The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-07-08

that 10000 people are handled each day and
would be ruined. He said strangers gen.
orally formed their estimate of a city by
the first impression of il, and with the I'M
slightly station contemplated in the elevation
plan the reputation Of the city would suf-
fer. With regard to casualties. he said that
there had been but five deaths during the
i've years he had been In control Of the
station. and three of these had been tres
passers. The other two were those OF little
Hazel Shafer and the old fagman who
worked under the viaduct.
FROM THE BIG FOUR.
General Superintendent Van Wrinkle, of the
Big Four. when asked for his opinion. said
he considered the whole plan an impracti-
cable one and even If it were Not. and the
tracks were elevated. ii would be impossible
for the roads to give anything like the serv-
Ice they were at present giving to shippers.
He said that the wagon delivery yards even
now are short. few of them being more than
a block in length and. in his opinion, II
would be impossible to run side tracks down
to them. In addition to this. he said track
recently built by his company. Here each
day 100 cars of merchandise from this city
are shipped to other points,
General Manager Barnard, of the Peoria
d Eastern, counseled the Council 10 go
slow, calling attention to the enormous ex-
pense involved in the. plan and expressing
| the opinion that manufacturers and business
men would be hurt by the change.
Several wholesale merchants of South
Meridian street expressed the opinion that
were tracks elevated their business would
be ruined. Mr.. Pearson said the thing which
had enabled Indianapolis merchants to sue
cessfuIiy build up. large wholesale trade
with Illinois retailers was that their rail-
road facilities allowed them to reach towns
as far away as Peoria before the Chicago
houses could reach them.
1. s. Gordon, of the indianapolis Saddlery
Company, said he had never heard bus
mess man of the city. say he was in favor
in favor of building IA dirt embankment'
across the city to more than ever effectually
divide the town. He prophesied that it
would entail $1,000 additional expense an
nu3lly TO his house TO cart goods to new
freight stations along the Belt road If the
railroads moved them to the Belt road, as
threatened. AT this point Commodore" Hig-
/ gins broke in and asked If that would not
| help out the draymen. Mr.. Gordon replied
that 1t probably would, but that it would
reasonable chance that If the city enforced
the track elevation plan the railroads would
move their depots and warehouses to the
Belt road and abandon the center of the
city entirely.
MR.. FORTUNE SPEAKS.
William Fortune spoke the first word in
favor of the ordinance. He said he was
| there as the representative of 1900 voters
and could If necessary cover the floors of
| the City Hall with the signatures of those
who are in favor of and are pledged to ele-
waited tracks He said that the plea of Mr..
! Mansfield and others who had spoken to
| the effect that they had not had time to
| consider the matter on account of its sud-
| denness would not hold water. He said the
| subject of track elevation was an old one
and was embodied in the platforms of the
| parties which had elected all the present
| councilmen. Furthermore, he said. the Com
| mercial Club and the mayor had frequently
4 invitations Interested
J Ing for expressions as to the best method
| TO pursue in securing elevated tracks, but
none had responded. He considered what
| had been said against track elevation to
have been an insult to the thinking people
OF the city, and when the statement had
been made that manufacturers were solidly
against the proposition he thought the facts
had been misStated. To bear out the truth
| Of this he urged that such large firms as
the Parry Manufacturing Company, the In
| diana Bicycle Company, the NordySe &
| Marmo1 Company and the indianapolis
chain sl. s1, works were heartily In favor of it
| against 1t. In the city of Rochester, N. Y,
| where Mr. Gordon had stated that elevated
| tracks had ruined property, Mr.. Fortune
| quoting from letter written in that city
| stated that, on the contrary values had in
| creased because of track elevation. He said
| South Side of the city had been damaged
by the grade crossings and that people who
| had formerly accumulated money and prop
| erty In that part Of the city had moved Ia
| the North Side to protect their families
| from the dangers of the railroad crossings
He said that, in the end, 1t would be to the
| to have their tracks elevated, but it would
cost money and this was what the chief OBJ
| lection OF the railroads was based on. With
| the wholesale houses he referred to letters
| receivedfrom such Chicago firms as Sprague
Warner & Co. and the John ". Farwell
Company, all of whom said IL benefited
| rather than hurt them. Touching on the
| objection offered to the effect that people
G6'efS e non up STEPS tS
| called attention to the Broad-street station
| of the Pennsylvania Railroad in Phila-
| delpi.ia where all passengers must climb
| stairs to reach trains and where the traffic
| is immense. He also referred to the Big
| Four station in Chicago. where the same
| thing is done, and in neither place, he said
| was there any complaint made by the trav-
cling public
AS an indication of the benefits to be de-
| rived by the railroads If tracks were ele-
| waited he said they would be almost entirely
| relieved from liability for damage suits from
| accidents. would be allowed unlimited speed
| the large number of f1agmen now employed
| at crossings In any event, he said, the
people did not want continuance of muir
| ders at crossings, and the country and the
| railroads were both confronted with three
propositions. The first was that the track
| elevation problem was the greatest one now
before the country and Ii must be solved
1 The second was that the cities most pro-
| gressive would be the first to secure the
| benefits of elevation. The third proposition
| was that the people were entitled to ali pos,
sible protection against loss OF life and
| limb. He said no city In the country had
suffered from grade crossings as had In
dianapclis; neither had there been city
| where so little had been done by the rail-
| roads to afford relief
LORENZ SCHMIDT'S REASONS.
Lorenz Schmidt took the same stand as
did Mr. Fortune. and said that he had been
| compelled to abandon a South-sde home, on
| which he had spent $1,000. because of an
accident TO one of his family in crossing the
| tracks and had been driven TO build him
| self a new home on the North Side. Since
| that time he had not been able to realize
] 500 year from rentals on the property he
had abandoned, and ne urged that this was
! but one of the many instances showing how
| South-side property had deprecated because
| of the railroad crossings.
Ex-Councilman Gauss expressed the opin-
| ion that 1t would be impossible to secure
more than $50 a front foot fer property adj
| joining the location of the Manual Train
| ing School, while property the same dis
| lance from the monument on the North
| Side would easily bring $500. He said he
| had full confidence in the Council and the
| mayor giving the people the protection they
were entitled TO.
c. C. Roth, a former member of the School
| Board. said IL was his opinion that the
| the falling off in property values on the
| South Side. but that the inadequacy of the
| school accommoda tons were somewhat re-
| sponsible for it. He said that during his
| term OF office there were but twelve schools
| on the South Side. while there were twenty
by some popularity, always managed to get
| the best teachers