The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-12-01
TO FIGHT.
Consolidated
Refuses
TO DO SNOW WORK
Clash Coming Between the
City and Street Railway.


the Consolidated Street Railway Com
pany upon the question of who shall
cart away the snow from the streets
and the move that Commissioner Prior
will make this morning, appears to be
a forerunner of a big legal fight be-
tween the trolley company and the
municipal authorities
The trolley company has not done as
it agreed in any way during this storm,
says Street Commissioner Prior, and
he does not think that IL will do any
thing but make "buff'' and cart only
what snow they see fit to cart and what
will benefit their road the most.
The Consolidated officials, according
to the street commissioner, have re
fused to hold any conference with him
in regard to the subject, and whenever
he has tried to get at them they have
asked him to please excuse him, as
they are too busy to talk about beau
tiful snow"
At the first of the storm the street
commissioner held a. conference with
the trolley officials and they agreed to
do their share, as they had done in the
past, and would remove one half of the
frozen mass that choked up everything
in all parts of the city and suburbs.
The days went by and the trolley com
pany was so busy cleaning their own
tracks for traffic that they could not do
any cartlng. The city officials did some
ana We're surprised to see that not a
move was made by the company.
Today the street commissioner Will
put all the force at his command upCn
the streets and cart the snow away
as fast as possible. I'lle city officials
think that the Consolidated has a chip
on It's shoulder and is only waiting for
the municipality to knock it off
Mayor Dodge is said to have declared
that If it has already cost the city over
$1,000 to remove what snow had been re-
moved, and it is hard to tell what it
viii cost to finish the Job.
The city officials still contend that
they are in he right, and that the
streets must be cleared to please the
street commissioner and the Consolida-
ted still believes that the new law does
not compel them to do anything but
pay the tax to the city which is levied
upon them by the provisions of this
new law which went into effect Oct /.
Apparently, the Consolidated feels
sure that they have the city at their
mercy and can clean their tracks and
brush the snow to the cutters and
laugh in their sleeves as the street de-
SDEHQS Y
payers dollars.
The new law does not compel the Com
solidated to pay one penny to the city
until 1899, as a careful perusal of the
provisions will show. The company
officials can well laugh in their sleeves
if there is no way that the city can
compel them to live up to the old con-
tract which was made some years ago.
Every dollar spent for carting snow
] yvriI A..
pockets, and if the elements should see
fit to deposit tons of snow every day
the city will be obliged to keep carting
and continue to spend the precious
ducats.
All day yesterday the city men SHOW
eled up and also leVeled the drifts and
the trolley ploughs and sweepers ran
through the thoroughfares at a rapid
rate and threw back on to the sides of
the streets tons of snow. There are
piles of snow on Main street, Chandler,
Front and Pleasant streets that are so
lofty that they hide the buildings. The
Consolidated has not carried any
snow from these thoroughfares They
have removed small portions from
certain points, but Lincoln square
is a fair sample of the way the
work has been done. In that square
the snow drifts are or 10 feet high,
and the only openings are where the
Consolidated's electric machinery has
made tunnels for their tracks.
The question is a serious one, and
the thinking portion of the public will
awaken to a realization of that fact
before the winter is over, if many Sc
we're snow storms come to Worcester.
The trolley roads had the new law
passed and it begins to look as if it's
provisions suited their pocketbooks and
were framed to saddle more expense on
the shoulders of the now almost inn
poverished taxpayers of the state.
The fact that the tax is not to be
paid until 1899 is probably well known
to the Consolidated officials, and they,
by refusing to discuss matters with
Commissioner Prior, have placed them
selves where it is natural to suppose
that they hope that the city will take
the matter into the courts.
The tax, it is claimed by people who
are well versed in such matters, will not
begin to cover one-half the cost of
taking care of the streets. That under
the new order of things the city viii!
be obliged to spend several thousand
dollars more than they have ever been
called upon to spend before.
The law also gives the cities the
power to appeal to the railroad commits
sioners after three long years of the tax
is not sufficient to cover the expense of
caring for the streets. If the commits
sioners see fit they may increase the
excise tax rate, but for three years the
cities may lose thousands of dollars and
it will come out of the taxpayers pock-
cts and not out of the pockets of the
stockholders who have been given, in
the opinion of the public. veritable
mint for absolutely nothing.
The Suburban road has done the
same this year that they did last year.
They are not disputing the law and
Commissioner Prior said last evening
that they had acted fairly and squarely
lin the matter and do not act as if they
wanted to wrangle in the law courts.
Commissioner Prior, in an interview
last evening with a Spy representative,
said:
The Consolidated has not removed
any snow, as they agreed to do. They
have occasionally carried away a load
or two at congested points 1 got at
Pleasant street today and carried away
as much as I could there, and also tao
killed. other badly congested thorough
fares.
Il have waited for the Consolidated
TO do something / hoped they would
keep the agreement. called up the
officers several times, at least a half
-