New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-05-13
TRICKY BUT NOT FATAL.

The Mayors vt'c or the Naplu il"H"4'
nnents is interpreted as merely one more eApieS'
sion of Tammany's longstanding purpose 10
hammer q Commission which 1t cannon coh'ioi
md prevent the construction or underelounu
roads which do not pay rich tribute 10 .ne VI
ranization and its contractors. NO ln'ehsen'
citizen doubts, we suppose. tnat II the Coni'ni
sion had been a Tammany COMMISSION ins'eau
of containing a majority of men VINO canho' Nv
houeht or cajoled the roads wouid nave oeeN
under construction and perhaps nearing coi"'
nletion at the present time. II anyDou! Is u''
posed TO argue that, If this Is true IL Is p',!
that the Commission is not so constltu'eu Us W
he concenial to Tammany. sufhcien' answer 10
that rho price which would in that case De eA-
acted would be more than the people coulu al
ford IN sanction. great as is their need OF raPiu
transit The authority bestowed upon the Coii
mission bv the Legislature and the people NJ 'no
nol,s has been justified, if for no other reason,
hocause Of the fact that it has been so exercised
nc 70 preyent the conversion Of pubic unuer
taking into stupendous private Jop
Tbore is good warrant for believing thaI
Navor Van Wyck was encouraged 10 veto tne
RAND Transit amendments by the supposiuoh
that the Marshall bill, authorizing the Long is'
and Railroad Company TO construct 'uiinei
under the East River was so drawn as 10 per
mt. tho building Of tunnel roads anywhere under
The surface of the city without supervision VI
,.os.ro;rt on tho mart of the Rapid Transit Com
mission. 1t is possible that the Dill pears 'h"'
INTERPRETATION. but IT By no means 1oilo"s Una.
such an operation is feasible AS MT Delaheiu
ond others have pointed out, the Dill coulu no'
IN any case be held to cover schoihe ihVoN ihs
surface or vaduct construction such as the coi-
d,tions require over parts OF the rap'u uah'''
routcs Moreover. there are the matter OF con-
sents and the virtual certainty OF lltlga'ion Ill
case srch scheme should be seriously under
taken. and altogether 1t seems TO us extremely
unlikely that the Mayor will derive any pidc,l'
col satisfaction from the consequences OF HIS
veto. o,,o,,
,s for the situation in which the Commission
and IT'S work are left, 1t remains SUBSTANTIALLY
unchanged. We never regarded the alhenu
wents after Senator Ford had got through with
,ber, ne having much Importance, and the Com-
r,issioners themselves did not seriously care
whether they became part OF the law OF not
! rho Commission Of course retains all the
nor.or II has ever possessed, and that power Is
unite sufficient for the carrying out OF the oriei-
! IN, MAN Of municipal construction PROVIDED the
municIpal administration takes itself out Oh inc
wov The passage Of the amendments wouiu
have left It In the way, so that not even 10 'ha'
,osnect has harm been done by the Mayor dis-
onnroval. II the amendments had been passea
IN the form in which they were prepared by Tue
commission they would have given 1t strong
leverage on the city government, and chiefly Tor
that reason we hoped the full measure OF au-
,hority asked for would be granted.
It is already urged in certain quarters 'ha'
tho MAYORS veto is one of the strongest argu-
ments in favor Of the extra session which Oh
various accounts the Governor is apparently
somewhat disposed to call. lnasmuch as ne
favored the amendments he may take that view
of tho case. but we are not yet persuaded tnat
the rapid transit situation requires him to ADOPT
that course. Circumstances may arise making
mn extra session advisable, and In mat case
rapid transit might properly engage attention
but for the present it does not OF Itself consul
tute sufficient reason for recovering TIE
Legislature. Our belief is that Tammany can
not afford much longer to thwart the universal
demand for underground roads, which grows
more imperative from day to day. The people
whose votes Tammany requires are quite com
petent to understand why they are not built
md 10 nut the blame where 1t belongs.