Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1899-02-15
TALKS OF FRANCHISE.
City Council Has an Informal
Discussion of Proposed
Ordinance.
CONCESSIONS BYRALwAY COMPANY

Situation Gone Thoroughly Over and
General Manager Lardner Evinces a
Disposition to Meet Reasonable Require
ments-EIeetric Service Into Milan Con-
tempIated.
the extension of franchise asked by
the Tri-City Railway company was
informally discussed bv the CITY coun-
ell last night at the office of Mayor
Medill. the meeting having been
called by the street and alley COM
mittee, to which the council, at
recent session. referred the commun-
ication of the company petition
ing for an extension of % years from
date of all ordinances under which it
is operating in the city of Rock Island.
Aid T. A. Fender, chairman of the
committee, presided. and for several
hours the mayor and aldermen and j.
+. Lardner, general manager of the
street railway company, talked of
what concessions the company would
make to the municipality in return
for the grants sought.
Mr.. Lardner agreed to almost every
concession asked by the mayor and
aldermen, save in the matter of Il gen
orally reduced rate of fare. This, he
said, was impracticable. His company,
even if given a 1O0-year franchise,
could not submit to and live I'M
der a fare lower than ) cents.
Mr.. Lardner consented to the follow
ing concessions: Upon the passage of
the 25-year franchise a uniform fare
not to exceed cents will 90 into
effect on all lines within the city of
Rock Island, transportation to be
given from any part of Rock Island
to any part of Moline, either by
through service or transfer, and vice
versa, for one fare. Cars shall be run
every Is minutes on all lines. Cars
will begin operation at O'Clock in
the morning, and the last car shall
leave the several terminals at mid
night. Only electric power shall be
used, and cars shall be vestibuled for
winter service, and in the summer
there shall be provided sufficient open
cars to accommodate such demands
in traffic as may be made upon the
company. All lines shall be equipped
with tram rails. The company will,
upon the order of the city, either va
cate Seventh avenue from Thirty
eighth to Fortv-siXth streets, and
move its rails to Sixth avenue,
or contribute it's share of the cost of
paving Seventh avenue between the
points named, if permitted to remain
on that thOroughfare, which, accord
ing to present program, may he boule
varded at a not far distant date. The
company will also, within 80 DAYS
after the passage of the proposed or
dinance, substitute the T rails on
Fourteenth avenue, from Thirtieth
street to the Moline limits, with tram
rails, and keep the bridge over Darl-
in2's creek open to public traffic.
Loop Line Probable.
In reply to an inquiry of Mayor Me-
dill, MIR. Lardner said his company
had discussed the practica bility of
building line up Seventeenth street
and along Eighteenth avenue, con-
Meeting with the Elm street line, form
ing loop, and should the business
there warrant, as he believed it would
when the parks in that territory were
improved, the extension would be
made. He would bind himself. upon
the honor of his company, to make
such extensions from time to time as
would be practicable in serving public
convenience.
Considerable time was devoted to
discussing the improvement of the
service at the Milan end of the Watch
Tower line. Mayor Medill thought
the horse car an eyesorc, and as
rapid transit was what the people
wanted, he would like to see the cleo
trio cars run into the town of Milan,
and the schedule extended later into
the night in order to give the people
of that place an opportunity to get
to and from Rock Island up until, say,
10 O'Clock at night. Mr.. Lardner re-
piled that the only reason permission
had not been asked to cross the Milan
bridges with electric ears before now
was that the returns would not iusti-
fy the outlay, and if the electrical
equipment were TO be continued into
Milan the improvement would be, if
anything, in the nature of a conces
sion by the company Aid. Johnson
thought that if the company were al
lowed to run electric cars over the
bridges it could afford to place the
bridges in safe condition. as
they were at present in need of re-
pairs. Mr.. Lardner said that while it
was not the business of his company
to maintain the bridges, toward
which it was now paying toll of 800
per year, still no objection would be
made to assuming a portion of the
cost of strengthening them. on condi-
tion that permission be given to run
electric cars over them. Mr.. Lardner
agreed to a donation of 81 500, but it
\ IL
until after the bridges shall
have been examined by an expert and
the aggregate cost of the work de-
termined. The mayor and bridge
were authorized TO employ
an expert to inspect the bridges and
report at as early date as possible.