New-York tribune., 1898-10-30


AVN SOME OF THE POINTS ABOUT 1T
WHICH THE PUBLIC SHOULD UNDER
sTaNp-VAN wyCK's BREAK
AND UHLMANN's GRAB.
In the dishonest pretcnces ana CAM VI ~"
chine Democracy nothing is more preNa'e'' '''"
the never ending cry against speciai pm
,eses" In this way has the mclaughlin me
long ATTEMPTED to obscure the fact that IL iee', ,
ard fattens on privileges of the most spe''"'
and shady sort II.
Generally these privileges take the FORM VI
cense TO violate the law or the grah''hs VI
,,.>oortrac,s TO favorites through trickery pu'
occasionally the Democrats forget
I'd c,ve a favorite a special privilege IN r'os'
omen and shameless manner oraze"'9
the wrath of the people when IL comes
Such a case is the making a present VI NV
proop,vn Bridge. which cost the people many
millions oe dollars. 10 the brooh''" ..,e
po,,road Company. At first this remarkapie
-, ,ool the breath of the people away 10
.rch an extent that they did not realize the iu'l
,. -, :, but there have been several
,,;nps lately that have called the attenuon U.
- q. .ho unn,oasant features of the special
privilege. .,sos
,,,,,rcor,ont bv Frederick Uhlmann. president OF
r. proo,,cn "I that. though lifelong Re-
nub,ican. he now proposed to vote for Augustus
"a, wvck II Mr.. Uhlmann ever permits per
,oI Gratitude 10 influence his voting he could
80, rofrain this wear from voting the Demo-
cratic ticket The Republican Board or lrus-
,oos ncrsistentIy refused to give him any al
vantage over the other elevated company OF
o,.er the trolley companies. whereas one OF the
+rst official acts Of John l.. Shea, the De"o
cratic Commissioner OF Bridges was to give
tho Drooklyn Il" exclusive rights on the ran
road tracks Of the Brdge-rights which shouiu
,n tho future be worth hundreds Of thousands
OF dollars.
MAYOR VAN WYCKS BLUNDER.
put oven more startling than the declaration
bv President Uhlmann that he was going 10 vote
IN. Tammany ticket was the lapse OF memory
on the part of Mayor Van Wyck that led MN
,o denounce as a Republican measure the sur
render Of the Bridge for which the Democrats
must answer 10 the people this fall 1t seems
incredible that the Mayor in view OF the 1act
that his own brother is the candidate Tor GOV
ernOr. should make such an ABSURD piu'iue' d"
10 attack one of the most glaring acts OF ms
own administration under the mistaken impress
s;on that It was perpetrated by hepuohcahe
but the Mayor has been freely reported as uo-
ing inst that thing and SO far as Is known mas
not denied T..
II was only few days ago that delegation
Of citizens called upon the Mayor to talk with
him about building a new bridge. He was
quoted as saying to them:
"We do not intend TO do as the last admin
ts, alton dd-practcally give up great bridge
&c an elevated railroad company. We intend 10
keep the city's property hereafter for the public
benefit.
The contract which gave the Brooklyn Ee-
waited company unusual and exclusive privileges
on the Bridge was conceived by Commissioners
Shea and would not have been tolerated even
as suggestion by President BeIri and MS as
sociates That contract was signed by Commits
sioner Shea on June 23, nearly six months after
MI Shea succeeded the Republican Board.
4 GIFT TO WIDOWS AND ORPHANS.
Mayor Van Wycks attack on the contract is
Justified however, by the facts. and VII! Iead
people to wonder what ne was about In June
tha; he did not know that one OF his own COM
,rissioners was giving such enormous privileges
10 an elevated railroad company. lf the de-
nuncis,ion the Mayor INDUCED in last week
was sincere. and not intended for mere pohticai
claptrap. he should prove his good faith in
nature of the deal II he should succeed in
ferreting out the why" OF the deal he might
become still more indignant than he was when
he simply knew that the fact existed. He might
learn how the Brooklyn and the Union COM
panies now one, received franchises from or& OF
McLaughns Boards Of Aldermen in the days
" hen Anthony Barrett was a power in Brooklyn
politics. He could learn what all Brooklyn peo-
several years ago in relation to an action for
damages against this elevated company ne was
asked who were the owners OF $1,000 shares
OF stock OF the Brooklyn company which he
held in his name His reply was that he held
this stock as trustee 70" number Of widows
and orphans" He fatty refused to divulge the
names Of any Of these widows and orphans, and
therefore could no. blame the feeced public
for drawing the conclusion that these afflicted
ones were certain powerful Democratic cronies
Of Barrett's in Wlloughby-st II the Mayor
would find out who these widows and orphans
really were and how they got their stock. he
would perform a public service and might
increase his interest in the present contract be-
tween Tammany Hall Commissioner and the
company owned by the widows and orphans.
The original contracts for crossing the Bridge
treated the various elevated and trolley COM
panies alike. No favOritism was shown; In
deed President Bcrri refused 10 close the con-
tract with the elevated companies until it was
shown that the trolley companies could also run
over the Bridge Finally. under the contract Of
August 1891. the larger Brooklyn company was
permitted to run two trains on the Bridge to
one by the Kings County company. They were
each to pay 121a cents a car for the privilege.
There are two sets of tracks on the Bridge and
ST was the intention Of the Bridge manage
inent to continue To operate the Bridge cars
on one OF the tracks. while the other track was
turned over TO the two elevated companies.
ONE COMPANY GOT THE PIE
Then "a ne the talk about disseminating the
Bridge road and turning over all the short
traffic to the trolley companies. There was
no objection to this II 1t was done properly. but
when a contract was made suddenly with the
Brooklyn company, giving II the exclusive use
I,rtG, flnn ole Ila nj and