The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-06-20
HOW A PLUCKY MAYOR
nruFrED MoRaANs BOSTON
 ELEVATED RAILROAD co.
Stood Pat Until Pierpont Morgan
 Was Ready to Accept Terms.
Boston Letter.

Boston Letter. poston. and Sormerly inc Consul General to Lon, don under Cleveland, has Just suceeevtsso ts, 2 in doing something which must SUI ax,srv heart of every Chief Executive III e'eIy American city. He has bluffed our 4. 4. pisrnont Morxan's Boston Elevated han- road Company, on the building or new " snbway for the city, and he mas "au' his own terms in every partculass, s .wo vaars Ins hfht was nas begun @ under Mayor Hart. Morgan people first came to the Leglsias, lure to tell the members what they Ms,,nh MSahh do about building a new ssSsd supwas' "
 With the power back of them 9.hey .t, took very toplofty position ana tney nronosed terms by which the city M Mas to practically build supway anu s''s
 Governor Crane held 1t up, but when inc campaign started anew, last JaIu- ary. 1t was not at all certain put "na'' simply by their power; the tS IalirIa1 rfrancbIse @ ple would be able to take tue IrahShASo out of the hands of the city. ao..n
 Jt was at this time that half a dozen ~antIemen citizens of Boston. who are Interested in this style of muniklpal so elalism, came into the as ne,a, huff they should be built and owned ey tne c,.y, leased at a proper figure, 10 reimDu. S e inc municipality, and furthermore, 10. M short term. They took % on dP,,blie insSeiV Fran % ehise League" but this was part M oI the blum that they were putting up to save the rights of the people.
 The railroad corporation wop,u ,,t thev went ahead and drew up plii atSns tSns, the line they thought best, and then they went to Mayor Collins.
 He adopted their plans a. t,,,s InJ bas bee, raging. On one side the corporauon, which wanted only to pay rent ana Whicn wanted a least for thirty years. ,s
 On the other side the Mayor' wno sad nS the road should pay l-2 per gent: ana that 1t could only have lease for twen- s,rhe railroad people sat back and said they would have nothing 10 oo "i.n .he proposition. They did not want suo- wav anyway. and it would cost them 100 much money They were simply building 1t for the benefit of the people. ,t
 This brought the Mayor to his hrst DIE point of decision. The need of new subway is the most apaprent of all ana if was a question whether the people would understand how he was trying 10 protect their rights. If through ms stalo the subway was delayed for another year he might lose his own election on the . He stood it out. though, and made his demands stronger than ever. The ele- yAted people two weeks ago said they were ail through; that they could not go any further. and the Mayor replied that he was glad to hear it, for he knew gentlemen who would be glad to take the suoway when built. He said he was de. tcrmined that one should be authorized by the Legislature before adjournment:
 On Friday last the Mayor won. The Morgan people bowed low and agreed to the terms.
 They said they did not want, though. to go and be put in the position 5f being backed down. They wanted to know If some way could not be put to explain their retreat, rather than equalization to the Mayor. He stood up and said they could attribute 1t to the Governor if they wanted to- and that is what they have done. It was the Mayor who was the backbone of it, and now Boston people for countless generations will profit by this stand-up bluff Had the road re- fused to accept 1t the city would have been in A bad way. but 1t was game worth playing for, for the prize would cheer even a gamblers heart.