The Jersey City news., 1899-03-29
NO GRADE
CROSSING.
Mayor Hoos Vetoes the
Ordinance for the Com
munipaw Avenue
Tracks.
HIS HONOR'S REASONS
Says That Other Cities Are
Opposed to Them Grave
Danger to Public.

Mayor Hoos this morning sent to the
Board of Street and Water Commissions
| ers the following veto of the ordinances
passed by that board giving permission
| to the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company
to cross Communipaw avenue at grade:--
| March %, 1sss
| Honorable Board of Street and Water
Commissioners
Gentlemen-I herewith return to your
Honorable Board, without my approval,
| an ordinance entitled IAN ordinance
| granting permission and consent to tha
| Greenville and Hudson Railway Company
| to cross Communipaw avenue with its
| tracks at grade and regulating such cross
ing,' which ordinance was adopted at
your meeting, held March u, 1898 ana
| presented to me for my approval March
| q, 1899, and of which the enclosed is .
certified copy.
| For the second time, I am sorry to say,
! your action compels me to again remind
| you that the people of this city are op-
| posed to railroad crossings at grade and
furthermore that our party, the Demo-
cratic Party. in the platform on which
was elected Mayor voiced the sentiment
of the people and in strong terms de-
nounced these death traps.
Right at this point let me relate to You
a personal experience of mine which oc-
CURED some eighteen years ago, when
witnessed the killing or a young man on
the Pennsylvania Railroad, before the
tracks of that road were elevated. On
my way down town, near Washington
ing, my attention was attracted by a
number of people running towards the
tracks of that road. followed, and the
sight l saw l shall never, never forget
A young man who was delivering Bread
which he carried in a large willow basket,
had been struck by a drill engine. Both
were protruding, his mouth partly open
showed his chattering teeth, not yet dead,
the ashy pallor of death was slowly
creeping over his features. Some kind
Samaritan pillowed his head on the loaves
of bread he had carried, and gently COW
cred his lower extremities with horse
blanket. A most heart rending spec
taclei 1t is with great reluctance that
state these details but it seems absolutely
necessary to impress upon your minds
what the ordinance before me means.
How many hundreds of unfortunates
have been thus hurriedly and unprepared-
ly hurled into eternity, and for what,
simply to satisfy the greedy Molochs. the
corporations, who, it is well said, have
no souls, and whose only desire is to
make money, money, money! Such corr
porations, aided by officials who seefn--
ingly take a different view from ordinary
people of such disastrous occurrences, be-
come, by their actions, the real instru-
ments of slaughtering innocent people.
again repeat, the people Of this city
don't want any more grade crossings,
and L hardly think that the residents OF
Lafayette, who are directly cut off from
the shore, will bless you if You override
my veto.
Furthermore, If a party platform when
made counts for anything, if that plat
form is endorsed by the people whose
votes it seeks, then certainly such im-
portant planks as those which guarantees
the protection of life should be upheld
in spite of everything, and even if thera
had been no such planks in our plat
form, you would nevertheless be bound by
the common obligation of duty to your
fellow citizens. Stand by your word and
the people will stand by you.
Possibly you look at this matter in o
different light from Ghat L do and
granting for the sake of argument that
you have some points in favor of your
you from the promise you made to this
voters of this city whose property YOU
injure and whose lives you put in
jeopardy by the granting of this ordin-
ance. But aside from this there cannot
be found in the necessities of any eorpora>
ton, in this age of science and engineers
at grade. Each day records the killing
of men, women and children in every
lowed, 1t is within the power of your
Board to force the elevation of the
tracks of the applying corporation. A
elevation cannot be compelled witHout
great expense to the city. In every law
to compel the elevation of railroad tracks
share the cost The people of NewarlE
and New Brunswick are crying OUT
against grade crossings. Why shculd
Jersey City encourage an evil from when
her sister cities are begging for relief.
There has not been, and cannot be sins
gle argument advanced IN favor of this
except that found in
the cry of corporate greed. The
railroad can be accommodated and
the safety of our citizens secured
by an overhead crossing. There is not
any insurmountable difficulty to the con-
struction of such a crossing. The only
plea against it is on the ground of ex-
pense. With the right of this community
to safely use the highways on one side
and the desire of a railroad company to
save money on the other, there should
not be moments hesitation; your vote
should be against this and any similar
that may be asked for in the
future.
For these reasons. and those pointed
out to you in similar communication
when this matter came up, l refuse to
sustain your action, and use the power
vested in me by law for the benefit OF
the people.
Respectfully submitted,
EDWARD HOOS, Mayor.