Evening journal., 1904-04-11
HOW CITY COT
FIVE CENT FARES
Gossip About Amendments
to Railway Company
Charter Of Interest
COMPELLED 70 PAVE TRACKS

At the meeting OF the Street and
Sewer Department tomorrow action
will probably be taken on the recon-
mendations Of City Solicitor Harman
in regard to regulating the speed OF
cars and the matter Of Tenders. AT this
time it may be interesting to know
Just what the people Of the city had to
endure before the present fine systems
were installed by the companies which
run into the city.
1t was largely due to Former Speaker
of the Senate Donahoe that the citi-
zens have the uniform fare of five cents
with free transfeO.
At the time he drew and had passed
the bin which caused such fight in the
legislature the Peoples Railway COM
pany was not running into this city.
At that time the Wilmington City Com
pany was not owned by the company
which controls { now. General Dona-
hoe was in a talkative mood when he
was seen by a reporter for The Evening
Journal a few days ago.
When spoken to about the trouble be-
tween the city and the street rail-
way companies, ne saidt Il am out Of
politics now but ] note the matters Of
public interest. am greatly Interested
in the matter Of the railway compan-
les paving the streets on which they
have their tracks.
Il drew the bill which gave to the
city the benefits they enjoy from at
least one company-the Wilmington
City. I drew the bill myself without
the slightest suggestion from anyone. 1
believe that events which have trans
pired since have convinced the public
that l was right in the matter
Was Hard Battle.
"The battle between the railway COM
pany and myself was terrific. The com
pany had the strongest lobby that ever
went to Dover The wounds inflicted
in that fight have never healed and 1
guess they never will. made one
man feel like thirty cents when I
held up a bill he had for the Milford
water works. When he let go of my
Senate bin in the House 1 let Milford
have water. He threatened to have
gang from Milford come and drag me
out Of the Senate chair. but 1t never
came.
Il will tell you what caused me to
] draw aud have that bill passed. The
railway company was charging six
cents from the Pennsylvania depot to
the Baltimore & Ohio depot, and five
cents from Front and Market streets ia
Front and Union streets. Any person
living on the east side Of Market street
and desiring TO go west on Front street
say to the Cathedral Cemetery. had tc
fork out five cents more or walk. A
trip east way would cost eleven cents
while the round trip can now be mad,
for ten cents.
''The city had to keep the space be
tween the tracks i'm order. IN som,
1parts Of the city, the streets were al
most impassable. One of the wors
places was at Front and Market streets
I remember at one time that City Coun.
ell called the company to keep the
streets in some kind Of repair. The an
swer was: To -- with the City Coun.
ell. We have a charter and the city
has no power over us It was that
state Of affairs that drew my attention
to the railways here. drew the
amendments to the charters compelling
the companies to make their fares five
cents and also compelling them to pave
between and on three feet on each side
lof the tracks. Besides to benefit to the
Ftraveling public the city has received
between a half and three quarters Of
a million dollars from the companies
since 1891"