The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-04-07

boards conduct toward him as discourceous
and lntimated that there MS more or IS
or hypocrisy in the letter received by him.
In his letter 10 the board he said:
Il have at p m. this day received
communication from your board in which
you undertake 10 Justify your ccntemptuous
treatment of the proposal submitted you
yesterday and in which you protest your
conscientious devotion TO the public wei
letter was sent TO me after you had entered
into contract with the Indianapolis Street
railway Company and was not written IN
munication al this time is intended only 10
justify your conduct in the discourteous
manner in which you treated me and my
proposal and not to suggest any irregu-
larity in the offer submitted you, which. had
you been so disposed. might lave been fully
ulscuSsed at your session yesterday.
II you were not satisfied with the form
or the proposal we submitted. why did you
granting a contract TO another company and
addressing these interrogatories 10 me in an
open letter?
The proposition submitted you was a
duplicate OF one signed by Frank A. Maus
D. NJ. Parry and myself and submitted TO
I , commercial Club and the explanation
was mace 10 you that these gentlemen were
out or town and would sign II on their
turn. The necessity of submitting ii at once
without awaiting their return is shown in
the haste with which your board has en-
tered INTO contract with the Indianapolis
I'm spite of your evasion now. II was
stated to you that we expected to take pos
session OF the streets Jan IS 1901. if we could
could not surrender the rights of occunancy
or the streets between now and that time
Tor the very obvious reason that those rights
dianapons Company. and your answer was
tnat you would only deal on the basis of the
s sur en OF these rights That left you in
ing true your communication to me Is hyl,o-
critical You saw fit only to consider the
condition during the next two years and YOU
have ignored the conditions which will nre
vail during the remaining thirty-two years
OF the franchise you propose to grant
LITIGATION PRACTICALLY OVER.
You speak of relieving the city of per-
picking litigation, and / refer you TO the
proposal We made to assume all the costs
and expenses of such litigation. / will re-
mind you again although II is useless TO do
SOD that the litigation period is practically
over and the decisive judgment of the high
est court in the land is that the rights of
the Citizens company expire absolutely
on Jan. IS, 1861. If the franchise expires
then (and the question is not open to discus
slon), now can the bondholders have right
TO keep it alive? The bondholders can claim
no title greater than the company which
executed the mortgage Your fear of litiga-
of good faith.
You speak of the proposal now before the
poard-probably referring to the contract
ford Accent fares and give more than 81 900 900
for Identification of the city The con-
tract you have made means practically a
5-cent fare, and experience will demonstrate
this.
The difference between a 3-cent and scent
Iare means an annual difference of S12 TO
SO TO the average citizen and patron of the
street railway. and this excess of fares YOU
think, is justified in the Identification of
the city The laboring men and women are
thus TO be made to defray the establishment
OF driving parks and boulevards, and you
not only lay this burden on them but you
permit a street-railway company to collect
these revenues for a division OF the spoils
This plan for raising the city revenues
through a street-railway corporation may
commend itself to you, but / cannot believe
1t will meet with the approval Of the people
You pretend TO act in accordance with their
wishes, and you know that twenty thousand
citizens have signed petitions in favor of a
The platform upon which this adgninistra-
ton was elected pledged you to a 3-cent
fare, and may ask you with some propriety
why you would violate that pledge? To
was made the city was confronted by more
litigation than now. The litigation then
pending has been determined in favor of the
city, and yet, on the eve of the day when
the city shall keep the fruits of all these
lawsuits, you pretend to a fear of further
litigation, and. because of it. surrender all
we have won and attempt TO bind the
people up to scent fare for thirty-four
years.
THE BOND OFFERED.
You express fear of the bond we offer.
This is a subterfuge, for you know that if
the city will enter into contract on a
3-cent-fare basis we will be glad to do So
In fact, do you not urge in your next ex-
cuse, with the inconsistency that charac-
terizes men in your situation, that we would
take such franchise and have no diff
Guilty in disposing of the same at a sum far
in excess of the amount of the bond II
you know this you know that the contract
would be entered into, and you know, too.
that if the franchise were let at open COM
il will do if it grants a franchise in the
secret, hurried way it is doing. If we could
| dispose of a 3-cent-fare franchise at a large
profit to ourselves, figure and tell us what a
| 5-cent-fare franchise will be worth to the
company you have contracted with. But to
argue with men who have renowned their
reason is like administering medicine to the