New-York tribune., 1899-02-23
MAYOR TO SHOW HIS HAND.
ORDINANCES REGARDING MANHATTAN
TO COME BEFORE HIM TO-DAY.
MD cpOxrp SAYS THERE HAS BEEN NO
COMPROMISE. AND THEY WILL
RE ENFORCED A THREAT
FROM BROOKLYN.


FROM BROOKLYN.
rt,s the popular estimate of Mayor Van "ych'
based on his conversations with ex-fresiue"'
Hubbel Of the Board OF Education anu 'A
Amsterdam-ave. property-owners' his ra''"e' "
various heads OF city departments MS
ment OF Captain Eulate Of the Spanish "a'sn'p
Vizcaya and other incidents OF his career III TIC
Mayoralty, that he is a plain, blunt man. "e
Of that stamp not likely TO display lo'''
ness for jewery. so 1t Is probable that the MaSo'
possesses few. If any, jewels-perhaps not even
consistency. For the Mayor has in his annual
messages referred in not unfriendy terms 10 'he
Manhattan Railway Company: and he may now
as a member OF that political organization which
In 1896 declared for honest money and then as
honest money-and Of course basing his action
also on the high ground OF public policy-feel IL
his duty to approve the two ordinances relating
10 the Manhattan road which have passed both
branches Of the Municipal Assembly and VIII pe
laid before him to-day, one compelling the Man
haitian to run trains on all its lines on not less
than FIVE minutes headway during the twenty
four hours Of each day, and the other ordering
the placing Of drip-pans under the entire length
OF the structures of both the Manhattan road
and the two elevated railways OF Brooklyn.
Both these ordinances. If signed. to take
effect Immediately. IL Is estimated tnat tHe
length Of the elevated structures Of the city
aggregates 10 miles of single track and that 1t
will cost not less than $4,000 a mile to put in
the drip-pans With every iron mill in the
United States working to it's full capacity. and
several months behind on its orders the ele-
waited roads will be attempting the impossible In
seeking TO comply with the ordinance as to drip
pans. Tammany will have effected a sort or
corner" from which the corporations at which
the ordinance is launched will be able to extri-
cate themselves only at enormous loss. paying
large sums in fines during the period which
must elapse before they can have their big or
ders for new drip-pans filled, and finally paying
nearly 81, OO0O 900 on those orders
SAYS IT WAS AN AFTERTHoUGHT
A Brooklyn Alderman is authority for the as
sertion that the inclusion Of the Brooklyn roads
in this ordinance was afterhought the
words "clty of New-York" having been substi-
tuted for the erased word Manhattan" in de-
scribing the territory in which the ordinance
should he effective.
There were rumors yesterday that Mr. Croker
and other Tammany leaders had compromised
the fight against the Manhattan company. At
the Democratic Club last night Mr.. Croker said
There has been no compromise. We have Of
fered nOne and so far as ] know, the Man
haitian people have not. We intend to fight this
to end and every ordinance passed by the
Municipal Council will be enforced: and more
over, every one of the proposed ordinances will
be enacted"
The Manhattan Railway Company manage
ment has already committed itself to the policy
Of installing electrical equipment on its lines at
an early day, and 1t is fully expected that the
stockho'de ders at their meeting to be held on Feb
&. .bori oFo IL to
cover the expense Of paking the changes. Both
the Brooklyn elevated railway systems are al
ready partly equipped with electricity. and the
understanding is that upon their absorption by
the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company negotia-
tions looking to which action are now we'll ad-
vanced, electricity will entirely supersede steam
as the motive power all the elevated lines of
the borough
Drip pans are adjusted beneath elevated rail-
way structures for the purpose Of preventing
ashes cinders and water from the steam loco
motives from falling to the street. With cars
propelled by electricity drawn by electric
motors no coal is used and consequently there
can be no residuum Of ashes and cnders; and
no steam is used for the generation OF which
water would have to be carried. The drip pans
could serve one useful purpose, though-as a
protection to wayfarers in the street who might
be caught without umbrellas in a heavy shower.
While, as has been said the elevated
lines in Brooklyn already partly
equipped with electricity, the sections so fitted
up are short ones. the expense involved being
comparatively small compared with the cost
Of equlpping the whole line. why. then" sug
eested a Brookynte yesterday might It not
be feasible TO rip out the electrical construction
already made and install compressed air the
motive power for the trains Of the Kings County
and Brooklyn Elevated Railway companies?
The Manhattan Railway Company is understood
TO have declined proposition TO spend it's $40
| 600 900 in putting air motors its lines; but
the leading champion of the rights of the people
of this city is known to be firm believer in the
superiority Of compressed air over electricity or
any other force as the motive power of the fut-
ure and it is not unnatural that In his benevo-
lence he should wish to confer upon the travel
| ling masses of Brooklyn the boon of air-power
rapid transit on the elevated roads. STILL benev-
Olent despots have been known 70 go too far,
and Brooklyn seems to have come to the con-
clusion that the limit has been reached in the
| present Tammany movement.
EFFECT ON BROOKLYNITES.
Three Brooklyn ferries located at the
Battery as we'll the Staten Island and Cen
tral Of New-Jersey Railroad ferries. and thou
sands of Brooklynltes who cross the river daily
or these three ferries want TO be able to con-
tinue to take on this side the Manhattan Rail-
ways trains all the lines having their terminus
there II the Manhattan shall be evicted from
Battery Park they may have to walk consider
able distances to get their trains, with no COM
pensatory consolation but the sight Of the re-
juvenated park. On the whole, they prefer pres
ent conditions"
The threatened imposition OF heavy financial
burdens upon the elevated roads Of the borough,
too both Of which are In the hands OF receiv-
ers has aroused the people OF Brooklyn and has
stirred their representatives. i'm the Municipal
Assembly to the point Of active antagonism to
Tammany's programme Of ncessant assault up
on the elevated railway corporations Of the city
and the threat heard yesterday that II
Mayor Van Wyck should sign the two ordinances
already passed the Brooklyn in the Mu-
| nicipal Assembly would refuse 10 vote for any
OF the bond issues desired by the city admin
| istration.
! The Board Of Health meets to-day, when II is
| rnderstnnd the counsel OF the Manhattan Rail-