop
erty rights of the railroads. 1t required
the companies to submit to the commits
sioners the details of the working of the
business and to print the same in a book
each year practically for the
of rival companies to the detriment, in dol
lars, of the former. Not only did the
act, he said, require the companies offI-
Gals to disclose under oath the secret
workings of their business. but it took
out of their control their respective roads
and placed them in the hands of a com
mission, not one member of which was a
railroad man. He asserted that the bill
gave the commission the power to dictate
to the railroad companies what rate OF
freight should be charged and to pre-
scribe other regulations for the manage
ment of the railroad lines.
Senator Johnson took issue with the
speaker, and challenged him to point out
where in the bill he found such a provis-
ion. Mr.. MCGEE searched for the sec
ton which he referred to, but was unable
to find it.
Never mind" said Mr.. MCGEE, 81 can
not find it now, but it is there just the
same, somewhere"
Continuing, Mr.. MCGEE said that should
the bill become a law and the railroad
companies be compelled to elevate tracks
and make other changes at a given time,
1t would bankrupt most of the railroad
companies now doing business in the
State. He gave a detailed statement of
the cost of the construction n main
tenance OF just one switch lot one year,
which amounted to SIS, 421. II. y
But what about the value of the human
lives tha have been sacrificed on your
grade crossings?s' asked Mr.. Johnson.
I'm coming to that" replied Mr.. Nc
Gee. .'There are on the Morris and
Essex Railroad and the Sussex and War
rem branches, 273 grade crossings. Of
these 10 are guarded with gates and flag
men, 1903 are unprotected. and ] will say
10 you that within ten years there has
not been one accident at the unprotected
crossings. 1t is at the projected cross
lngs that the danger lies. People relying
on the 1agmen and gates for safety, drive
on the protected crossings with less eau
ton than they use at the unprotected
ones. 1 repeat that it is at the protected
crossings with gates and nagmen that the
danger lies.
.sYou ought to take away all your
gates and aagnen, then said Mr..
Johnson.
Il would, / would shot back Mr.. Me
Gee: eand if we did it would be better for
ps; better for you and better for the pub
lic.n
The Lehigh Valley Railroad Company
protested against the measure through
Thomas N. MeCarter of Newark, He die
9ot say much, however, as he said he was
ri and would like to be heard another
lime. The committee will listen to him
1T noon today. -