The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-01-09
THE SCRANTON TR1BUNE-wEDNEsDAY JANUARY O. 1907

pany, but only to the especial line for
which the franchise was granted and
which Is not now in use.
The other contention Is that the Peo-
pies company had certain rights and
powers invested In II BY the legisla-
ture and that councils had no legal au-
thority to abridge these rights by au-
thorizing the issuance of transfers
Either point can be taken up IL the
other fails.
The city will. of course, take the dl-
rect1y opposite side of the case. 1t
will contend that the transfer provis-
ion in the last franchise was meant 10
cover every line operated by the COM
pany and that councils had a perfect
right to pass such a provision and now
has the perfect right TO demand its
enforcement.
There is hardly any question but
that the whole case will hinge upon
this particular clause. II the city can
succeed in having the franchise OF the
Peoples Street Railway company for
feited II will place the Scranton Rail-
way company In a position where IL
will be compelled to issue transfers as
with the franchises Of this company
revoked II would be so crippled as to
render the running Of It's cars almost
impossible
IL the company persists In it's re-
fusal to issue transfers after Jan. Is
and IL the city fails in having the
franchises of the Peoples Street Rail-
way company forfeited, she will have
to fall back on the other franchises
which contain q transfer stipulation.
THREE FRANCHISES.
There are three of these. The first
is the franchise which was granted
the Valley Passenger Railway COM
pany in 1898. This franchise provided
that transfers should be issued and
gave over the use of number OF miles
of the city's streets to the company,
but on examination It will be found
that the only streets under this fran
chise which are now being used for
street railway purposes are the fol-
lowing:
Washington avenue from Lackawan-
ne avenue to Ash street: Franklin
avenue from Mulberry street to Lacka-
wanna avenue; Mulberry street from
Franklin to Penn avenue; Swetland
street or West Linden from Main ave.
nue. to Ninth street.
1t is easy to see that IL this fran
chise was forfeited the company could
so re-arrange its present system OF
running cars as to do away with its
necessity. Thus, for instance, the
Franklin avenue line could be aban-
doned and the Providence and Green
Ridge Peoples cars run into the central
81 NH
Linden street line could be abandoned
and the West Scranton cars run up
Jackson street as they were up to three
years ago.
The franchise OF the Scranton Pass
enger Railway company, which in
cludes nearly all of the existing lines
| in South Scranton contains a provision
to the effect that the company, when
SO directed by councils, shall issue
transfer tickets to all connecting lines.
Councils have never directed the COM
pany to issue transfers on these lines,
but they can be expected to do so at
once. 1t would seem as IL in this par
ticular case the issuing of the trans
fers to all passengers on South Scran-
ton lines could be enforced.
JACKSON STREET LINE.
The third franchise containing a
transfer provision Is a franchise grant
ed to the Peoples company to con-
struct line up Jackson street to Gar
field avenue and along that thorough
fare to Pettebone street to Main ave.
| nue.. This line was never constructed
but the franchise contains precisely
the same clause as did the other fran
chise referred to at length above, en-
phatically and unequivocally declaring
that "this company" shall issue trans
fers.
This would seem to strengthen the
city's side of the case as it puts coun-
ellis on record twice as declaring that
the Peoples company shall issue trans
fers on all its lines.
Within recent years certain extern
sions to some of the franchises men,
toned above have been granted. One
Of these is an extension to the Valley
company's franchise and includes an
express condition that transfers shall
be issued when councils so desire. This
extension includes the Nay Aug loop
| on Arthur avenue and Mulberry street,
and Prescott avenue from Ash street
TO the city line