The Jersey City news., 1903-05-08
ALL A BLUFF.
Trolley Officials Not Wor-
ried Over Fagan's Lat
est Bomb.
OLD, OLD QUESTIONS
Court Disposed Of the Car
License Matter Many
Years Ago.
OLD, OLD QUESTIONS


The officials of the North Jersey Rail-
way Company are in no way alarmed
over the action of Mayor Fagan yester-
day in instructing Vorporation Counsel
George L. Record to take proceedings
to test in the courts the validity of the
charter of the old Jersey City and Ber-
gen Railroad Company, the name under
which most of the street railroads in the
city were originally incorporated. They
are inclined to look upon the Mayors
letter as all buncombe and sent forth
for political purposes only. The legal
representatives of the company say that
the points raised by Mr.. Record have
practically all been passed on before
by the courts and are not sound
Spencer Weart, general counsel of the
company, said that it was hardly to be
supposed that such lawyers as ex-Chan-
cellor Abram O. Zabriskie and ex-Con-
gressman Isaac Scudder, who We're coun-
sci for the Jersey City and Bergen Com
pany, when it took the action which Mr..
Record declares was Illegal. would have
permitted the company to take such
steps if there had been any doubt of
their legality.
This question was an old friend, Mr..
Weart said, and the company had met it
before. Whenever there had been talk
of a merger of the trolley lines the COM
panies had heard runors that the Mayor
was ready TO spring something in the ma
ture of an attack upon the company.
The merger was accomplished on We'd
nesday and the Mayors attack appeared
on Thursday.
In addition to instructing the Corpora
ton Counsel to proceed against the COM
pany to have the vadility of its charter
tested, the Mayor directed Mr. Record to
bring suit againstthe trolley companies for
the collection of license fees which he
claimed was due to the city under the
terms of the original franchises of the
companies. One of the company's coun-
sci characterized that this morning as
bluff. In 1882 he said the Board of
Aldermen of Jersey City, under an act
passed that year, adopted an ordinance
requiring each car in the city to pay
license fee of $40. A penalty Of $40
was provided for each violation of the
ordinance james B. Vreedenburgh, for
the company, obtained from Chief JUS
tice Beasley a writ of certiorari whereby
the ordinance was take into the Supreme
Court for review. After lengthy ar
gunent the Court set the ordinance
aside.
Mayor Fagan's attack on the franchise
of the old Jersey City and Bergen Rail-
way Company caused considerable COM
s,1eni, SsVSNtdAs III poiitiNet clfcies.
Many of those who have read Mr.. Rec
ord's opinion closely, both Republicans
and Democrats, look upon it entirely as
political move. The Democrats look
upon it purely as political bluff or
strike.
Clerk George T. Bouton, Of the Street
and Water Board, said that after the
matter shall be thoroughly sifted there
win be little found in it.
Comptroller Hough was not inclined
to discuss the matter pro or con. He
said he did not think it would affect the
stock of the Public Service Corporation.
II see the cars are still running Z
Democratic Leader Robert Davis laconi-
cally remarked this morning, nodding in
the direction of passing Montgomery
street trolley car. In reply to the query
Of reporter as to what he thought of
Mr.. Records opinion and Mr.. Fagan's at
tack on the railway company's franchise:
1T may be- he said, 'sthat some one
is in need of campaign funds. 1t is a
political bluff pure and simple, and will
amount to nothing. As to securing better
accommodation, it has only been a week
or SO since the Street and Water Board
foatr +a ;,,;f;aI sfa, a,,d ,,,or4 :, ~ ;,,os r.,